Hey, Phillies. This isn’t what anybody signed up for this season.

The city didn’t hop on the bandwagon last October and spend the winter building up their anticipation and recommitting themselves to go all in on baseball again for the next six months to get this.

Losing is one thing, but this? This is something on another level.

Hell, if I wanted to put myself through the agony of watching a team with no chance of winning anything, I’d have stuck to hockey with the Flyers.

Losing the first game of a series at Yankee Stadium isn’t shocking. Hell, when the calendar came out, I would venture to say that almost any rational baseball person looked at this series as a loss for the Phillies, considering two of the games would be started by the back end of the rotation against the vaunted New York lineup in the Bronx.


But to not even be competitive? To get blown out of the water for the third time in four games? To continue a downward spiral of trying to win when an entire pitching staff is not prepared to start the season and supplement that with poor defense, bad baserunning and a lack of timely hitting is a recipe for disaster.

If losing 8-1 and being outscored 37-12 in four games to start the season isn’t viewed as a disaster, then something is very wrong.

That said, it’s still not time to push all the panic buttons. Let’s pocket that notion for a little while longer. There wouldn’t be this vitriol if they lost four straight in June. It’s the timing that has the alarm bells going off everywhere.

Still, the frustration is appropriate. The expectation and demand for better play should remain. Last season’s result shouldn’t be offering too much slack this season. And while the Phillies have had some unfortunate challenges to start the season on the injury front, it’s still not acceptable.

This isn’t so much about the outcomes, but rather how those results are coming to be. If the Phillies were losing a bunch of close, 1-run games 4-3 or 5-4 or something, fans would still be annoyed, but tempered. But they are minus-25 runs through four games. That means the average loss is 6.2 runs per game.

That. Can’t. Happen.

You probably don’t want to relive Monday night again, and I don’t blame you, so, I’ll keep this one shorter today. Still, here’s today’s table of contents:

  1. Walker: It’s in His Name
  2. Failing at Fundamentals
  3. Filthy, but not in the Good Way
  4. Stranded
  5. Lineup Nitpick
  6. Bohm Goes the Dynamite

Let’s hit it:

1. Walker: It’s in his name

The Phillies flipped Taijuan Walker’s first scheduled start with Bailey Falter once it became apparent that Ranger Suarez wasn’t going to start the season. Although one would think Walker would slide up from the No. 4 spot to No. 3 and Falter would have moved up from No. 5 to No. 4, Rob Thomson decided to throw Falter in Texas Sunday and save Walker for New York Monday.

It was good reasoning, as the Yankees lineup is righty-heavy and Walker tends to keep the ball down, making home runs less likely.

Falter pitched well in Texas, so Walker had a chance to make his manager look like a genius with a good outing against New York.

He didn’t have a bad one, but it wasn’t anything special either. In fact, it was troubling in the first inning. Walker needed 33 pitches to get through, and he allowed two runs on two hits and three walks.

It was the walks that were most concerning.

The first hit was a line drive to center field by D.J. Lemahieu that should have just been a single but Brandon Marsh, doing his best Odubel Herrera impersonation, misplayed it into a triple (more on that in the next section).

The other hit was an infield single off of Walker’s glove. So, it’s not like the Yankees were making solid contact against him. Instead, it was the walks. They ended up hurting him.

He loaded the bases with no outs. One run scored on a weak grounder and the other run off that unfortunate infield single. One fewer walk, and/or Marsh not misplaying a ball, and/or Walker fielding the grounder cleanly and the Phillies probably get out of the inning allowing just one run or even no runs.

But the walks, man. The walks.

So far this season, Phillies pitchers are averaging 5.9 walks per nine innings. That’s insanely bad. So, for Walker to have three in the first inning, was not a good sign.

To his credit, Walker pitched much better after that. He only gave up two more hits, one was a solo homer to Gleyber Torres that was a Yankee Stadium home run, in the sense that it was a fly ball to the short porch in right/right centerfield.

(The measured distance was 361 feet and it landed about eight rows into the stands. That’s terrible for a major league stadium, although apparently nine other ballparks are this generous) –

He also had five strikeouts, including Aaron Judge twice. He really did a nice job after the first inning, and I’m not sure it was the right decision to pull him after 86 pitches with the score 301 after his second strikeout of Judge to have Yunior Marte face Anthony Rizzo, but that’s what Topper decided to do and, as you will see soon, it didn’t go well.

All told, not a bad outing for Walker, but not good enough. The Phillies need a little length out of their starters and aren’t getting it at all. This was just the latest example, and it could have been avoided with fewer walks in the first.

2. Failing at fundamentals

Marsh had two more hits for the Phillies. He’s looked pretty good at the plate in his three starts. That’s where the plaudits end though, because two mistakes hurt the Phillies considerably Monday.

The first, we mentioned above. Here it is:

It’s the first batter of the game. There’s no reason to put yourself in a risky position. If you are unsure, you play the hop and hold him to a single. That’s baseball 101. Incredibly, this wasn’t ruled an error and became a triple, which is some hometown scorekeeping, but it doesn’t matter, Marsh can’t make that boo-boo.

That wasn’t all though. After a double, Marsh had this baserunning snafu on a hit by J.T. Realmuto:

Good on Nestor Cortes for doing his job but where is Marsh’s head here? Your team is down two runs. Once you stop, you stop and go back. This isn’t even a question. I get it that the throw was high and obviously sailing, but you have to assume there is someone backing up the throw, you’re in the major leagues for Pete’s sake.

This cost the Phillies more than the error, because who knows how different things are if they tie the score or take the lead there. It’s one of those things outside of the terrible pitching that has killed the Phillies in these first four games.

3. Filthy, but not in a good way

In the end though, even though the starters have been less than stellar, the bullpen has been an abject disaster (apologies to Andrew Bellatti, Jose Alvarado, and Andrew Vazquez, who have done their jobs).

Everyone else has been terrible. Specifically Yunior Marte, who the Philies were incredibly high on in spring training – so much so that Thomson would talk about him without being asked about him.

He said the guy threw “Filth. Straight Filth.”

Oh, it’s straight all right…

Like I said earlier, pulling Walker was a questionable decision. I’d have probably let him try and finish the inning. I don’t mind getting a pitcher up just in case, but see if he can get out of it.

Alas, the Phillies turned to Marte and that was the first thing they saw, and it was basically ball game at that point.

Of course, Marte needed to put a cherry on top of the shit sundae for the Phillies and after letting up the homer, he walked two guys and then gave up a two-run double to Franchy Cordero. Then, after finally recording an out, he gave up a single to Jose Trevino and was done.

In two appearances this season Marte has faced 12 batters. He’s allowed six hits (two homers) and three walks.

If the Phillies send him down Tuesday and recall someone else, it shouldn’t be a surprise.

4. Stranded

Just wanted to point out that the Phillies are hitting .287 as a team so far this season, which is 42 points higher than the league average. They also lead the majors with 17 extra-base hits through four games. Their fewest hit total in a game so far is nine.

So then why then have they only scored 12 runs, total?

Well, only one of those extra base hits has been a homer so far (Alec Bohm off Jacob deGrom on Opening Day) and the Phillies have been terrible, especially the last two games, at driving in runners who were in scoring position.

They were 2-for-10 with RISP Monday and 1-for-8 Sunday. They left 17 runners on base combined in both games. You cant have 20 hits in two games and score just two measly runs.

It’s not that they’re not hitting, it’s that they’re not getting timely hitting. That’s a chronic problem that goes back several seasons. You hope it goes away, but so far, the answer is apparently not.

5. Lineup nitpicking

Bryson Stott had three hits Saturday. He had two hits and a walk Sunday – against a left-handed pitcher. So, why wasn’t he originally in the lineup Monday against Cortes, who is also a lefty?

He ended up being added to the lineup because Josh Harrison arrived at the ballpark with a swollen ankle, unsure of how it happened either, so Stott was inserted, but why take a guy out of the lineup when he’s seeing the ball so well? Makes no sense.

Stott went 1-for-4 Monday.

6. Bohm goes the dynamite

Alec Bohm is on a tear to start the season. He’s 7-for-15 (.467) with a .500 on base percentage and a 1.300 OPS. Every at bat he looks like he’s going to get a hit. It’s just weird how confidence can manifest itself visually:

In his last at bat, Yankees reliever Jonathan Loaisiga buzzed Bohm’s tower with a heater up and in. Bohm grounded out and let out an audible “fuck” running down the line. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s anything that comes from that over the final two games of the series.

While it would be fun to see the teams get a little piss and vinegar brewing, it would be more fun for everyone if the Phillies just won a game.

Start there.