The way it happened was almost poetic justice. The Phillies started a 5-game series against the Washington Nationals on Monday with their backs against the walls.
They unceremoniously lost the first game by a score of 7-2. A bullpen game started by Blake Parker would be the final nail in the coffin.
The Phillies have been sent home for the month of October by the hands of Bryce Harper’s former team.
Thank God.
The Phillies have been standing 3 steps behind the playoff scene since the end of July. Every so often, they’d do something that made us think, “hmmm this might be the streak they’ve been waiting for!”.
The Phillies lose series against the White Sox, Giants, and Diamondbacks. They follow up those series with a sweep of the Chicago Cubs and win the first game against the Padres at home. They follow that with 2 losses against the Padres AND FOLLOW THAT with their first series win in Boston this millennium.
For the sake of the reading audience, I won’t explain what happened in the next game. The Phillies scored 11 and didn’t win. That’s all I say.
The schedule flipped to September and so did the Phillies’ luck…or so it seemed. It started with a 3-game winning streak, one against the Mets and 2 against the Reds.
Things looked up until they went right back down, losing the last 2 games of a 4-game series against the Reds and the first game of the Mets series.
The Phillies even somehow went 5-3 against the Braves to secure a winning record against the division leaders for the season.
Even we here at Philly Sports Network held some small ember of hope up until several days ago. Writer Matt Stinger wrote about how the Phillies kept dragging us in just a few days ago.
They did, but now we can all look to the offseason with crazy expectations.
Fire Kapler and hire Maddon? Sure.
Sign Gerrit Cole? Absolutely.
Sign Anthony Rendon and trade Alec Bohm for pitching? Whatever.
Let your mind run free. You don’t have to worry about the Phillies anymore.
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
