To say the very least, it’s been a very tough week for the Philadelphia Phillies. After losing Rhys Hoskins for the rest of the season before last night’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, it was also announced that Zach Eflin would miss his first start since July 16th after injuring himself during warmups. The Phillies lost to the Diamondbacks for the fourth time in the last 10 days and have fallen to a game under .500 and 5.5 games behind the National League East leading Atlanta Braves.

This evening, we have more news about the Phillies. None of which, is good. Zach Eflin, Andrew Knapp, and Luke Williams will all be heading to the COVID-related IL. To replace them, the Phillies will recall Enyel De Los Santos, Rafael Marchán, and Jorge Bonifacio.

Last time I wrote about this, I discussed Mickey Moniak and why he wasn’t recalled from Triple A Lehigh Valley. Reason being, when a player is recalled and then optioned, there is a 10 day window in which that can not happen again. There was only six days of that window at the time. This time, however, there was plenty of reason that Mickey Moniak should be recalled. Why is he not joining us rather than Jorge Bonifacio? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe I’m missing something again? It’s Friday night, give me a break.

The COVID-19 thing has been an issue for the Phillies all season long and we all feared their unwillingness to get vaccinated would pop up down the stretch. That appears to be happening now. However, what the Phillies want to do with their health should be no ones concern anyways and we do not know what players have been vaccinated or not and if that’s a reason why they tested positive.

The Phillies as a team, have taken a free fall out of first place in the NL East, and are now 5.5 games behind the leading Atlanta Braves, a team that is 8-2 over their last 10 games. The Phillies on the other hand, are 2-8 over their last 10 games and have fallen below .500 for the first time since August 1st.

In what was supposed to be a crucial six game home stand for the Phillies, has now turned into a fight to at least make it a .500 home stand before hitting the road to face the Nationals and Marlins heading into September. Phillies fans are roughly a month away from extending their postseason drought to 10 years.

Tonight, Aaron Nola will take the mound against Diamondbacks pitcher Taylor Widener.

Phillies Lineup:

UPDATE: Looks like tonight’s first pitch will now happen at 7:30 due to contract tracing after the positive test results. Great.

Mandatory Credit: Mitchell Leff |Getty Images