On August 28th, Kyle Schwarber hit four home runs in the Phillies’ 19-4 drubbing of the Atlanta Braves.
The Phillies were rolling
along to another division title and all was wonderful in the land. The Zack Wheeler news had sunken in and the rest of the roster seemed to know that they had to step their game up to make up for the absence of their ace.
Bryce Harper had seemingly picked up as well. The early season power that seemed to be missing from the entirety of the team had returned for them, Harper someone who looked like he had gotten back on track as well. He homered that night as well for the Phillies and saw his slugging percentage climb to .505. Considering that it was at .398 in early May, that climb was arduous and difficult to take in, yet he was performing like the star he is.
Trea Turner’s injury could have broken this team, his season interrupted by a grabbed hamstring that threatened to derail all that he and the team had worked for. He returned for a few at bats on the final day of the regular season, but by all accounts, he looked good in his rehab and was setting up to come back to a lineup that would need him desperately in the divisional series against the Dodgers.
In Game 1, the trio went 1 for 11 with six strikeouts and looked rather bad in doing so.
The loss to the Dodgers was tough. Gut wrenching, back breaking, call it what you want, but it was a bad loss all the way around. The bullpen took some warranted heat once the Dodgers had recorded the final out, the manager on the receiving end of all valid criticism for the decisions he made to put the team in the position they were in.
Yet once again, the three hitters at the top of the lineup came up empty when they were called upon and contributed nothing of substance. If the Phillies are going to come back from this early 1-0 series deficit, it’s time for these three stars to put the offense on their collective backs and take over the series.
Since Schwarber’s four home run game, he ended the season on a 21 for 104 (126 PA) run with seven home runs, 13 RBI and a mind boggling 41 strikeouts. Those slumps that he seems to find himself in for long periods looks as though it is here and he’s struggling to get out of it. In that same stretch of time, Harper has gone 22 for 97 (113 PA) with five home runs and 12 RBI. There really is no way around it – these two have been struggling for quite a while now. Turner’s injury meant he missed valuable ramp up time to get himself into playing shape before facing a team like the Dodgers, time that looked very much missed during his at bats last night. Slumps happen, but their struggles are not something that have just crept up on them.
The most damning thing has been this trio’s inability to hit when called upon in the playoffs. Since they won Game 5 of the 2023 NLCS, here is how they have performed in the playoffs:
Turner: 3 for 26, 2 runs scored, 0 extra base hits, 7 strikeouts
Schwarber: 3 for 25, 2 runs scored, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 12 strikeouts
Harper: 5 for 23, 3 runs scored, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 10 strikeouts
Folks.
That ain’t gonna get it done.
Now, last night in Game 1, the Dodgers also saw their stars turtle up as well when called upon at the plate. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman were 1 for 12, Ohtani obviously struck out four times. In the playoffs, the quality of pitching is dramatically heightened and sometimes even the stars are going to be held in check. Choose any trio of big name players in any consecutive playoff game series and you’ll probably find numbers closer to what Turner, Schwarber and Harper have produced.
But all the team produced videos, the fan made edits, can’t mask the fact that the trio at the top of the Phillies order have not hit in the playoffs for some time now. It’s a small sample size to be sure and there has to be some credit given to the opposition for developing and executing gameplans against them. Yet the issue is starting them right in the face.
For the Phillies to get back into this and make it a series, they must do better. There cannot be droughts like we’ve seen lately. There has to be production.
Otherwise, it’s going to be another long offseason of questions.
