PHILADELPHIA — Four pitches into an all-important homestand — perhaps the final week the Phillies will play at home this season, whether they make the playoffs or not — rookie shortstop Bryson Stott overthrew first base and hit a cameraman, bloodying his forehead.
Somehow, things didn’t get much better after that.
The Phillies blundered in the field and on the bases — a comedy of errors, if only the wild-card standings weren’t suddenly so serious — in an 18-11 thumping by the Toronto Blue Jays before 21,129 believers (maybe?) at Citizens Bank Park.
At precisely the wrong time, the Phillies have lost five consecutive games, their longest skid under interim manager Rob Thomson and tied with a May 27-31 slide for their longest of the season.
But the Milwaukee Brewers fumbled a lead at home and fell behind late against the New York Mets. So, although it won’t settle anyone’s stomach around here, the Phillies were on the verge of maintaining a 2½-game cushion (3½ including the tiebreaker) for the final National League wild-card spot.
Raise your hand if you feel good about that.
Yeah, didn’t think so.
The Phillies built much of that advantage through the summer by beating up on bad teams. It isn’t a criticism. A team must play the schedule, and if the schedule is filled with Washington, Miami, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh, so be it.
But against winning teams, the Phillies are 5-11 since the All-Star break, 16-17 under Thomson, and 29-34 overall. And this final regular-season homestand includes one more game against the Blue Jays (84-64) and four with the defending World Series champion Braves (91-55), who swept the Phillies last weekend in Atlanta.
Thomson pushes back against the narrative that they can’t beat playoff-bound opponents, noting that they won the season series over the juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers and NL Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals.
“We’ve beat some pretty good clubs,” Thomson said. “I’ll take my chances.”
But the Phillies don’t have much chance if they don’t clean things up. A rundown of their miscues against the Blue Jays, after Stott’s first-inning errant throw:
--Kyle Gibson threw a belt-high fastball to Matt Chapman for a two-out, three-run homer that gave the Jays a first-inning lead. Gibson gave up 12 hits, the most against a Phillies pitcher since Aaron Harang allowed 12 on Aug. 10, 2015.
--Stott and Kyle Schwarber lost a fly ball in the lights (or maybe the twilight) to open the second inning, the start of a two-run rally that left the Phillies in a 5-0 hole.
--After five consecutive hits against Jays starter Ross Stripling (six hits in a row overall) drew the Phillies within 7-5 in the fifth inning, Bryce Harper killed the rally by getting doubled off second base on Stott’s lineout to center field.
--In the top of the sixth, Stott didn’t set his feet and made an errant throw that helped the Blue Jays get a run back.
--The Phillies allowed season highs in runs and hits (21) and were left to put backup catcher Garrett Stubbs on the mound to finish the ninth inning by flinging an 84 mph fastball by Danny Jansen.
Need we go on?
There’s reason for fatalism, even though the Phillies maintain that late-season collapses in each of the last four seasons have nothing to do with this year’s team. But until they knock down the door and qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2011, the doubters will remain loud.
Nights like Tuesday certainly don’t help.
