LOS ANGELES -- It was impossible not to think about it.
The Phillies walked into Dodger Stadium on Friday for the first time since they walked out of it nearly eight months ago following their devastating loss in last year's National League Division Series.
The memories came flooding back as they strolled into the visitors' clubhouse -- the same place many of them sat trying to process the stunning conclusion to a 2025 season that had begun with World Series aspirations.
"This is where it ended last year, you know?" designated hitter Kyle Schwarber said while standing in the same spot where he and J.T. Realmuto shared a tearful embrace last October. "So you walk in and you're like, ‘Well, here we are.’ But you know, at the end of the day, that's baseball. That's what keeps you coming back, right? Those feelings of ‘What if?' And it keeps you up at night."
Unfortunately for the Phillies, there was once again little to cheer about in their return to Dodger Stadium. Zack Wheeler gave up a career-high-tying four home runs and the Phillies went hitless until the sixth inning in a 4-2 loss to the back-to-back champion Dodgers.
Wheeler entered the game having allowed only one home run over 37 2/3 innings in his previous six starts this season. The Phillies were 6-0 in those outings.
“I was just a little out of whack, so I wasn't as sharp,” Wheeler said. “Some pitches didn't get where they needed to be, especially against this type of lineup.”
Wheeler gave up a homer to Freddie Freeman in the first, Max Muncy in the second, Shohei Ohtani in the third and Will Smith in the fifth.
Outside of those four home runs, Wheeler allowed only one other hit (an Ohtani single) while striking out four and walking one. His velocity was up across the board, he induced 11 swings and misses and added another 17 called strikes -- but the four home runs were simply too much to overcome.
“We just weren’t missing the few mistakes he was making," Muncy said. "Overall, he didn’t pitch that bad of a game tonight. We didn’t have a whole lot of traffic out there, but we took advantage of the few mistakes he made."
The Phillies were not nearly as advantageous against Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski.
They did not record a hit through the first five innings -- and their only baserunner in that span came when right fielder Kyle Tucker dropped a routine fly ball from Trea Turner. It wasn't until the sixth that the Phils collected their first hit off Wrobleski, when Schwarber clubbed a solo homer to straightaway center field.
Schwarber's blast was his MLB-leading 22nd homer of the season, but it proved to be Philadelphia's only hit off the left-handed Wrobleski in his seven innings of work.
The Phillies' struggles against left-handed starters is nothing new. They've now faced 17 left-handed starters this season (excluding openers). Those starters have a combined 2.04 ERA over those 17 starts. The Phillies have scored more than two runs off only two of those 17 starters.
They are 4-13 in those games.
"I mean, I like our offense. I know that the results aren't there, but I think that we all have the utmost confidence in each other," Schwarber said. "Obviously, we've still got a lot more games to go, and there's still a lot of work to be [done]."
Overall, the Phillies rank 28th in OPS (.677) this season. They ranked fourth last year (.759).
Sure, those numbers are being dragged down a bit by the club's disastrous 9-19 start that led to a managerial change. But even while going 20-9 under interim manager Don Mattingly, the Phillies are hitting just .233 with a .697 OPS.
"We want to keep finding ways to get guys on base and keep trying to find ways to produce runs -- not just via home runs," Schwarber said. "But if you look at our last 20-something [games], we've been finding ways to win games, and that's what we need to continue to do."
That's really what it comes down to: Finding ways to win these types of games against this type of team.
The Phillies were never going to be a team that hit its way to a World Series title this season. It was always going to be about dominant starting pitching and timely hitting.
The Phils didn't get either on Friday night, but they're hopeful they'll get another crack at Wrobleski somewhere down the line.
"It's one of those where you'll see him again probably," Mattingly said. "So we'll see what it looks like the next time."