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It’s safe to say that the Philadelphia Phillies have been one of MLB‘s more successful teams over the past few seasons. Entering 2024, the storied franchise is coming off back-to-back wild card appearances, capturing the National League pennant in 2022. However, this season hasn’t quite started with a bang for the ballclub, and at least one pundit believes he knows why.
Columnist Will Leitch of MLB.com recently updated his “Major League Baseball Power Rankings”, dropping Philly from his fourth-highest-ranked team down to the sixth spot. He pointed out the team’s slumping lineup – notably shortstop Trea Turner. Leitch even included a jab at the billboards that Turner had displayed around the Philadelphia area last season, as a way to show appreciation to the team’s fans.
“Perhaps Trea Turner needs to put up another billboard?” Leitch wrote in his notes on Monday. “He’s off to a tough start again in Philly, hitting .222 with no homers and 12 strikeouts so far.”
“Hard to single him out, though: The Phillies are hitting only .229 as a team.”
Coming Up Empty at the Plate
Leitch’s assessment of the offense is accurate, based on the early season numbers. The powerful Phillies stood at just 4-5 through their first nine games of the year. Philly faced the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds in back-to-back home series during that span.
In those showdowns last week, they were outscored 25-12 in the first three games against Atlanta – their biggest division rival. The Phils did have one game where they scored in double digits on offense, only to lose to Cincy in a slugfest, 14-13.
“I think there’s a lot of positive things to take away from the homestand, but at the end of the day, we wanted to finish better than 2-4,” Kyle Schwarber said. “We’ve got a good challenge ahead here on the road.”
Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson voiced his frustration to Philadelphia Inquirer writer Scott Lauber. He says that he knows his team can play much better than they’ve shown thus far in 2024 – especially at the plate.
“We’re a better offensive club than we’re showing — and it’ll come,” Thomson asserted. “I have all the confidence in the world.”
Bryce Harper Remains the Phillies’ Reliable Superstar
Even seven-time All-Star outfielder Bryce Harper fell into a bit of a slump to start the year, before putting on a power display, with three home runs and six RBI on April 3 against Cincinnati. Afterward, he commented on his approach at the plate this season and breaking out of his early, offensive woes.
“I’ve actually felt really good,” Harper said about his performance thus far. “Obviously, it’s not the results you want. I thought I had some pretty good swings in the Atlanta series, and pretty good swings yesterday as well. I’m just trying to build that up and keep this going.”
Perhaps the Phillies took heed of writer Will Leitch’s words because their bats awoke a bit in the series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals. They banged out 10 hits and defeated the Redbirds, 5-3.
Philadelphia (5-5) will complete a three-game set in St. Louis (5-6), before returning home for four games with in-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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