Brian Schneider was chugging around third base, and looked for all the world to be dead on arrival at home plate.
Schneider represented the tying run Saturday night and got a green light from third base coach Sam Perlozzo as the Phils tried to rally against the Cubs. They had already lost the first two games of the series and could ill afford to drop three straight.
Schneider was a good five or six steps up the line when the throw arrived. He was toast. Then the Phils got a huge break. Cubs catcher Geovany Soto could not handle the throw. Schneider slid head first in with the tying run and the Phils had life. After being down to their last out, trailing 1-0 and wasting another gem from Cole Hamels, they rallied for a 4-1 win.
The elation did not last long. They sent their ace to the mound in the nationally telecast ESPN Sunday night game of the week. But Roy Halladay got roughed up and the Phils fell, 11-6.
The truth is, in reviewing what happened to Schneider, the Phils should have been swept in Wrigley. They managed to escape with one win. Now it’s on to St. Louis, where the first-place Cardinals likely will not roll out the red carpet for the defending two-time National League champs.
The Phils continue to trail the first-place Braves by five and a half games. Maybe most alarming about their fall is the way they are doing it. Listless might best describe the way they are playing.
Consider this: The Cubs twice this weekend scored on suicide squeezes.
The Phillies just don’t have the edge they carried the last couple of years. Maybe it’s complacency. They keep saying it’s not time to panic, that they have plenty of time to turn this around.
Not with this lineup. They are not getting Chase Utley back until September. But they need help now. It’s time to send a message to the locker room. Sit Raul Ibanez, or Jayson Werth. Or both. Call up Domonic Brown. Ruben Amaro Jr. needs to do something, and quick.
The Eagles go to camp next Monday. The last couple of years the Phils have stolen a lot of the Birds’ thunder. That might not be the case this year.
Unless the Phils manage to turn it around. I see no indication that is about to happen.
Schneider represented the tying run Saturday night and got a green light from third base coach Sam Perlozzo as the Phils tried to rally against the Cubs. They had already lost the first two games of the series and could ill afford to drop three straight.
Schneider was a good five or six steps up the line when the throw arrived. He was toast. Then the Phils got a huge break. Cubs catcher Geovany Soto could not handle the throw. Schneider slid head first in with the tying run and the Phils had life. After being down to their last out, trailing 1-0 and wasting another gem from Cole Hamels, they rallied for a 4-1 win.
The elation did not last long. They sent their ace to the mound in the nationally telecast ESPN Sunday night game of the week. But Roy Halladay got roughed up and the Phils fell, 11-6.
The truth is, in reviewing what happened to Schneider, the Phils should have been swept in Wrigley. They managed to escape with one win. Now it’s on to St. Louis, where the first-place Cardinals likely will not roll out the red carpet for the defending two-time National League champs.
The Phils continue to trail the first-place Braves by five and a half games. Maybe most alarming about their fall is the way they are doing it. Listless might best describe the way they are playing.
Consider this: The Cubs twice this weekend scored on suicide squeezes.
The Phillies just don’t have the edge they carried the last couple of years. Maybe it’s complacency. They keep saying it’s not time to panic, that they have plenty of time to turn this around.
Not with this lineup. They are not getting Chase Utley back until September. But they need help now. It’s time to send a message to the locker room. Sit Raul Ibanez, or Jayson Werth. Or both. Call up Domonic Brown. Ruben Amaro Jr. needs to do something, and quick.
The Eagles go to camp next Monday. The last couple of years the Phils have stolen a lot of the Birds’ thunder. That might not be the case this year.
Unless the Phils manage to turn it around. I see no indication that is about to happen.
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