If you were hoping Charlie Manuel’s presence would magically provide a sustainable fix for the shortcomings of an underperforming lineup, well, I’ve got bad news for you.

The offense immediately heated up when Manuel joined the team in the dugout on Wednesday night as it batted a combined .337 and plated 26 runs over three games (8.67 runs per game).

That production and the good vibes have each quickly disappeared, however, as the Phillies reverted back to their familiar struggles at the plate over the final two games of a disappointing series loss to a Padres team that entered the weekend only 11-20 since the All-Star break.

The Phillies were blanked over the final six frames on Saturday night. They followed up that effort today by scoring only two runs on four hits. The lineup produced a combined .156 batting average in the back-to-back losses.

And just like that, their momentum is gone, although manager Gabe Kapler seemed pretty pleased with the team’s overall effort.

“Obviously, it’s frustrating to lose today’s baseball game,” Kapler said. “Really proud of the grind in the at-bats, saw 110 pitches off their starter, saw 27 pitches with three outs in the ninth inning.”

They did see quite a few pitches, particularly in the ninth against Padres closer Kirby Yates, but Phillies couldn’t do anything against a San Diego bullpen that began the day owners of the NL’s fifth-worst ERA, though they also had its second-best fWAR.

How exactly does that happen?

Padres relievers have the league’s second-highest K/9 (9.89) but also possess its second-worst BABIP. In other words, they’ve been unlucky.

That luck evened out in the final two games of this series as the Phillies produced only a single hit while failing to score in six innings against San Diego’s bullpen.

In the process, the Phillies wasted another solid performance from starting pitcher Jason Vargas, who was one out away from recording his third quality start in four appearances with the Phillies. He limited the Padres to only two earned runs over 5.2 IP and now has a 3.52 ERA since arriving in Philadelphia late last month.

Despite the Phillies’ offense reverting to the familiar lifeless iteration that we’ve too often seen prior to Manuel’s arrival last week, Adam Haseley worked his way back from an 0-2 count to draw a crucial two-out walk in the sixth inning. Jean Segura followed with his second double of the game to score Haseley with the tying run, and it appeared the Phillies might yet still find a way to scrape together a win.

That thought would be short-lived, however, as recently-acquired reliever Jared Hughes gave up a go-ahead solo home run to San Diego’s Austin Hedges, who also had a career-high four hits, on this 0-2 curveball:

Like it has for many Phillies pitchers in 2019, the home run continues to be problematic for Hughes, who had been excellent in recent seasons at keeping the ball in the yard. Here’s his HR/9 over the last three seasons:

2017: 0.6

2018: 0.5

2019: 1.2

Interestingly, Hughes entered today’s game throwing his curveball on only 8.5% of his total pitches this season. Opponents were 0 for 10 with 5 Ks against it prior to Hedges’ home run. So there’s that.

Harper Exits With Dehydration

Bryce Harper left today’s game in the sixth inning after experiencing symptoms of dehydration. After the game, Kapler provided an update on Harper.

“Bryce was experiencing some blurred vision, and we weren’t sure what was going on with him, so we took the most precautionary measure we could and got him out of that baseball game,” he said. “Turns out he was dehydrated, he got an IV, and we were able to clear the symptoms, at least for the time being.”

Harper spoke to reporters after the game, but I didn’t feel like transcribing my recording, so here’s part of his comments:

Thanks, Howard.

Anyway, it doesn’t seem like anybody is overly concerned.

Hoskins’ Miserable Stretch Continues

What in the world is going on with Rhys Hoskins?

In his first 102 games this season, Hoskins hit .263 with a .922 OPS, but after an 0 for 4 afternoon Sunday, he remains in the midst of a brutal 8 for 73 stretch that has seen his average and OPS plummet to .237 and .854, respectively.

Despite the ugly numbers, Kapler remains confident that Hoskins is on the verge of breaking out.

“I thought Rhys’ at-bats were great today, and I’m feeling pretty protective of him right now because I know how hard he’s working,” he said. “I know how much effort and time he’s putting in, and I think the at-bat quality remains strong even though at the end the results aren’t there. And I know how disappointed he is in it, and I’m disappointed for him because I know this is going to turn around for him.”

In the eighth inning, Hoskins did drive a 3-1 pitch to the center field fence that fell a foot short of tying the game. According to MLB’s Statcast, the swing produced a .520 xBA (expected batting average). It’s been that kind of stretch for Hoskins in recent weeks.

Here’s what he had to say about his prolonged slump:

I feel great. Obviously, it sucks to not contribute and not produce, but swing-wise I feel great. I feel like for the most part I’m seeing pitches. I’m seeing the ball fine, just for whatever reason, things are a little off. The last couple weeks when I do click something, it’s right at somebody, so that’s baseball. Unfortunately, I know it’s really cliche. I wish I had a different answer. I’ve sat for hours and hours and looked at film trying to find something that I can go in the cage and take a thousand swings to fix, but at some point, you just gotta keep going up there and stuff will turn.

 

Segura Hustling

We will end on a positive note, I guess.

Segura has been criticized for a lack of hustle at times this season, but his heads-up base running stood out on what appeared to be a routine RBI single in the first inning. Segura’s hit left the bat with a 103 mph exit velocity, but he aggressively rounded the first base bag and took second when center fielder Manuel Margot fielded the ball flat-footed.

It didn’t amount to an additional run, but with such little margin for error in a packed wild card race that’s filled with average teams, the Phillies need to take every inch they can get. Plays such as that one could end up being the difference. Maybe.

I don’t know, I’m trying here.