The Philadelphia Phillies welcome the Kansas City Royals to Citizens Bank Park tonight, with Aaron Nola on the mound, as they look to separate themselves from the pack in a crowded NL Wild Card race.

The Phillies return back home after dropped 2 of 3 to the Pittsburgh Pirates before taking 3 of 4 from the Miami Marlins. If we’re being honest with each other, they should have swept both series but instead, finished the 7 game road trip 4-3. 

The result is the Phillies sitting at 59-50 on August 4th, 11.5 games out of first place in the NL East standings, while holding onto one of the coveted three NL Wild Card spots with a game advantage over the Reds, who have lost three straight while holding on to the third and final ticket to the postseason in the National League. 

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We’ll Never Be Royals

Tonight, the Kansas City Royals are in town, opening yet another “sweepable” series for the Phillies.

To put it as nicely as possible, the Royals are absolutely horrible.

We will never be the Royals. It doesn’t run in our blood. That kind of baseball luxe just ain’t for us. We crave a different kind of buzz. The Phillies are rulers, and after they sweep KC out of Philly this weekend, they’ll be calling us the “queen bees”. Well, hopefully. Just let me live that fantasy.

(It’s a Lorde – Royals reference. Keep up)

Kansas City is at the bottom of the AL Central standings with a miserable 35-75 record but of course, they have won six straight and 7 out of their last 10 games heading into tonight’s series opener against the Phillies. 

To Note: The Royals just swept the Mets and Twins after losing 2 of 3 to the Guardians. 

Phillies vs Royals – Starting Pitching Matchups

• Jordan Lyles (2-12, 6.15 ERA) vs Aaron Nola (9-7, 4.44 ERA) 
• Alec Marsh (0-5, 6.75 ERA) vs Cristopher Sanchez (0-3, 2.66 ERA)
• Zack Greinke (1-11, 5.32 ERA) vs Taijuan Walker (12-4, 3.99 ERA) 

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Phillies Trending Upwards 📈

Alec Bohm is slashing .351/.419/.495 with three home runs and 22 RBI over his last 30 games. 🔥

Bryson Stott is slashing .309/.369/.445 with two home runs and 9 RBI over his last 30 games. 🔥

Nick Castellanos, after brutal month of July, has bounced back over the last three games, batting .308 with four hits, a clutch home run, and 3 RBIs. 📈

Bryce Harper is also having a very successful start August, batting .385 with five hits in the three games so far this month. 📈

JT Realmuto, who I have deemed the most important player on the Phillies over the final two months of the regular season, has shown signs of coming alive over his past 7 games, posting a .273 batting average with one home run and 4 RBI. 📈

PHILLIES JAIL 🥴

Over his past 15 games, Kyle Schwarber has hit just .106 with one home run and 8 RBI while striking out 20 times. 🥴

Trea Turner is batting .206 with two home runs, five RBI, and 35 strikeouts over his last 30 games. 🥴

Trea Turner is really going through it. Obviously.

There were reports of him in the batting cages past midnight down in Miami trying to figure things out and he was basically responsible for the only game lost against the Fish after making a costly error on a routine grounder that should have ended the game.

Times are tough as we usher in the Dog Days of Summer

We have Phillies fans on social media debating on whether or not to give Trea Turner a standing ovation or to boo him into oblivion when he steps up to the plate tonight at Citizens Bank Park, while fans on Reddit are making donations to the Jimmy V Foundation, the reported charity of choice for Turner. 

Phillies fans, show some dignity for crying out loud

I hate all of it. It’s weird and honestly, embarrassing but I expected nothing less from Phillies fans looking to make sense of Turner’s struggles. The guy knows he’s lost out there on the baseball field and he really has no choice but to swing through the struggles so we as fans just have to roll with it.

I still have faith he’ll figure shit out. The law of averages demand it.

Kansas City Royals @ Philadelphia Phillies – 7:10PM – Citizens Bank Park

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Like I said above, the Phillies should sweep Kansas City right out of South Philadelphia and then do the same to the Washington Nationals next week.

Expect a big series from Bryce, the Daycare, and Nick Castellanos.

Don’t be surprised if Turner gets moving too. Now is the time.

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