‘There’s a lot of weird stuff going on’ – Phillies lose another lead

‘There’s a lot of weird stuff going on’ – Phillies lose another lead originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia

LOS ANGELES — The Phillies opened a crucial series at Dodger Stadium the same way they opened the previous six: with a disheartening loss.

After taking a two-run lead in the top of the second, the Phils gave it back and more in the bottom of the third when Aaron Nola allowed hits to the Dodgers’ 7-8-9 hitters and was victimized by the top en route to four runs. He missed the middle with his fastball, hit a few balls and the Dodgers made loud contact. A two-run lead became a two-run deficit and the Dodgers led the rest of the way, defeating the Phillies 5-3.

There are still 50 games to go, but this is an important three-game set with potentially long-term ramifications. The Phils maintained the best record in the National League all summer, but are now just a half-game ahead of the Dodgers in home-field advantage during the National League playoffs.

There was no talk of “just one more series” before the game.

“It’s a great series. It’s the best record, it could be,” said coach Rob Thomson. “Also head-to-head might be in place. I certainly want to win this series.”

The Phillies, already with three wins over the Dodgers, cannot lose the head-to-head tiebreaker. They would win with just one win in LA this week. If the Dodgers win, the teams will have split the six meetings and the second tiebreaker – a record against teams in their league outside their division – could come into play.

The Phillies have lost 14 of 19 and are 66-46. The Dodgers are 66-47.

“Am I? No, I’m not aware of the classification,” said Nick Castellanos. “I can’t speak on behalf of the team, but the way I do this is we have a baseball game tomorrow, and if we do the best we can to prepare, that puts us in the best position to win.

“We’re working right now. I think we’re just discouraged. But I will say our dugout was really good today. All of our attention was more on the field than on our iPads. I think we were more in the competition. It was a good baseball game . A few things here, a few things there and it changes. But I feel like they beat us today, we didn’t beat ourselves realizing there’s a good baseball team there.”

These are the Phils’ last seven series starts:

· 6-2 loss to the A’s at home after scoring first

· 8-7 loss to Pirates after holding two different leads through three runs

· 7-2 loss to the Twins after scoring the first two runs

· 3-1 loss to the Guardians on a silent and attacking night

· 14-4 choke by the Yankees

· 10-2 choke by Mariners

· 5-3 loss to the Dodgers after scoring the first two runs

Monday was the fifth time in 16 games since the All-Star break that the Phillies scored first but lost. They made it 45-15 in the first half when they took the lead of the game and are just 4-5 since halftime.

“There are a lot of weird things happening that weren’t happening at the beginning of the year and you just have to fight through it,” Thomson said.

They appeared to create some momentum of their own in the top of the second when Castellanos tripled off the wall immediately into center with two outs and Bryson Stott followed by creating two runs with his legs. Stott hit a chopper back to the mound and then aggressively took third base on a single to left field by Austin Hays, allowing Hays to advance to second. Stott scored and Hays moved up a base two pitches later as the NL leader in wild pitches, Tyler Glasnow, got one open.

Glasnow was insightful outside of that little stumble. He retired 10 consecutive times after Hays’ single and struck out nine in six innings.

“His fastball is heavy,” Castellanos said. “He’s great at getting down the mound and had a good handle on his off-speed stuff. He held that corner down really well and for lefties, it looked like he had that down and inside pitch working well. … You have less time to react just because of how big he is and how electric his stuff is.”

Trea Turner, who was locked up for a solid month from mid-June to mid-July, is really struggling. He went 0-for-4 on Monday, striking out his first two at-bats and then stranding a runner with no one out in the sixth and eighth innings of a close game. Turner is 9-for-60 in his last 14 games, falling from .347 to .308.

Shohei Ohtani hit a solo home run off Tanner Banks in the bottom of the eighth to give the Dodgers an extra run of insurance, and after Castellanos led off the ninth with an opposite-field single, Stott, Hays and Garrett Stubbs hit corn cans for the center field for end-of-game pop-ups. JT Realmuto was on the bench, but Thomson didn’t turn to him for a decisive appearance with the game on the line. He rarely does so when giving a player a day off.

“You think about it, of course, but I still want to keep him healthy and give him a day,” Thomson said.

The Phillies have yet to win two consecutive games since July 10 and 11 (against the Dodgers) and will need to win to avoid a seventh consecutive series loss. It took 93 games to lose their seventh series of the season, but a defeat on Tuesday night would mean seven more in just 20 games.