The Philadelphia Phillies made history for all the wrong reasons during a three-game sweep in Houston last week.
Philadelphia pitchers allowed only five runs total in the three games at Daikin Park Tuesday through Thursday. Unfortunately, that was four runs more than the Phillies hitters could muster, as the team dropped the first game 1-0, the second 2-0, and the finale 2-1.
According to Paul Casella of MLB.com, the Phillies became just the 10th team in Major League Baseball history to be swept in a three-game series despite giving up no more than five runs overall.
Philadelphia rebounded to take two out of three in Atlanta over the weekend, outscoring the host Braves by a score of 16-7. However, that total is misleading, as most of those runs came in the 13-0 blowout on Friday. The Phillies offense again went cold for the final games of the road trip, as the team fell 6-1 on Saturday before eking out a 2-1 win on Sunday.
Phillies Insider Suggests Otto Kemp Could Provide ‘Offensive Fix’ For Team
So concerns over the bats led off Monday’s edition of “The Phillies Show,” the podcast co-hosted by longtime Phillies journalists Todd Zolecki and Jim Salisbury, along with former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr., who is currently the color commentator for Phillies TV broadcasts. The trio lamented the failure of the team wasting the outstanding efforts of its pitching staff with such an anemic offense.
“It’s a weird, weird hitting lineup,” Amaro said. “I mean, it’s as simple as that, it’s just very strange.”
Just like the Phillies have been over the last several seasons with the current core of hitters, including Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, JT Realmuto and Nick Castellanos.
“They got no-hit in a World Series game,” Salisbury noted, referencing the Game 4 loss to Houston in 2022. “They can absolutely disappear for days on end.”
But even with the trade deadline approaching at the end of July, the analysts downplayed the potential for Philadelphia to realistically acquire a difference maker to fit in its lineup. Perhaps a right-handed bat that can platoon in the outfield, but none of the outfielders that are rumored to be available seem worth the likely price.
“We said this last year, if you’re going to win it, you’re going to win it with your big boys,” Salisbury said. “Your big boys have to get you there, the guys that are making the big bucks, the guys that you targeted, you know, two, three, four years ago, bringing them toward this point. It all has to come together with the guys here.”
Fortunately, Amaro said, one of the guys already here could provide Philadelphia with its answer.
“I tell you who the offensive fix is, and he’s put together some really good at-bats, is Otto Kemp,” Amaro said.
Analysts Urge Phillies to Keep Otto Kemp in Lineup After Bryce Harper Returns
An undrafted free agent signed in 2022, Kemp moved quickly through the Phillies farm system, including a four-team romp in 2024 that saw Kemp open the season with Single-A Clearwater and finish with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. After tearing the cover off the ball with a .313/.416/.594 through 58 games at Lehigh Valley this season, Kemp was called up after Bryce Harper went on the injured list, making his Major League debut on June 7.
In 69 at-bats over 20 games, the right-hander has 17 hits, including four doubles and a homer, with 10 RBIs. He came up as a third baseman, but Kemp played mostly at first while Harper was sidelined.
The Phillies reactivated Harper on Monday, but David Murphy of the Philadelphia Inquirer urged the Phillies to find another way to keep Kemp’s bat in the lineup. Even if it means putting Schwarber in left field and having Kemp DH.
“Here’s a fact to chew on,” Murphy noted. “Of the 74 runs that the Phillies have scored in their last 16 games, Kemp has scored or driven in 17 of them. That’s nearly a quarter of all of their runs.”
Amaro would agree with that sentiment.
“He can’t carry this team, but he’s the type of hitter that they sort of are looking for,” Amaro said. “Someone who has quality at-bats, someone who stays in the strike zone, somebody who hits the ball all over the field. He’s not a proven entity by any means. He’s growing, and he might get beat up for a while, but that’s the type of hitter that you’re sort of looking for, somebody who can make contact at the right time and move the ball around the field and have an idea at the plate.”
An idea of how to score more than one run in a three-game series.
Phillies May Already Have Answer for Historic Offensive Impotence