Phillies get reality check from Braves: They’re 10 back in NL East, but it feels like more

PHILADELPHIA — It will be 80 days before the Phillies meet the Braves again, for a doubleheader on Sept. 11, and the future cannot be written. But it was a cloudy Thursday afternoon when Atlanta shook hands on the grass at Citizens Bank Park and everyone felt down. “You hold them scoreless for nine innings,” Alec Bohm said, “and you usually feel good about it.” Usually, you do. But it’s the Braves and it’s the Phillies and, with the prospect of a fascinating National League Division Series in October, it’s the natural order of things.

“We could have won both of those games, really,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson after the 5-1 loss in 10 innings. “You know?”

The Phillies know. They know this feeling. That is not to suggest that all is lost. The Phillies have played better baseball this month. They are firmly in the postseason picture for a National League that is unsettled beyond the undisputed top club, the Braves. It has to be the Braves. They won five straight NL East titles and rocketed to another.

The Phillies just aren’t close to the Braves. They’ve played 74 games and are 10 behind Atlanta — an even worse position than the Phillies were in last season at this point.

“Yeah, they’re a good team,” Bryce Harper said. “We just have to try to fight back as hard as we can.”

“I think it’s disappointing, don’t you?” Kyle Schwarber said. “There aren’t as many games in the division as there used to be. It’s frustrating, but what are you going to do? You’ve got to move on.”

Trea Turner threw his bat after striking out to end the eighth inning. (Bill Streicher / USA Today)

There are many ways to measure the distance between the Braves and Phillies beyond the obvious – those 10 games. Atlanta has clubbed 51 more home runs than the Phillies. That’s probably the most telling. The Phillies did not produce a single extra-base hit in Thursday’s loss.

Here’s another way to measure the gap: The Braves have seven players who have hit 10 homers this season. The Phillies have one, Schwarber, with 20 homers. JT Realmuto and Nick Castellanos each had eight. The Braves can’t just hit homers – they hit them from every spot in the lineup and they boast enough power threats in the batting order to sustain some slumps.

There’s also this: The Phillies hit three three-run homers in 2023. (Two of them, somehow, came in the same game on June 4 off the same batter, Schwarber.) They hit 30 three-run homers in 2022 – tied for most in the majors. During this season, only lowly Kansas City has amassed fewer three homers.

Harper wasn’t the only one not slugging. The Phillies entered Thursday 21st in slugging percentage among first basemen and 20th among third basemen. They didn’t generate enough power from the corners. They miss Rhys Hoskins, obviously, but they expect to get some power from Alec Bohm. He has a .400 slugging percentage this season after posting a .398 mark in 2022.

“Hitting is something that can come in waves,” Bohm said. “If it’s not consistently good, it’s easy to notice that maybe these guys aren’t hitting for power. They’re not hitting a lot of home runs. This, that, or something else. You just have to go up there and keep hitting.” -swing.

“From my perspective, going up there and trying to hit home runs and trying to do too much is not a good way to hit this game. Especially now with the things that a lot of guys are throwing . It’s trying to keep it as simple as possible.”

Is Bohm trying to hit homers?

“Personally, no,” Bohm said. “But I think as an offense in general, you want to see the power. You want to see the slug. You want to see the extra-base hits and all that. That can be a little bit -flow in the lineup where guys try to do a little too much.

Alec Bohm avoided the inside pitch in Wednesday’s game. He has a 96 OPS+. (Bill Streicher / USA Today)

Thomson, asked in recent days about the team’s lack of power, maintained that it will show up again. Harper, who is hitting the ball hard but on the ground more often than ever, noted the poor conditions the Phillies have often faced at Citizens Bank Park this season. “Hopefully once July comes around, the wind won’t continue to blow,” Harper said. “We can play games where people aren’t wearing sweatshirts in June. You can’t make excuses right?” The Phillies have hit 32 homers at home and allowed 32.

Why is Thomson confident?

“Just a track record,” he said. “That’s all I can base it on. Harp has three. I know he’s going to hit home runs at some point. I know Trea Turner will hit home runs at some point. Castellanos and JT I mean, at some point, it’s going to happen.

Track record is important, but outside of Harper and Schwarber, no one else in the Phillies lineup has the track record of being a bona fide slugger. Turner hit more than 25 homers only once in a season. He lost 70 points in his slugging percentage from 2021 to 2022 and he lost 89 more points from 2022 to 2023. Those are horrible trends. Realmuto, for a catcher, has an above-average power stroke. Castellanos’ power has evolved into a gap-to-gap brand, which is valuable. But he can’t be relied upon for high homer totals.

“We’ll be fine if we can get out of it,” Schwarber said.

Bryce Harper swung his bat after flying out in the fourth inning. (Bill Streicher / USA Today)

The focus on Thursday was Schwarber’s 10th-inning misplay in left field, which was inexcusable and a game-changing moment. But the Phillies should have won the game before extra innings. They gave up too many chances, which was bad against the Braves. The Phillies believe they will be better optimized around August 1, when Harper is healthy enough to play first base, bumping Bohm back to third base and Schwarber to a full-time designated hitter. hitter role.

This opens up left field for a possible trade acquisition, and it makes sense for the Phillies to shop for power — especially right-handed power. Maybe that fixes everything.

But that was weeks from materializing.

Until then, Schwarber will have to do left field work. He is, by defensive standards, the worst fielder in the sport this season. He is on pace to have a historically bad season in left field, as measured by Defensive Runs Saved.

“There were some plays I didn’t make,” Schwarber said. “I feel like I’ve done the games before. I should be able to make them. Trust me, I’ll keep working on it. “

The Phillies have no choice now but to grin and bear it.

“He had some misplays,” Thomson said. “But you never get 20 home runs and his on-base (skills) out of the lineup. That’s a plus.”

It’s just not as big a plus as planned. It figures Schwarber, the one Phillie who has hit for consistent power, is borderline unplayable in the field and can’t DH because the team’s star hitter is in the DH spot.

These things happen to the Phillies, not the Braves, and it’s why a 10-game deficit feels like 30.

“I don’t think it’s really a specific thing to focus on or a glaring issue,” Bohm said. “It’s staying the course and staying true to ourselves and trusting that we’re all good hitters. This thing goes in waves.”

It is certain.

(Top photo by Kyle Schwarber: Matt Slocum/Associated Press)