Trea Turner had very little to do with the Phillies’ 6-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday. Yet after the game he was holding himself accountable.

Zack Wheeler, who had a little more to do with the loss, did the same.

If nothing else, the Phillies are an accountable bunch. Accountable to themselves, to each other, and to the organization.

It’s why they believe they can overcome a disappointing 22-25 start to the season.

While accountability is great and all, it’s nearing time where it has to extend beyond that.

Bryce Harper said after the loss to Chicago last Friday that the time for talk has passed, calling for more urgency from every player in the clubhouse. Kyle Schwarber admitted frustration with himself (although he appears to finally be turning things around at the plate), but has added that collectively it’s time to get moving.

In the Phillies’ loss in the final game in San Francisco last week, manager Rob Thomson admitted afterward that he should have called for a bunt with pinch hitter Josh Harrison at the plate and runners on first and second base and nobody out. He didn’t.  Harrison struck out. No runs scored that inning and eventually the Phillies lost.

It’s almost as if the biggest issues are the most fundamental. Mistakes while running the bases. Throwing balls to the wrong base. Not covering the bag in time of the pitchers mound. Dropping easy flips or booting surefire groundouts. Swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. Not having enough productive outs. Not moving runners. Making the wrong call on what to do in a certain situation – like bunting or stealing. Not hitting with RISP.

These are all small errors in decision-making that, when compounded, lead to playing losing baseball, which, no doubt you’ve noticed, has been the Phillies’ way through 47 games.

That said, the one thing fans can cling to is that fundamental mistakes, while the most aggravating because they should be few and far between at the sport’s highest level, are the easiest to fix – because they are likely being borne out of “trying to do too much,” which has seemingly been Thomson’s answer for every player’s mistakes/struggles this season.

And while not quite to the all-time Andy Reid level of clichés Philadelphia fans never want to hear again like, “Gotta do a better job” or “make sure we put the players in a better position to make plays,” Thomson’s “trying to do too much” is starting to be… too much.

It’s not that he’s wrong. The Phillies are “trying to do too much,” which is the sanitized way of saying they’re pressing. And when that happens, you are prone to make mistakes you usually wouldn’t otherwise.

But constantly going to it as an answer almost makes it seem like an acceptable excuse.

It’s not. I know it’s not. I know conversations are being had between coaches and players every day. I’m down there. I see it or I hear about it and I understand the standard players are held to by the teams they play for at the major league level.

A kick in the ass hurts just a little more than a slap on the wrist, and sometimes, the former is more necessary than the latter.

So when you hear Turner say about his performance to date, “I’m honest with myself, I’ve sucked,” or when you hear Wheeler say he’s been struggling with his execution, which manifested on pitches up in the zone against Arizona and hear him say, “That’s on me,” and “I wouldn’t say it’s mechanical. I just got to get it up there and not be afraid to miss up,” or when asked about his start to the season, you hear Schwarber joke, “Can it be June tomorrow,” you know they are all feeling the pressure to snap out of it.

For whatever reason they haven’t.

Take the pitchers, for example, who are likely putting the weight of the world on their shoulders every inning, as the team tries to push through this collective whole stretch of bad baseball:

That’s an alarming rate of failure to have shutdown innings. And it’s been a collective failing, too. Both starters and relievers are giving up the runs – including guys who have pitched really well out of the bullpen this season.

While here or there it could be from a mechanical glitch, or just simply throwing the wrong pitch to the wrong batter at the wrong time, to have it happen with this frequency is a result of pressing.

Take the hitters, for example, who have suddenly forgotten how to hit against left-handed pitchers.

Before the start of Monday’s game, I asked Thomson about their struggles against lefties, in particular, right-handed hitters who are usually very good against lefties. Here was the response:

“I’ve gone back and looked through the lefties we’ve faced, and they’re all really good,” Thomson said. “There’s only been a couple where you say, ‘we don’t know too much about him.” …so you gotta give the pitchers some credit, but there’s times when the the guys are trying to do too much and press and get out of the zone.”

As the kids say, you can give those pitchers their flowers all you want – and it may be true. They may be really good – but sometimes, in the mano a mano world of pitcher versus batter, the batter can win, too. And too often the Phillies have not against lefties.

Teams are throwing lefties at them in key spots. Arizona saved both of their lefty relievers Monday for the end of the game, meaning the Phillies only had 1 2/3 innings in the game where they weren’t facing a lefty, and once Thomson turned to Brandon Marsh and Kody Clemens off the bench, the matchup advantage clearly shifted to the Diamondbacks.

Those matchups wouldn’t matter if the Phillies would hit lefties – which, ironically, most of their lefthanders have been doing this season. It’s the righties, who are traditional lefty killers, that aren’t hitting them.

Case in point. Bryson Stott:

Stott is slashing .321/.356./446 with an .802 OPS against lefties this season. That homer trimmed the Arizona lead to 3-2.

He isn’t alone. Consider Schwarber started the power party with this moonshot:

Schwarber doesn’t really hit lefties well in general, but he is boom our bust. He now has six homers this season off lefty pitchers in just 69 plate appearances.

Then there’s Bryce Harper, who it seems can hit everybody. Technically he’s off to a slow start against lefties, in a very limited sample size for him this season, but historically he slashes .259/.359/.452 with an .811 OPS against southpaws.

The bigger issue is the guys who have been in the lineup for the entire season, who historically kill lefties, who are coming up completely empty. Take a look:

Trea Turner

  • Career: .309/.368/.501; .868 OPS
  • 2023: .197/.279/.344; .624 OPS

Nick Castellanos

  • Career: .300/.350/.517; .866 OPS
  • 2023: .264/.316/.434; .750 OPS

J.T. Realmuto

  • Career: .257/.326/.443; .769 OPS
  • 2023: .204/.218/.352; .570 OPS

Alec Bohm

  • Career: .310/.363/.493; .857 OPS
  • 2023: .259/.293/.463; .756 OPS

It’s not like these guys suddenly forgot how to hit. It’s not like they all went off the proverbial cliff Thelma and Louise style, holding hands. Based on track record, they likely will figure it out.

Take Turner, for instance. He’s said his swing has felt better for about three weeks now, but that his decision-making at the plate has been way off. He was given a day off Saturday to reset.

His first at bat Sunday was a 10-pitch battle with tough Cubs lefty Justin Steele before Turner eventually went down swinging. the next two plate appearances weren’t good at all, but then he ripped a double to right field in his final at bat.

On Monday, he again started with a long at bat against Tommy Henry, again striking out on seven pitches. He then had two more outs in the middle innings before an RBI single in the seventh, resulting in his first hit with RISP since April 19,  and then he worked a walk in the ninth inning.

It’s just 2-for-8 with a walk and an RBI over two games, but five competitive at bats and getting a key hit against Arizona that scored a run could be a sign he’s starting to come out of it.

Schwarber has had a similar feel to his past several games. While the batting average is still an eyesore, in the past seven games he’s slashing .167/.483/.667 for an OPS of 1.150 with three homers and six RBI. He has reached base safely in 14 of 29 plate appearances.

Maybe Thomson has been right to be patient with some of these guys all along. Let them push through the pain of early-season struggles to get where they need to go. And maybe they will get there and by the All-Star break we’ll all be laughing about the first two months of the season.

There’s a lot riding on the next nine games. Two more with the Diamondbacks ad then a 10-game road trip, the first seven of which will be litmus testing for the Phillies against the Braves and Mets.

Fighting through it and slowly working your way out of it won’t be acceptable 10 days from now. It’s time to deliver. It’s time to show everyone who the Phillies are.

Nike makes the uniforms for all the MLB teams these days, maybe the Phillies can ask Nike to help them with designing their narratives too. Because It’s time to stop “trying to do too much” and to simply just do it.