Kyle Schwarber went 0-for-5 in the Phillies’ 7-4 loss to Boston Saturday, their sixth straight defeat. He’s now hitting .176 this season and he’s still batting leadoff.

But here’s the thing, Schwarber could be doing a complete 180. He could be hitting .824 and the Phillies might not be any better off than this black-eyed 15-19 start a week before Mother’s Day.

That’s because their pitching, specifically their starting pitching, has been unconscionably bad.

Schwarber is worth a discussion as another week comes to a close, and we’ll get to it later, but the issue at the top of the Phillies’ lineup, while concerning, is the equivalent of putting out the last vestiges of a campfire when you emerge from your tent at dawn on the morning following a campout, compared to the five-alarm blaze that is raging out of control on the Phillies starting staff.

Consider the following:


  • The starters have a 9.91 ERA during the current six-game losing streak.
  • Their best starter this season, Matt Strahm, has been moved back to the bullpen because he hasn’t thrown more than 44 2/3 innings in a season since before the pandemic and the Phillies need to manage innings.
  • The other four starters, three of whom are being paid handsomely to do their jobs, all have posted numbers that are predominantly worse than what’s on the back of their baseball cards.

The most recent was Bailey Falter, who was perfect the first time through the order against Boston, and then absolutely melted down in the fourth inning and had to be lifted from the game after allowing six hits and a walk the second time through the order:

Falter is now 0-6 this season in just seven starts. His ERA has ballooned to 5.75, nearly a run-and-a-half higher than his previous two season with the Phillies. his WHIP is up .16. He is striking out almost two batters less per every nine innings he pitches and his ERA+, which compares him to every other pitcher in the sport by adjusting his numbers to the ballparks he has pitched in this season, is 74. The average major league pitcher is 100.

After the game, Falter was visibly pissed off and had very little to say about his latest debacle. However, the choice few words he uttered were pretty telling.

Asked what the difference was between the first three innings and the Three Mile Island-sponsored fourth inning:

“I honestly don’t know what happened.”

When he was told what Rob Thomson’s explanation was (left too many balls out over the plate in the fourth inning after expanding the zone and getting the Red Sox to chase in the first three) –

“All I know is I have a lot of work to do here, so…”

When asked what he normally does after a bad start:

“I try to flush it as best as I possibly can.”

Asked about his frustration level:

“I’m very frustrated. It’s not a good feeling going out there and letting your team down every start.”

That was it.

As mentioned in one of the questions above, Thomson indicated that Falter suddenly stopped expanding the zone in the fourth inning after doing it so effectively in the first three. As you can see from the video embedded up there as well, you can’t leave that pitch there, especially against a hitter as dangerous as Rafael Devers, who had three hits Saturday.

Nor can you throw it to a platoon player, like Christian Arroyo, who delivered the biggest hit of the fourth inning:

It was just the latest disappointment in a season that has been chock full of them.

Consider how inconsistent Aaron Nola has been this season, and his WHIP is the same as it’s been his entire career. His issue is a lack of fastball velocity that has made it harder for him to put batters away, meaning he’s having more balls put in play against him creating more opportunities for runners to score. His strikeout numbers are down a whopping 3.1 per every nine innings pitched.

Consider that Zack Wheeler has looked the most like himself, with his numbers closest to the norm across the board, but he hasn’t been able to throw more than six innings in any of his seven starts and has allowed at least three earned runs in four of those seven. He only had that happen six times total (six innings pitched or less, three earned runs or more) in the entirety of 2022 and only seven times in 2021.

And then there’s Taijuan Walker, who will be next up in the task of trying to end this losing streak. He’s been about as bad as a $72 million free agent acquisition can be with a 6.91 ERA, a 1.605 WHIP walking 5.3 batters per nine innings and serving up home runs like this:

“I have all the confidence in the world in Tai,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto, who has had the front row seats for most of the Phillies rocky, horror show. “He’s kind of the same as the rest of the guys. He’s just got to attack really. He’s got really good stuff. Get ahead of guys and put them away.”

Glad he’s got confidence, because the Phillies have lost six games in a row for the first time since the end of the great September swoon of 2019 and haven’t lost seven straight since June of the same year.

So, this is unchartered territory in the Rob Thomson managerial era.

“We just have to keep planning better, executing better,” Thomson said, ever the optimist, who is running the risk of drawing comparisons to Nero if this malaise continues to fester. “I have full faith in all of them, really. We just have to do a better job.”

Understatement of the year, Topper.

Leadoff Debate Continues…. 

The pregame huddle with the media and Thomson has turned into a side show the last couple of days with WIP’s Howard Eskin at the center of the circus.

Maybe we should call Eskin “Mr. DeMille” instead of “King” these days, because he’s certainly mastered the art of the closeup when shooting his Twitter videos with the Phillies manager.

First, I want to point out that at the beginning, that’s Scott Franzke moving his phone into Howard’s shot to make fun of the fact that Howard videos from so close, thus the laughter from the gaggle.

And no, I didn’t include the video in this post because that’s me in the background. At least not for vanity’s sake. Let me explain.

I included it because I often grow weary of the complaints from fans (mostly on Twitter, so yes, grain of salt and all that), who think we aren’t asking Thomson “the tough questions,” or that Howard is the only one with the onions to challenge the manager.

That’s because Howard only shares his portion of the video. It’s not a criticism. Howard is in there asking his questions, and then sharing it with the masses. But, believe me, he’s not the only one.

And at the very end of the video you can see I’m about to ask another question on this topic before it cuts off.

So, couple that with the following transcription of the interview (slightly edited for clarity and brevity) and you’ll see that Thomson is being pushed hard by the media to explain his decision to keep Schwarber in the leadoff role, which continued to look like a bad idea after Saturday’s loss.

Q: Where do you think in the lineup Schwarber has a better lifetime average? One, or four?

RT: What about slugging percentage? What about Home runs?

Q: I’m not worried about that…

RT: Well, I am.

Q: OPS Schwarber’s 100 points higher hitting four…

RT: Is he?

Q: Batting average 50 points higher hitting four. Isn’t that two pretty good numbers?

RT: Those are good numbers, yeah.

Q: OK, so… you’ve got to get production out of your leadoff hitter at some point.

RT: And we will. We also have to get production out of our two hitter, our three hitter, our four hitter. It’s coming. Trust me. It’s coming.

Q: You said you are going to try it for a while.

RT: I don’t know how long.

Q: OK, so Stott’s going to stay here he is?

RT: For the time being.

Q: Do you almost look at it like two half lineups in a sense? Does that make sense? With Stott (being like another leadoff hitter) and a guy like Marsh hitting eight to drive in the runners?

RT: I guess you could look at it like that. But I look at it like the length of the lineup and having an opportunity to score runs every inning. Stott hitting in that spot – and whether he stays in that spot, I don’t know – if he has runners on base, he’s going to put the ball in play.

Q: How much time would you give Schwarber in the leadoff spot, would you say?

RT: I don’t know. It’s just a feel.

Q: What is your definition of ‘for the time being?’

RT: I don’t have a definition for that.

Q: Kyle’s hitting .080 with runners in scoring position this year. When a guy’s struggling like that do you just leave it to them to figure it out and hit their way out of it?

RT: They’ll come out of it. They’ll come out of it.

Q: Is there anything you can do to accelerate that process as a manager? Or do you not look at it that way and it’s just something that every hitter has to get out of?

RT: I think they just have to get out of it on their own. It’s reps, you know? Get their timing down and get some confidence, and off they go.

Q: Do you know what specifics he was doing with Kevin Long this afternoon?

RT: I don’t. I was inside (the clubhouse).

Q: Looking back, last year, you guys did do it. You moved him down (in the lineup) and then eventually brought him back up. Did you feel like once he went down it was almost like a light bulb went off at that point?

RT: No, when I took over we changed the lineup around and almost immediately put him in the leadoff spot.

Q: It was right before that that he was down, right?

RT: Yeah. Like everybody does, he struggled at times. And everybody kept asking, ‘When are you going to move him? Is he going to stay in the leadoff spot?’ We kept him in the leadoff spot because eventually they’re going to come out of it.

Q: Based on his average with runners in scoring position, when is the last time you saw a player hit 46 home runs and not get 100 RBIs?

RT: I don’t know the answer to that question (but) if you’re talking about hitting .080 with runners in scoring position, then why wouldn’t he lead off?

Q: So you’re doing this because he doesn’t hit well with runners in scoring position?

RT: (Laughter)

Q: Bryson Stott’s point is the difference hitting where he is and the lead off spot is one at bat a game. Do you feel that way? Do you preach that to some people?

RT: One at bat a game?

Q: Yeah.

RT: I hope not. I hope we get through the fifth spot four times.

Q: When you talk about someone being a lead off hitter, that only matters in the first inning. In (Stott’s view) after that, anyone can be a lead off hitter.

RT: No doubt.

Q: Is too much attention paid to that?

RT: Yes.

( A few questions about Nick Nelson, Bailey Falter, Matt Strahm and Cristian Pache here… then… )

Q: Just so you know, Schwarber’s lifetime on base percentage when hitting leadoff is .317, that’s not good right?

RT: No.

Q: I love the guy, but you need a little more out of the lead off spot.

RT: We’ll get it.

Q: OK, I’m counting on it.

Q: This is completely unrelated but…

RT: Good.

(more questions… no more about Schwarber).

A few things here.

  1. Thomson has a dry sense of humor, and I’m not certain Howard picks up on all of it sometimes. I think it’s entertaining though as both sides try to poke the bear, if you will.
  2. Eskin is also the guy who brings it back around a second time after the conversation briefly switched to pitching, not that you couldn’t tell by how the questions are asked.
  3. I asked the question about last year as well. Twice the Phillies moved Schwarber out of the leadoff spot for an extended stretch. Both instances came when Joe Girardi was still the manager. The first time, it jump started Schwarber. From April 17 to May 1, a stretch of 13 games, Schwarber slashed .279/.404/.744 with a 1.148 OPS and hit six homers with 13 RBI. The second time, it wasn’t as effective. From May 14-27, another 13 games, Schwarber slashed .191/.359/.381 with a .740 OPS and just two homers and two RBI.
  4. To provide an answer to Howard’s question about 46 homers and less than 100 RBI, the only other player in MLB history to have that many homers and not crack the century mark in RBI was Alfonso Soriano, who had 46 homers and 95 RBI in 2006 for the woeful Washington Nationals.
  5. Thomson is doubling down on his trust in his players. It’s what made everyone believe in this team last year and he’s counting on that again. Just not sure how long you can count on it before it becomes too late, but he deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Two Positives

Trea Turner had a nice game with a double and a homer, so maybe he’s turning the corner, finally. And then it was nice to see this again for the first time since Game 3 of the World Series: