MIAMI -- Is it starting to get late for the Phillies?
Including their 3-1 loss to the Marlins on Monday afternoon at Marlins Park, they have dropped 17 of their last 26 games. The Phils have not won a series since early last month and have scored only three runs in three games this month. They stand four games behind the first-place Braves in the National League East with 25 games to play.
"I don't think we're running out of time," Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. "I don't believe that. I think we have plenty of time to put together a really strong run. We have plenty of time to get hot. If we get hot, we can win games in bunches. If we get hot -- and I believe that we can and will -- we will rattle off enough wins to be right where we need to be when we start that series with Atlanta."
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Twenty-five games are a little less than one-sixth of a season. So it is a good chunk of games. But place that stretch next to a four-game deficit and it becomes more challenging. If the Braves go 12-13 the rest of the way to finish 88-74, the Phillies would need to finish 16-9 just to tie them. Philadelphia enjoyed a 17-8 stretch that ended on July 26 and have had other good stretches this season, too.
It can happen again, but the margin for error decreases with each September loss.

"It's a balance," Kapler said, when asked about a sense of urgency in the Phillies' clubhouse. "We understand every game is important. We put our guys in the best position to win. We look to win every single game. We also don't panic. We also stay composed. We also keep our minds about us. We have a ton of confidence, right? It's not the last day of the season. Twenty-five games is a lot of games. If we get rolling in that time period, there's nothing that can stop us."
The Phillies hit some balls hard on Monday, but they managed only four hits. Rhys Hoskins did not start, in part, because he was 0-for-8 with six strikeouts against Marlins right-hander Jose Urena and because Kapler expects him to play every game the rest of the way. Maikel Franco did not start for the fourth time in six games because of a sore right wrist.
Kapler continues to tinker with his lineup, hoping for matchups that spark the offense. He has employed a lot of different lineups this season, but fewer than postseason contenders like the Cubs, Dodgers, D-backs and Brewers.
"I'm not sure consistency of a lineup leads to good results all the time," Kapler explained. "You look at some of the lineups that have been mixing and matching across baseball -- a lot of them, the ones that have been mixed up the most, are the ones that are also the most successful. I'm just thinking about the Dodgers and the Astros and the Cubs -- that are especially successful by trying to put their players in the best position to succeed, and order them in the lineup effectively based on the matchup.
"I just don't think the same lineup every day leads to good results -- in a vacuum, at least. Like, sure, if you have guys who you run out there every single day in the same spots and they feel good and everybody produces -- sure, you run them back out there. But, you know, I think in this particular case, it makes sense to give our guys the best chance to succeed."
Maybe Tuesday's lineup will work better.
"I think there's a turning point somewhere, and I think we'll find it soon," Vince Velasquez said. "Probably tomorrow."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Asdrubal stays hot: Phillies third baseman Asdrubal Cabrera hit a solo home run into the second deck in right field in the second inning to hand the Phillies a 1-0 lead. It was his fourth home run with the Phillies, and his second in four games. Cabrera is hitting .324 (11-for-34) with three doubles, two home runs, two RBIs and an .931 OPS in his past nine games.

One inning sinks Vinny: Velasquez allowed three runs over five innings. Each of those runs scored in the decisive second inning, including two on Rafael Ortega's two-out single to left field to make it 3-1.
"I should've challenged him a little bit more with the fastball," Velasquez said.
FRANCO IS HURTING
Franco said he injured his wrist recently on a swing in Toronto. He said X-rays on Sunday were negative. He is unlikely to start on Tuesday.
"[It's] day by day, right now," Franco said. "I feel a little bit of pain. I'm just trying to be available as soon as I can be. When I squeeze my hand, I feel a little bit of pain -- and when I hit the ball, I feel a lot of pain."
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
Phillies first baseman Carlos Santana barreled a ball to right-center field in the sixth inning, but Marlins right fielder Rafael Ortega caught the ball on the run at the warning track. The ball left Santana's bat at 104 mph and had a hit probability of 80 percent, according to Statcast™. Santana entered the game with 95 hard-hit outs this season, which ranked second in baseball only to Manny Machado (96).

All hard-hit balls (95 mph or more) have a .524 batting average this season, but Santana has a .388 batting average on hard-hit balls.
HE SAID IT
"We have really ridden Rhys hard. We have not given him any days off in a long time. We anticipate that we may not give him another day off for the [remainder of the] season. So [I was] looking for the [right] spot to give him that one little rest and knowing, like we did today, we're able to keep him in the lineup if that spot came up again and [we would] give him a really good matchup vs. [Marlins lefty Adam] Conley. We felt like we could use his bat and give him a rest and protect the matchup. All of the things came together for us to rest Rhys in that spot and still put together a lineup that we were proud of against Urena." -- Kapler, on not starting Hoskins, who flied out to the warning track in left field as a pinch-hitter in the eighth
UP NEXT
Phillies right-hander Jacob Arrieta (9-9, 3.54 ERA) faces Marlins right-hander Trevor Richards (3-7, 4.26 ERA) on Tuesday night at 7:10 ET in the second game of a three-game series at Marlins Park. Since Arrieta threw eight scoreless innings in Arizona on Aug. 6, he is 0-3 with a 6.30 ERA in three starts.