🔔 Sleep Was The Right Choice: Phillies Crushed By Padres

_{LAST GAME: Padres 8 - Phillies 0}

_{NEXT GAME: Phillies (Zack Wheeler) vs. Padres (Michael Wacha)}

_{Today, 4:10 EDT | NBCSP, WIP}

Good morning. If you didn’t stay awake late last night to watch the Phillies, that was a quality decision by you. 

Another shaky Michael Lorenzen outing wasn’t helped by a Bryson Stott error in the fourth inning. While Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a ball that has a chance to land sometime later today.

The Phillies’ offense wasn’t much better.

Nick Castellanos had an especially brutal night. In his first three at-bats, he saw a total of four pitches and hit into three double plays.

In the email today:

While the Phillies try to tread water out west, the Cubs continue to apply pressure. Following Chicago’s 11-8 win Tuesday, the Cubs are now 1 ½ game behind the Phillies for the top wild-card spot.

According to Baseball Reference, the Phillies have a 98.4% chance to reach the playoffs, but getting that first series at Citizens Bank Park isn’t quite as certain.

Here’s what each team has left on the schedule

• Phillies: 1 @ Padres, 3 vs. Marlins, 4 vs. Braves, 3 @ Cardinals, 3 @ Braves, 4 vs. Mets, 3 vs. Pirates, 3 @ Mets

• Cubs: 1 vs. San Francisco, 4 vs. Diamondbacks, 3 @ Rockies, 3 @ Diamondbacks, 3 vs. Pirates, 3 vs. Rockies, 3 @ Braves, 3 @ Brewers

The Cubs have 14 games remaining against winning teams, while the Phillies have just 10. 

Our take: It feels uncomfortable, but if the Phillies can continue to tread water for the next two weeks, they should earn the top wild-card spot. Any concerns over the sudden vulnerability of the pitching staff are valid, but that final 10-game stretch featuring the Mets and Pirates should be enough to carry them home.

2) 🍼 Some Understandable Timing by the Turners

Here’s a story directly from the newsletter gods. Trea Tuner was out of the lineup last night because he was placed on the paternity list.

It was a noteworthy transaction — not because Turner is scorching-hot and a big temporary loss for the Phillies, which, of course, are both true. It was noteworthy because of the timing.

Twitter misses nothing:

Our take: Uh, well. I’m not sure I have a “take” on this one. I guess this is an instance of the format putting me in a weird spot. Congratulations to Trea and his family, of course, and any “excitement” after doing a $300 million deal is understandable, but I think we could all probably do without any further analysis on this one.

3) ❌ Tweet of the Day: This Speaks to Me

I gotta be honest here, right about the time Nick Castellanos rolled into his third double play of the night, I shut it down. I woke up at 5:30 this morning, put on some coffee, and watched the remainder of the game at 2x speed. I’m not built for regular season baseball after dark anymore.

4) 📊 Poll: What to Do with Michael Lorenzen?

Michael Lorenzen might have hit the wall. His last four starts:

21 IP, 32 H, 21 ER, 6 HR, 9 BB, 11 K

It hasn’t been good, and as the Phillies look for answers in both the rotation and bullpen, it begs the question:

Have additional thoughts? Reply directly to this email to comment, and see if we include your response tomorrow.

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5) 🔗 Link Roundup:

• I’m not as out on Ben Davis as everyone else seems to be, but I can get behind this movement: No more Schwarbarian stuff 💪

• Bryce Harper ditched the beard— his new look didn’t spark a turnaround last night as he’s 0-for-19 this month 👶

• Vans hooked up Michael Lorenzen with a pair of bronze Vans to commemorate his no-hitter 👟

• Rhys Hoskins was doing some pregame work on the field at Petco Park yesterday— his return this season remains a long shot 🦿

The newsletter today was written by: Bob Wankel [Follow on X]

Thanks for reading!