What has happened to the Philadelphia Phillies' offense?
The Philadelphia Phillies were dealt an embarrassing loss on Friday night, falling to the New York Mets by a score of 6-3.
Yes, the bullpen game didn't go too well, and whenever a team surrenders six runs, you can understandably point to the pitching staff.
But what about the offense?
For the fourth straight game, the Phillies managed just three runs. They had just six hits on the evening, and they went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Surprise, surprise.
Remember how efficient the offense was a few weeks ago? Yeah, that feels like a different universe at this point.
Bryce Harper, Luis Arraez and Alec Bohm — Philadelphia's 3-4-5 hitters on Friday — went a combined 0-for-12 in the loss. Harper struck out three times. Half of the club's hits came from Edmundo Sosa, who went 3-for-3 with a home run. Derek Hill also homered.
But the Phillies' big bats? Nowhere to be seen.
Philadelphia has now gone just 6-9 over its last 15 games, and most recently, that includes losses to the Washington Nationals and now the last-place Mets.
The Phillies entered the middle of the week with a golden opportunity to do some damage against two of the National League's bottom feeders. Instead, they have gone just 2-2 thus far, splitting a short two-game set with the Nationals and now splitting the first two of a four-game series in New York.
Yes, Philadelphia can always win the latter two games against the Mets to take three of four and go 4-2 on this little stretch overall. But is anyone confident in the Phillies definitely doing that at this point?
Philadelphia now looks like the team we saw during a good chunk of the first half: good enough to win some ballgames, but not good enough to actually scare anyone, and that's thanks much in part to a pedestrian offense.
The Phillies were rolling during the second half of August, playing their best baseball of the year. They even appeared to have some magic.
That has also dissipated over the last couple of weeks.
Barring a catastrophic collapse, Philly will be in the playoffs, but it's genuinely hard to imagine this squad doing any legitimate damage in its current state.
