That Balls Outta Here
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Phillies series loss to Marlins foreshadows rough final month

By John Town

MIAMI, FLORIDA - AUGUST 25: Aaron Nola #27 of the Philadelphia Phillies reacts in the dugout during a game against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on August 25, 2019 in Miami, Florida. Teams are wearing special color schemed uniforms with players choosing nicknames to display for Players' Weekend. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA - AUGUST 25: Aaron Nola #27 of the Philadelphia Phillies reacts in the dugout during a game against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on August 25, 2019 in Miami, Florida. Teams are wearing special color schemed uniforms with players choosing nicknames to display for Players' Weekend. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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The Phillies continued to struggle against the NL-worst Marlins, likely foreshadowing what fans should expect the last month of the season.

Heading into this weekend, the Phillies should have been hoping to get a series win, if not a sweep, out of their trip to Miami. Instead, they left with just one win under their belt and no closer to playoff contention.

For some reason, the Marlins play better (or Philadelphia plays worse) compared to when they face other competition. Following Sunday’s action, the Marlins now are 9-7 against Philadelphia. Of all the teams Miami has played multiple series against this season, they only have a better record against the Padres at 4-2.

Both of Philadelphia’s losses in the series were brutal in their own fashion. Friday night, they lost despite taking a 7-0 lead by the top of the third. Vince Velasquez blew that lead in the bottom of the third and Nick Pivetta, Ranger Suarez, and Jared Hughes surrendered 12 unanswered runs on the way to a 19-11 final score.

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Sunday’s loss did not play out at all the same, although it still wound up leaving a similar pit in your stomach. Aaron Nola and Elieser Hernandez traded five scoreless frames before Rhys Hoskins finally opened the scoring with a two-run home run in the top of the sixth.

Unfortunately, Nola cracked as well in the bottom of the sixth, giving up three runs. Philadelphia could only manage two more baserunners for the rest of the game with Scott Kingery getting caught stealing to end the seventh inning. Altogether, Philadelphia managed just four hits and one walk in Sunday’s loss despite facing a starter who had a 5.18 ERA coming into the game.

After watching yet another winnable series slip by, the outlook for the final month of the season only gets worse. With just 33 games remaining, it’s unlikely a turnaround comes out of nowhere. Despite being just 1.5 games out of the second wild-card spot, their playoff odds are just 8.5% according to Fangraphs. Not exactly a sunny outlook.

dark. Next. Phillies clearly at wits end with Nick Pivetta

Once again, we are left with a team that is limping to the finish line of the season. Since June started, they are 34-38, and there’s a decent chance they end the year below .500 yet again. If this weekend’s series against the Marlins is any indication, September will be yet another slog.

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