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Kincade & Salciunas: Weekdays 6am – 10am

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Author Pat Egan

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6 Good, Bad, or Ugly Takeaways From The Loss to the Braves

That was a bit of a downer. Phillies fans were riding high after last week. They took 3 of 4 from the Diamondbacks, before sweeping the weekend series in Oakland. Not to mention they were coming off a series win over the Dodgers. The bats came to life, the bullpen was mowing people down, and the rotation, besides Aaron Nola, was dealing. Then last night’s game vs the Braves happened. Suddenly Phillies fans are miserable again after they dropped game 1 of a 3-game series vs the NL East leaders.

With how far back they are from the Braves, every loss stings. They can of course still claw back, there are still 3 months. They came back from 7 games back vs the Mets in 2007. But it is hard to see this Braves team collapsing. And when you lose like they did last night, with a bullpen collapse, it hurts a bit more.

Already this morning we have seen people calling in upset about everything Phillies. One loss vs the Braves was all it took to expend the goodwill they built up last night. It is just one game. So while the loss was a letdown, it should be taken with a grain of salt. But there are still takeaways from the game. Some of those takeaways are reasons the be concerned. But some are reasons for us to be positive despite the loss.

Here are 7 of the big takeaways from last night’s loss. Some were good, others bad, and the rest were just ugly:

  • The Good- Ranger Suarez is Still Dealing

    Yes, they lost. But man did Ranger Suarez deal vs yet another great lineup. That is now 4 consecutive great starts. First, he dealt against the Nationals. He mowed down the Dodgers. Then he dominated vs the Diamondbacks. Now last night he battled vs the Braves.

    6 innings, just 1 run allowed, and only 4 hits. He has gone at least 6 innings while only allowing 1 run in all 4 of his starts in June. In 3 of them, he allowed just 4 hits. And in the last 3, he struck out at least 7 guys. He is looking like an Ace. The only run he gave up last night was a solo shot by Austin Riley. Beyond that, he shut the Braves down.

    After the slow start due to missing the first month and all of Spring Training, he has found his groove.

    We saw him dominate in the playoffs last year. And now he is picking up where he left off. Forget being a good 3rd starter, we may be seeing Ranger Suarez be turning into a true Ace.

  • The Bad- Dumb Base Running

    I get the need to try and take an extra base. On the surface, it seems like JT Realmuto was just trying to do what he can to help the team. And that is better than when guys don’t run hard enough. But there is a difference between aggressive and dumb. And JT crossed that line last night.

    Down 3 runs in the 8th, he hit a 2-out single that moved Nick Castellnaos over to 3rd. It should have set them up with runners on first and 3rd, with Stott representing the tying run at the plate. Instead, JT tried to take 2nd base and was called out. Now he may have actually been safe. But it doesn’t matter. Making the final out of the inning, and ending the rally, was not worth the potential boost from him being at 2nd instead of first.

  • The Ugly- Trea Turner Has Gone Cold Again

    After the Diamondbacks series, we thought Trea Turner had finally arrived. His start to the season was brutal. We were promised an MVP candidate and the guy who showed up over the 1st two months was hardly playable. Turner was hitting .237 going into the recent Dodgers series. And his fielding left a lot to be desired too.

    But things were starting to turn around. He went 11-29 in the 7 games vs the Dodgers and DBacks. That was to go with his 5 steals over those games. But the last 4 games were more of the same from April and May. Vs the Athletics and now the one game vs the Braves he is 2 for 17. It is a small sample size, but so was his mini hot streak. What is not a small sample size is him hitting .244  this deep into the season, with an OBP of just .293. The speed is still there because speed doesn’t slump. But you cant use the speed if you don’t get on base. And right now he is killing them at the plate.

    He is way too talented to keep playing like this. That is what we keep telling ourselves. But here we are near the end of June, and he is still hitting like this.

    Trea Turner #7 of the Philadelphia Phillies hits a double against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning of a game at Citizens Bank Park on June 11, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

    (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

  • The Good- Promising Game By Brandon Marsh

    Brandon Marsh started the season on fire. Through April he may have genuinely been one of the best hitters in baseball. His slash line after the first month was .321/.415/.617/ 1.032. Those are MVP-caliber numbers. He has struggled at the plate in  May and June though. His slugging percentage these last 2 months is under. 300, and his average is under the Mendoza Line.

    But last night was a good sign. Vs a tough pitcher in Spencer Strider he went 3-4 with one of those hits being a double. He was squaring up some balls over the weekend too. We may finally be seeing him breaking out of his awful slump. Maybe the threat Christian Pache represents to his playing time was what it took for him to turn it around.

    Even if he doesn’t reach what he was doing in April if he can be half that good he will return to being a valuable part of the lineup. Because it is hard to justify him playing every day if he keeps hitting like he did in May and June.

    Brandon Marsh #16 of the Philadelphia Phillies reacts after striking out in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park on June 20, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Braves won 4-2.

    (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

  • The Bad- Hitting with runners in scoring position

    Hitting when guys were in scoring position was an issue for the Phillies most of this season. That turned around in a big way over the recent hot streak. But it reared its ugly head again last night. Despite 11 hits, they drove in just 2 runs. They were 1-12 last night with RISP. That can’t happen.

    The fact they did so much better than that the past couple of weeks makes me willing to give them a small pass for it last night. But given how bad they were at that in April and May, it is worth keeping an eye on. They cant slide back into bad habits again after doing so well over the past couple of weeks. This lineup has too much talent to continually come up small with chances to drive in runs. Just one more timely hit last night may have been enough to turn things around.

    Kyle Schwarber #12 of the Philadelphia Phillies reacts after striking out to end the game against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park on June 20, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Braves won the game 4-2.

    Kyle Schwarber #12 of the Philadelphia Phillies reacts after striking out to end the game against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park on June 20, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Braves won the game 4-2. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

  • The Ugly- Rob Thomson's Use of The Bullpen

    This was the most baffling part of last night’s loss. It’s a tie game. You are playing one of the best-hitting teams in the league. And in the 7th inning, with Ronald Acuna up 4th, you put in Jeff Hoffman? Hoffman quickly gave up 2 runs, and the Phillies were never able to dig out of that.

    Thomson told us after the game many of the usual guys were not available to come out of the pen tonight. If that is the case, okay. But is Hoffman really your best option? You are coming off a day off. It is a game vs your rival. Who you are locked in a division race in. By the way one you are already very far behind in. It just feels like they waved the white flag in a tie game. None of your main guys were available off of a day off? That just seems hard to believe.

Pat is Philly through and through, having grown up in the Oxford Circle of Northeast Philadelphia. He attended Cardinal Dougherty High School, and it was at CD that a teacher suggested he should pursue a career in sports radio. He worked his way up the ranks and joined the morning show in June of 2020. As a content creator for 97.5 The Fanatic he writes about Eagles, Sixers, Phillies and Flyers. Follow Pat on Twitter @Pat_Egan

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