Phillies Superstar Explains Why They Haven't Had 'Players Only Meeting'

The Philadelphia Phillies are in a rut, but one of their superstar explains why they don't need to have a meeting to discuss things.

Jul 21, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner (7) enters the dugout to play the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

It has not been a pretty stretch of play by the Philadelphia Phillies to close out the month of July.

After sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers that sent a message to the baseball world, they have completely fallen from grace, getting humiliated by the Oakland Athletics before the All-Star break that began their streak of five consecutive series losses.

Virtually every player on this team is in a rut right now, and with a tough stretch to begin August where they are on the road for 10 games, if they don't turn things around it could get ugly very fast.

Still, there doesn't seem to be a lot of panic within this veteran clubhouse.

Bryce Harper sent a message to the team about what everyone has to accomplish on this extended road trip, and they seem ready to put their recent struggles behind them.

One thing the Phillies haven't done is hold a classic "players only meeting."

It seems like whenever things are going wrong for teams around the league, reports come out that the players have called a meeting like this where only they are present as they try to figure out their issues.

Trea Turner discussed why Philadelphia doesn't think they need to do that.

"No ... Those things are for when guys are being lazy ... you have a bad culture ... you're not working, you're not putting the work in. We don't do those things. We work our asses off. We're in the cage ... we're out in the field ... we're doing all sorts of things. It's just, we're playing bad. That's what it comes down to," he explained to reporters per Tim Kelly of Phillies Nation.

For what it's worth, that appears to be the case.

The Phillies do work hard to prepare and are clearly motivated whenever they are out on the field.

What's happening to them right now is just some poor variance that should be expected throughout the course of a long, 162-game season that Major League Baseball presents.

Even-keeled manager Rob Thomson isn't alarmed by what's going on since he has a front-row seat to everything on a daily basis. If something was taking place where the players were slacking off or not doing what it takes to be successful, that would have been addressed by him or the multiple veterans on this team.

Instead, he reiterated what they have to do to turn things around.

"You've got to just try to do the things that you do best, and not try to do too much. So get strikes ... hit strikes ... use the field ... pass the baton. If you're a pitcher, you gotta throw strikes, you got to trust yourself. Trust your stuff and attack people. And try not to do too much," Thomson said.

Philadelphia will have an opportunity to get to work on Friday as they take on the Seattle Mariners after their day off that hopefully allowed them to get their minds ready for this important stretch.