The Philadelphia Phillies have lost two straight games to a team that came to Philadelphia with an 18-50 road record. In the midst of a playoff push to make the postseason for the first time in nearly a decade, the Phillies took the field at Citizens Bank Park last night with a bullpen pitcher on the mound in the first inning. It’s almost hard to even imagine that would be the case.

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With the offseason additions of Matt Moore and Chase Anderson being total failures, an injury to the always inconsistent Vincent Velasquez, and Zach Eflin’s season ending surgery, the Phillies had no one else but the bullpen to send to the mound in September. The result was an 11-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies and falling back to 4.5 games behind the NL East leading Atlanta Braves and 3.5 games out of the second and final spot in the NL Wild Card.

Bailey Falter got rocked in the second inning, allowing three runs on two hits and two walks. Ramon Rosso and Enyel De Los Santos (obviously) allowed a combined five hits, six earned runs and three walks. JD Hammer allowed another run in the ninth inning. The Phillies lost 11-2 and failed to get a run across the plate until the bottom of the 9th inning on a Didi Gregorius solo home run and a Bryce Harper single. Bryce Harper, the only Phillies player that seems to give a damn, had this to say following last night’s embarrassing loss.

“We just got beat by the Colorado Rockies twice. We just got blown out actually. Definitely warranted with the way he’s feeling. The irritation is there. The embarrassment is there as well. It’s not good. It’s just not good the way we’re approaching the game. It’s not good the way our at-bats are going, our pitching, everything. It’s just not good. Not right now. We just need to be better. I’ve said it so many times. I’m sorry I keep saying it, but that’s the simple truth. We need to be better. Our pitching needs to be better. Our hitting needs to be better. Playing every day needs to be better. Guys playing every single day. I think just being a team, being a whole, not worrying about individual numbers, not worrying about if you’re a free agent or if you’re in your first year of [arbitration] or second year of arb or anything like that. You can’t worry about any of that stuff. You have to worry about us as a team, as a whole. What we can do to make the Phillies better.”

Bryce Harper

The Atlanta Braves have two more games against the Miami Marlins before playing three against the Rockies at home. From there, they will head out west to play the Giants, D-Backs, and Padres before returning home to face the Phillies. Regardless, it’s hard to believe this Phillies team has enough, for lack of a better term, “fight” in them to get some momentum and win some ball games to make up ground in the standings. Harper said last night that he believes the team needs to just be in contention heading into the Braves series, which would require not only the Phillies to win games but also the Braves to have a terrible trip out west and drop multiple games to the Giants, D-Backs, and Padres.

It feels like the Phillies are dead in the water. However, maybe it’s my sick, poisoned Philly sports fandom, but it will be hard for me to just count them out and not watch. I’m literally going to the game tonight, but if there’s any indication on where this team is heading, it has to be the fact that they lost four straight games in September to fall back to just one game over .500 on the season.

The Phillies have two more games against the Rockies, before playing three against the Cubs at home, three on the road against the Mets, and then three at home against the Orioles. Every single game is winnable. There’s honestly no reason that a team in playoff contention should lose to the Rockies, Cubs, or Orioles.

If the Phillies want to restore faith in breaking a near decade streak of missing the playoffs, they will have to win two against the Rockies, sweep the Cubs and Orioles, and take 2-of-3 on the road against the New York Mets.

Judging how they have been playing recently, I definitely wouldn’t hold your breath.

Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY SPORTS