Phillies Reds Series Recap - Back Down To Second
After riding high in first place all last week, the Phillies now find themselves back right where they started. One game out of first place to the Atlanta Braves. This is what happens when you don't take care of business as a ball club. Taking only one game against the Dodgers isn't the worst case scenario since they are a bonafide all star team and the heavy favorite to represent the NL in the World Series. But losing two series at home off an 8 game winning streak is flat out unacceptable and can't happen. That's not winning baseball and a couple more series like this will lead this team to sitting on the couch watching the playoffs instead of playing for a chance to make a deep playoff run. Runners left on base, bad pitching, terrible at bats, you name it this series brought it.
In game one, Zack Wheeler was off his game and the offense didn't do anything whatsoever to pick him up. It was unfortunate this teams ace had a rough start but in his Cy Young caliber season this year that was due to happen and we all should expect him to bounce back and throw a gem his next time out. The offense was terrible in this ballgame only tallying 5 hits (3 off Tyler Mahle in 7 innings) , left 5 men on base, 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position, and only Didi Gregorius recorded an extra base hit in this game which was an rbi double in the 9th already down 6-0. This was the absolute worst case scenario to follow up losing the Dodgers series and this loss was 100% deserved.
In game two however, Matt Moore however threw an absolute gem of a game going six no hit innings in a 6-1 Phillies win. Moore, who has been struggling for the majority of this 2021 season deserves all the praise in the world for this outing. After game 1 this exactly what this team needed and he should feel great about himself going into his next outing. Let's hope this outing can be the start of a hot few months and can allow him to be an impact player on this team.
The rubber match of this series did not go in the Phillies favor however, losing Sunday's ballgame 7-4. This game added to theme of this series offensive inconsistency for the Phils leaving 10 men on base and went 1-5 with runners in scoring position. Again, unacceptable at this point in the season and will only hurt this ball club. But the biggest story of this game and this whole series has to be Aaron Nola. We've talked about his down year all season and his inconsistent performances all season as well. Yesterday's ball game was no different, only doing 4.1 innings allowing 6 hits, 4 earned runs, 3 walks, and a home run. We keep waiting for him to turn the corner and go back to the Aaron Nola that's expected of him but it hasn't happened this year. That begs the question, is this who he is now? Is this the type of pitcher to expect out of Nola? This year has potentially proven that to be true and is an interesting storyline to follow as this season comes near to a close.
The Phillies travel to Arizona for three games against the Diamondbacks who own the worst record in baseball. There is absolutely no reason not to sweep this ball club. Phillies got some ground now to make up and fast with Atlanta possibly being able to go up a half game more in the division with the Phillies being off tonight. Game one the Phillies are starting Kyle Gibson a must sweep series. First pitch Tuesday is at 9:40 PM ET Lets go Phils!