If the baseball season was a highway — Route 162, if you will — Memorial Day would be the first major checkpoint. It represents the two-month mark of the season, a large enough sample size for teams to begin taking stock of what they have and what they need.
The Phillies, it seems, are at a crossroads.
Surely president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski didn’t have to be there in Cincinnati to watch Vince Velasquez, a prince of a No. 4 starter for most of May, turn back into a frog in an 11-1 thumping by the Reds to know the Phillies need back-of-the-rotation help. And he certainly knew the offense could use a jolt even before the Phillies went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.
But as those events unfolded in tandem — along with five runs allowed by long relievers Chase Anderson and David Hale, another 0-for from struggling third baseman Alec Bohm, and a throwing error by shortstop Ronald Torreyes added to the toll for the worst defense in baseball — it was impossible not to wonder if Dombrowski can plug this many holes before the July 30 trade deadline.
When April ended, the Phillies were 13-13, not great but good enough to have a one-game lead in the National League East. As May came to a close, they were 25-29, 4 ½ games behind the division-leading New York Mets. What happens when the majority of the Mets’ lineup gets back from the injured list?
The Phillies have had their health problems, too. Bryce Harper is finally eligible to come off the injured list Wednesday, although it’s unclear whether he will. J.T. Realmuto just got back from a bruised wrist. Didi Gregorius is not hitting yet.
But the Phillies have scored more than three runs in a game only twice since May 18 and not at all in a week. So when Velasquez gave up four runs in the second inning on a two-run homer by Max Schrock and a two-run single by Tyler Naquin, the odds of a comeback were slim.
Velasquez allowed a total of three runs in four previous starts in May. But after giving up four in the second inning, he allowed two more in the third on Kyle Farmer’s two-run homer, opening a 6-1 lead for the Reds.
It wasn’t as though the Phillies didn’t have chances against Reds starter Wade Miley. But they wasted a two-on, two-out opportunity in the first inning, a two-on and one-out chance in the second, then failed to score after getting the first two runners on base in the fourth.
