Phillies feel the heat, hear the boos after latest loss slows potential NL playoff push

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Trea Turner flailed at a four-seam fastball well out of the strike zone and slammed his bat in anger after another strikeout.

Remember that time Phillies fans rallied in 2023 to give Turner a standing ovation and he used that moment to spark his season?

That wasn't the case Friday night in Philadelphia.

Turner dropped his helmet in the third inning and was soundly booed by a restless crowd, as was Brandon Marsh after a similar ugly whiff in the fourth, and as were the Phillies after another punchless game at the plate cost them in a 2-0 loss to the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays.

Freddy Peralta and four relievers combined to throw four-hit ball in the shutout.

The plastic tarp that circles the top of the clubhouse lockers in anticipation of a champagne celebration remained rolled up as tight as the Phillies seem to be of late. A playoff berth that seemed a lock just days ago will come down to the final two games.

The Phillies entered the game leading Arizona by two games for the final NL wild-card spot with three to play. The Phillies would have clinched their fifth straight playoff berth with a win against the Rays and an Arizona loss to San Diego.

The Phillies instead dropped their third straight game and delayed a potential clincher at least until Saturday, when they will throw a bullpen game at the Rays. Should the race come down to Sunday, the Phillies will be forced to throw ace Zack Wheeler, which would burn him for potential Game 1 or 2 starts in the NL Wild Card Series.

If they get there.

Call it Dread October.

The Phillies high-priced sluggers usually wait until the playoffs start until their bats freeze up. They got a jump on it down the September stretch.

The gut punch came in the sixth when Turner and Bryce Harper led off with consecutive singles. Alec Bohm meekly grounded out but advanced the runners. Bryson Stott lined out to second base and pinch hitter Bryan De La Cruz lined out to shortstop against reliever Cam Booser.

Oh, and 35-year-old catcher J.T. Realmuto is in an 0 for 32 funk that's dipped his average to .206.

The Phillies were shut out for the 12th game this season and have scored two runs over the last 27 innings.

All that has helped the Phillies spiral to 13 losses in the last 21 games.

It gets worse. NL batting leader and starting second baseman Luis Arraez is out indefinitely with a severely sprained left ankle. All-Star lefty Jesús Luzardo has yet to throw a simulated game as he tries to come back from a three-week absence with shoulder inflammation.

Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly insisted ahead of the game his team wasn’t wilting from the pressure.

“These guys have been through it,” Mattingly said. “I feel OK. If we’ve got to tell guys at this point that it’s urgent that we win games, then we’re in trouble. The urgency, everybody knows. It’s pretty much right in your face. We’ve just got to go out and play good baseball.”

The Phillies — who had the fourth-highest opening day payroll at $282 million — are drumming up talk around the city of joining the short list of the most egregious collapses in franchise history.

Take your pick.

More modern? The 2023 Phillies were up 2-0 and 3-2 headed home for Games 6 and 7 in the NL Championship Series only to blow the series to Arizona.

Prefer a classic story? Consider 1964, when the Phillies lost 10 straight games to blow a 6 1/2-game lead and the NL pennant with 12 games left. They wouldn’t make the playoffs again until 1976.

Just win one more game this season, and the situation won’t be that dire.

Just watch the Phillies play this week and it’s getting harder to find when that next W might come.

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