Watch live: Twins host Phillies in the MLB Free Game of the Day
A week ago, I wrote about the Philadelphia Phillies free-falling back to normal. At that point, on June 16, their June record was 4-10. Seven days later, their record is — you guessed it — 4-17. Those seven games haven’t been against the most fearsome teams in baseball, either. They played one game against the Toronto Blue Jays, and then faced the Arizona Diamondbacks for four games, and are about to finish out a series with the Minnesota Twins. They’ve lost every one of those games.
You can watch as the Phillies try to prevent the Twins from sweeping them, because it’s Yahoo Sports’ MLB Free Game of the Day. The game, which starts at 1:10 p.m. ET, can be streamed on Yahoo’s Sports Home, MLB index, video home and right here in this very post. Local blackouts apply.
When a team is losing this much, everything has to be going wrong, and it is. Their offense has been pretty terrible, despite a 10-run outburst against the Twins on Tuesday (they lost that game, somehow). Shortstop Freddy Galvis is hitting just .108 in June, and his defensive miscues are starting to feel like a feature, not a bug. Ryan Howard, who has been limited in his at-bats since the ascendence of Tommy Joseph, couldn’t even get a hit in the Phillies’ 10-run game. He’s hitting .143/.199/.331 overall, and his June stats are too bad to even list.
And that’s not all. Utility infielder Andres Blanco has been seeing more playing time, and while he was excellent in limited use, playing him more has exposed him and cratered his average. Third baseman Maikel Franco seems lost, and Joseph, who supplanted Howard at first base, has hit just .208 in June. (Though at least he has five homers in that time.)
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Starting pitching has been a singular nightmare. Their young ace Aaron Nola has had three utterly atrocious starts in a row, raising his ERA by a run and a half. He gave up eight runs in each of his last two starts. and his ERA for June is 9.77. Adam Morgan has made 11 starts and holds a 6.55 ERA. Opponents are hitting .320 off him. And the bullpen, which was recently their strongest asset, has been vomiting up runs at will.
There is a tiny glimmer of hope. Vince Velasquez, who authored the best pitching performance of the Phillies’ season back in April, is ready to come off the disabled list after a biceps strain. Well, he says he’s ready. His rehab start at Double-A Reading went very well, with his velocity closer to where it should be. The Phillies might want him to make another rehab start, or they could activate him to provide relief to a struggling rotation.
The Phillies will win another game at some point. They certainly won’t lose forever. But considering that they head to the Bay Area to play the San Francisco Giants over the weekend, their best chance to snap that nine-game losing streak is probably today.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
