The Phillies opened up a series against the Baltimore Orioles last night at Citizens Bank Park. Entering the night, they sat two games back of the National League East leading Atlanta Braves. They were 3.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot in the National League. The Orioles on the other hand, have only won a total of 41 games on the season. They have 102 losses and sit in last place in the AL East. So obviously, the Phillies only mustered a total of four hits while scoring zero runs, losing the game 2-0.

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The Braves, as any playoff contender should do, beat up on the Arizona Diamondbacks, winning 11-4. They are now three games up on the Phillies. Their magic number is now 11. Obviously the Phillies were going to lose last night. We should have known that before the game even started and I will certainly take blame to think that a team that has killed us over and over again would actually win when they are supposed to. They won four straight games, lost the series finale to the Mets then lost last night. This is what .500 teams do. Now, we have a bullpen game tonight before Zack Wheeler returns to the mound tomorrow night.

Ranger Suarez did his job again last night, throwing six innings, allowing seven hits and two earned runs while striking out five. The offense was nonexistent. Odubel Herrera, JT Realmuto, Andrew McCutchen, and Matt Vierling were the only Phillies players to record a hit. This simply can’t happen and last night, could have been the nail in the coffin for the 2021 Philadelphia Phillies. The Atlanta Braves can finish the season with a .500 record (7-7) for an 85 win season and the Phillies would have to finish 9-3 just to tie them. Not exactly a boost of confidence over the final two weeks of the season.

It’s pretty simple. Good baseball teams don’t lose to teams with the worst record in Major League Baseball 2-0 while only recording four hits on the night. For the Phillies, they can’t afford to lose any games moving forward. Two more games against the Orioles and then three games against the Pirates before heading to Atlanta. They must remain within striking distance before playing the Braves. From there, we can set ourselves up for one final heart breaking series to finally put us out of our misery.

Ring it.

Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY SPORTS