The Washington Nationals absolutely stink, and so losing any game to a team that stinks to the degree the Nationals stink is a cause of frustration.

The Phillies experienced such frustration Wednesday night, and they looked like they might again in the series finale with Washington Thursday afternoon. An important swing game that would determine the overall success of their nine-game homestand got off to an inauspicious start.

Phillies starting pitcher Bailey Falter was on the ropes early. He yielded a pair of runs, five hits, a walk and a hit batter while needing 49 pitches to complete his first two innings.

Offensively, the Phillies had a similarly sluggish start against Nationals starting pitcher Yoan Adon, who entered the game with a 1-11 record and a 6.97 ERA.

A promising first inning that began with a leadoff walk by Kyle Schwarber and a double from Rhys Hoskins produced zero runs after three feeble at-bats by the middle of the Phillies order.

Particularly bad in the sequence was the at-bat of Nick Castellanos, which ended with a strikeout after he dove out of the zone on a low-and-away slider.

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Darick Hall would follow with a strikeout of his own before J.T. Realmuto softly bounced out to end the threat.

But the Phillies would regroup.

Falter managed to avert disaster by stranding five Nationals through two innings before settling down with a pair of clean frames to end his afternoon. And after that miserable first-inning sequence, the middle of the Phillies order would respond in the third inning.

 

Following a leadoff walk by Hoskins and a single by Castellanos, Hall, who would also later homer, doubled to center to score the Phillies’ first run. Realmuto followed with an RBI groundout to tie the game.

A batter later, Didi Gregorius missed his first homer of the season by two feet on a ball that should have been caught by Washington right fielder Juan Soto.

Fortunately for Gregorius, as I noted above, the Nationals stink, and the team’s players who don’t stink do not appear particularly invested.

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The RBI triple plated the go-ahead run, and thanks to five more strong innings from what is suddenly a lights-out bullpen, the Phillies finished a 5-4 homestand with a 5-3 win, securing their eighth series victory in 10 tries.

Let’s get into some other observations and thoughts.

Is Darick Hall Good?

I received a text from a friend during the seventh inning, just after Darick Hall launched his fourth homer of the season.

“Is Darick Hall good?”

It’s a great question, Stevie B., and I’m not really sure on the answer.

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Hall has not demonstrated a consistent ability to handle left-handed pitching, or at least he hasn’t in the minors (.188 average over 96 at-bats at Lehigh Valley this season), but that’s fine.

He has solidified himself as an intriguing left-handed power bat, one that has already provided the Phillies with a big offensive jolt during an eight-game stretch in which they desperately needed one.

As a caution, pitchers will adapt. He likely won’t maintain a 1.032 OPS or continue to homer every 7.75 plate appearances, but he appears more than capable of doing big-time damage on mistakes, and that certainly plays for this team.

Really, the Phillies don’t need Hall to be a long-term solution, they just need him to supply some offensive punch for the next six weeks. Anything more than that is a bonus.

Some Crazy Phillies Bullpen Numbers

After the Phillies’ 11-0 win Tuesday night, I tweeted this:

It was a good tweet, too, because the same stat ended up on Phillies Pregame Live the next day:

Fast-forward another two days and that bullpen ERA is now down 2.15 over 67 innings pitched dating back to June 15.

Phillies Twitter Is Fully Invested

I love Phillies Twitter.

It’s one of my favorite parts of watching any game unfold. The GIFs, memes, and a heavy dose of smart-ass and self-loathing commentary are highly entertaining.

I tweeted about this during Wednesday night’s game, but I have recently come to appreciate how Phillies Twitter has recently treated each game like an Eagles game.

It’s a roller coaster, with fans all-in every night.

If the Phillies win, the consensus is “The Phillies are good! Make a trade or two and they’re in business.” If they lose a game, the outlook shifts to something like “The Phillies are bad. Very bad. Everything is awful.”

Baseball matters in this city, and it feels like the Phillies are thisclose to generating some true buy-in from the hesitant portion of fans out there. If they continue their recent surge through the all-star break (no sure thing given a challenging nine-game road trip), it feels like baseball is on the cusp of coming fully back into view here and doing so with some scale down the stretch.

Moniak vs. Herrera Totally Misses the Point

The Phillies lost Wednesday night because they struck out 16 times and failed to take a plate appearance with a runner in scoring position.

It didn’t help that Nick Castellanos flailed on a semi-difficult grab that an average defensive right fielder makes.

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It sure as hell didn’t help that Odúbel Herrera looked like a 2016 Eagles wide receiver on Luis Garcia’s decisive two-run double. No doubt, it was a tough play, but it’s one that a good center fielder runs down.

Both during and after the game, fans went hard after Herrera, as they have for most of the season. Many of them have wondered why Mickey Moniak hasn’t received more playing time.

I find the Moniak vs. Herrera debate fascinating, but it’s one that truly misses the point of the Phillies’ current ongoing problem in center field.

At this point, it shouldn’t be an either/or proposition.

If you watch Herrera play and do not want him out there, well, that makes plenty of sense because if you have functioning eyes, you can’t like what you see.

His presence in the lineup was defensible when he was the Phillies’ most productive outfielder not named Bryce Harper for a few weeks earlier this season, but that’s no longer the case. He’s been dreadful ever since.

In fact, in 78 plate appearances dating back to June 1, Herrera is hitting just .208 with a .561 OPS. Those numbers don’t play, and those numbers certainly don’t play with his consistently puzzling defense.

But if Moniak is your solution, then I just don’t have much for you.

He softly singled through a vacated hole at shortstop Thursday for his only hit in three at-bats, but he’s been one of the least productive offensive players in Major League Baseball this season.

In 47 plate appearances, Moniak has struck out 17 times while producing all of one extra-base hit. Of all players with at least 40 plate appearances this season, only three carry a lower OPS than the .358 he has produced.

While he has notably struggled against breaking pitches (.071 batting average), he’s also hitting just .125 against fastballs.

Whatever defensive upgrade he brings over Herrera does not compensate for playing his .140/.196/.163 slash line in front of Kyle Schwarber, who is providing MVP-like offensive production since June 1.

If the Phillies’ goal is the playoffs, they have to go outside the organization to find a viable option in center field prior to the trade deadline. An everyday player is preferable, but at the very least, they need to find a left-handed platoon option to pair up with Matt Vierling because neither Herrera or Moniak is the solution.

Herrera has certainly proven this over parts of seven seasons, and Moniak has shown nothing outside of three weeks in Clearwater that makes him worthy of the gamble when a potential postseason spot hangs in the balance.