PHILADELPHIA _ No one is immune to the Phillies' free fall. Not even Aaron Nola.
Thirty-nine days since the Phillies last won a series, with their playoff hopes fading faster than a scoop of ice cream on the late-summer pavement, they looked once again Wednesday night at their young ace to be a lifeline at Citizens Bank Park. Instead, Nola gave up two more home runs, a recurring trend over his last three starts, and failed to reach the sixth inning for only the fourth time in 34 starts dating to last season.
Another game went up in smoke, the Phillies dropping a 5-1 decision to the Washington Nationals, and so too, in all likelihood, did Nola's chances of capping his breakthrough season by winning the Cy Young Award. He might as well concede it to either New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom or the Nationals' Max Scherzer, who has won the last two Cys and is having his best season yet.
The Phillies slipped to 7{ games behind the division-leading Atlanta Braves with 17 games remaining. And if that predicament sounds familiar, it's because the Phillies were seven games back with 17 to play on this exact date in 2007 before going 13-4 down the stretch and overtaking the Mets to win the National League East crown.
Don't hold your breath for history to repeat.
Not only don't these Phillies have Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, but they also have lost 23 of their last 34 games. They're 74-71, the closest they have been to .500 since June 15. If the Phillies finish 13-4, as they did in 2007, the Braves would have to go only 5-11 just to tie them. Atlanta's magic number to clinch the division is down to 10.
Besides, the Phillies might want to take a peek in their rear-view mirror. They are only a half-game ahead of the third-place Nationals, who might be the most disappointing team in baseball this year but still dealt as big a blow to the Phils' playoff chances as any team by beating them in seven of nine games since Aug. 21.
The Phillies continue to find new ways to lose. On Wednesday night, for the first time all season, Nola didn't give them much of a chance.
In 26 of his 30 starts this season, Nola has allowed three runs or fewer. He gave up three runs in the first inning against the Nationals, who led 2-0 only three batters into the game when Bryce Harper crushed a two-run homer to center field. Anthony Rendon followed with a double and scored on a two-out single by Ryan Zimmerman.
Zimmerman made it 4-0 in the fourth inning by launching a homer over leaping Odubel Herrera's glove and into the shrubbery in straightaway center field. Nola was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fifth inning, his night finished after only 74 pitches. It marked his lowest total since manager Gabe Kapler infamously hooked him after 68 pitches on Opening Day in Atlanta.
Through his first 27 starts, Nola allowed a total of eight home runs in 176 innings. Over his last three starts, he has given up a total of seven homers in 172/3 innings.
Fatigue could certainly be a factor. Aside from carrying the Phillies' disappearing offense on his back every fifth day for most of the season, Nola has worked 1932/3 innings, 252/3 more than his previous career high.
The Phillies mustered only five hits, a career-high three of which came from shortstop J.P. Crawford in his first major-league start since June 19. They scored their run on Crawford's homer in the fifth inning against Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg.
Kapler said he will consider how much to play Crawford over the season's final 2{ weeks based on "how the next 10 days go." Why wait? The Phillies no longer have anything left to lose.
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