The Philadelphia Phillies' Dead Weight Is Dragging Them Down

Over the latest losing skid the Philadelphia Phillies have gone on, a few key hitters in the lineup have failed to pull their weight.

The past two weeks of Philadelphia Phillies baseball have been bad. There's no two ways about it. 

From Sept. 6-14, Philadelphia won seven of eight against the Nationals and the Marlins. They outscored their opponents 40-26, scoring an average of five runs per game. 

Following that strong stretch, the Phillies held the second Wild Card spot, with a 2.5-game lead over the Padres and a 4.5-game lead over the Brewers. With the tiebreaker in their possession, they had, essentially, a 5.5-game cushion with 20 left to play.

Since then, they have gone 3-9. They have been outscored 63-48. The pitching staff has an ERA of 5.06. The offense is averaging just four runs per game. It seems like everything is crumbling in Philadelphia as the Phillies slowly lose their grasp on a postseason berth. 

But while it may seem like everything is falling apart, the truth is that this team's struggles are much more localized. Despite their high earned run average, the pitching staff really hasn't been the problem. Indeed, if you remove that one catastrophic 18-11 game against Toronto, the pitchers have a 4.03 ERA over the past two weeks. That figure is much closer to the underlying numbers - a 3.97 FIP, 3.63 xFIP, and 3.62 SIERA.

The offense, on the other hand, looks a whole lot worse if you ignore that Blue Jays contest. With those 11 runs removed from the equation, the Phillies are averaging just 3.36 runs per game. Since Sept. 15, they have scored three runs or fewer on eight separate occasions. To put it bluntly, that's absolutely pathetic.

Yet once again, the problem is more localized than that. It's not a team-wide problem. Most of the lineup has actually been quite good lately. Schwarber, Hoskins, Realmuto, and Marsh all have strong numbers. Alec Bohm and Matt Vierling have been satisfactory. Dalton Guthrie has done a nice job in limited plate appearances. Nick Castellanos has hit well in his two games back. 

Three Phillies hitters, however, have struggled tremendously over the past couple weeks: Jean Segura, Bryson Stott, and Bryce Harper.

That trio is hitting a combined .164 (21-for-128). They have just six extra-base hits. Harper and Stott have struck out a combined 30 times. Segura has grounded into two double plays. 

Phillies middle infielders Bryson Stott and Jean Segura are both slumping these days / © Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports

As fate would have it, those three have also come up to bat more often with runners on base than any of their other teammates. In the past twelve games, they have had a combined 75 PA with runners on. They also lead the team in plate appearances with runners in scoring position (43 PA total).

It makes some sense why Harper, Segura, and Stott have had the most opportunities with runners on base. The rest of the lineup is getting on base in front of them, while these three have not been returning the favor and reaching base for their teammates. Still, it's a huge problem when the three guys who are most likely to be up to bat with runners to drive in are flailing this badly. 

In order to right the ship, the Phillies need to play better baseball all around. They need to blow fewer leads, play better defense, and score more runs. Most importantly, however, they need Stott, Segura, and Harper to hit. If those three can figure things out, this is still a postseason caliber team. But they need to do it quick. Time is starting to run out. 

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