The Philadelphia Phillies lost their fourth straight game on Wednesday afternoon, falling to the Marlins 10-2. Their record drops to 17-34.
On The Mound
- Aaron Nola lasted just three innings, allowing four runs on five hits.
- Ricardo Pinto, just called up to provide extra bullpen depth, took over for Nola in the fourth and was lit up for four runs over two innings.
- Jeanmar Gomez checked in to pitch the sixth, and immediately allowed two more runs to be tacked on.
- Pat Neshek got some work in with a scoreless seventh.
At The Plate
- The offense put up two lousy runs.
- Aaron Altherr drove in one of the two.
- Two of the team’s 10 hits went for extra bases, with doubles coming from Freddy Galvis and Michael Saunders.
Final Thoughts
This is beyond unacceptable.
There needs to be some kind of significant change to the structure of the major league team. Heads need to roll.
There’s no way that the Phillies’ management can allow this team to be swept by the second-worst team in baseball and just allow the status quo to continue.
At minimum, Odubel Herrera, Maikel Franco, or ideally both, need to be shipped down to the minors. Roman Quinn and another bat need to be recalled to create some desperately needed fresh energy into a lineup that on most nights barely managed to scrape together five lousy hits.
But I think team needs more than just some fresh energy on the roster. Pitching coach Bob McClure needs to go. The starting pitching, which had what many considered to be promising arms in Jerad Eickhoff, Vince Velasquez, and Aaron Nola, and not one of them have taken steps forward under McClure’s tutelage.
As I’ve mentioned before, even manager Pete Mackanin, despite just getting a contract extension, should not be safe. The team as a whole seems to have been mentally checked out over the entire month. They’re a lifeless bunch, and haven’t been responding at all to Mackanin’s message, whatever that may be.
If the day off on Thursday comes and goes with no changes made, this franchise may have more long-term problems than we originally thought.
