MIAMI -- This is not the way the Phillies wanted to finish the first half of the season, losing to the Marlins, 7-3, on Sunday at loanDepot park.
They enter the All-Star break at 48-41 (.539), the seventh-best record in the National League and half a game back of San Francisco for the third Wild Card. But the Phillies are 23-9 (.719) since June 2, the second-best mark in baseball in that span. They have played well for five weeks, putting themselves in position to possibly make a second consecutive NL Wild Card Series.
“You have to take the positives, the high notes from where we started,” Kyle Schwarber said. “We put ourselves in a good position at the half to put ourselves in the race. That’s the only thing you can ask for. At the end of the day, it’s about finding a way to get there.”
The Phillies still believe their best baseball is ahead of them. Sunday offered a couple glimpses of how the second half could be.
First, the top four hitters in the lineup went a combined 0-for-14 with seven strikeouts. It happens, of course. But the general feeling inside and outside the Phillies’ clubhouse is that the offense is better than it has shown.
The Phils left Miami on Sunday ranked 17th in baseball in runs (401) and on-base percentage (.321) and 10th in slugging percentage (.421). Bryce Harper has not hit for power since he rejoined the team on May 2, although he expects it will come. At 36 games, he is in the longest homerless drought of his career. (Harper was sore after being drilled by a pitch on his right elbow on Saturday. He did not play Sunday, but he should be OK by Friday.) Trea Turner underperformed in his first half with his new team, although he has looked better recently. Schwarber leads the team with 22 home runs, but he is batting only .184.
“Personally, it wasn’t the first half that I wanted to have,” Schwarber said. “But there’s still a lot more baseball to be played.”
“I think there’s more offense there,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “We haven’t peaked yet, but we will. I’m looking forward to our offense getting going. And I think that’s going to happen.”
Perhaps it’s already started. Over their 23-9 run, which included a franchise-record 13-game road winning streak, the Phillies entered Sunday fifth in baseball in runs per game (5.13), 13th in on-base percentage (.325) and fifth in slugging percentage (.439).
The second sign is Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola. He allowed eight hits, five runs (four earned) and three home runs in six innings on Sunday. He struck out six. Nola finished the half with a 4.39 ERA and 21 home runs allowed, two more than he allowed in all of 2022.
“Balls over the plate,” Nola said. “If they’re solos, whatever. But I have given up a lot this year, and I feel like a lot of them have been with guys on base, which have hurt. It’s frustrating. I’ve just got to keep the ball in the yard.”
Thomson kept his rotation in order coming out of the break, meaning Nola will not pitch again until July 18 against Milwaukee. If Thomson wanted, he could have pitched Nola next weekend against the Padres at Citizens Bank Park.
But Thomson believes the extra rest will help everybody, including Nola. A more typical version of Nola in the second half would go a long way in propelling the Phillies to another postseason berth.
“The break will be good,” Nola said. “We’ve got a lot of baseball left. Just enjoy the break and get back to it Friday. Got a lot of ball left. I look forward to competing when we get back. We’ve been playing good, especially on the road. Definitely want to pick it up when we get back from the break and obviously we believe we can.”
Nobody played more road games before the break than the Phillies’ 51. It means they will play 42 of their remaining 73 games at home. Last winter, a coach from another team told Thomson that playing in Philly in the postseason was “four hours of hell.”
More home games down the stretch will serve the Phillies well. But a more consistent offense and a better Nola would help, too.
“I feel really good about this club,” Thomson said.