Baserunning mishaps and poor effort this early in season is cause for concern

Baserunning mishaps and poor effort this early in season is cause for concern originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

By Phil Sheridan

Hangovers are part of sports. Maybe the 2023 Phillies are hungover after their wild and exciting run to the World Series in 2022. Maybe the Phillies were hungover, emotionally, after their encouraging 8-3 victory in Cincinnati Friday night.

Or maybe they were just hungover in the normal sense. They certainly played like it Saturday. Faced with an opportunity to carry over Friday’s energy and start stringing some wins together, the Phillies sleepwalked through a shameful 13-0 drubbing to the very same Reds.

It was bad. Bad games are part of baseball. Bad effort, just 15 games into a 162-game marathon, is inexcusable from professional athletes.

If $300 million isn’t enough for Trea Turner to hustle on the basepaths, there is something very much amiss with this baseball team.

The game was still a contest in the top of the fourth inning. Edmundo Sosa led off by beating out an infield single. Turner came up with 2 outs and the Phillies trailing 5-0. After taking a ball, Turner hit a ground ball to shortstop. Jose Barrero bobbled it, then threw a rocket well over the head of first baseman Wil Myers.

Turner trotted out of the batter’s box, clearly not willing to exert himself on an average play. When the ball sailed over Myers, Turner began to run. He turned toward second and, inexplicably, let up. Clearly, Turner didn’t expect anyone else to hustle, either.

Myers did. As Turner jogged into second, Myers’ throw beat him to the bag. Turner was thrown out to end the inning with Sosa on third and Kyle Schwarber on deck.

“I think the ball kicked out (toward first base) more than he thought,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “In that situation, you’ve got to make sure. We were down 5 runs at the time. It looks bad.”

It looks bad because it is bad. Very bad. The Phillies have had a season’s worth of baserunning mishaps in the first 15 games. Brandon Marsh and Schwarber recently got themselves thrown out with sloppy play. Turner violated the most basic rule of baseball -- hustle no matter what – twice on one play.

Any individual misplay is just that. A one-time event. A collection of such plays begins to paint a portrait of a team in disarray. And while first base coach Paco Figueroa is the Phillies’ baserunning coach, he doesn’t actually run the bases himself. These trends generally reflect on the manager.

Thomson did not have a great day, either. His lineup had 13 hits Friday night – at least one by every batter in the lineup – so he decided to run his understudies out there Saturday. Kyle Schwarber was the designated hitter, so Jake Cave and his .172 average were in left field. J.T. Realmuto rested, which makes sense, meaning Garrett Stubbs (.154 average) was catching Matt Strahm and batting ninth.

The Phillies had 5 hits, 4 of them singles, and zero runs. Schwarber, Turner, Nick Castellanos and Marsh – the Nos. 2 through 5 hitters – were a combined 0-for-13.

Bryson Stott led off Saturday's game with a double to left-center field off Cincinnati starter Graham Ashcraft.

The hit extended Stott's hitting streak to 15 games. He has hit safely in each of the Phillies games in 2023.

On Sunday, Stott can tie the Phillies' franchise record for longest hitting streak to open a season. Willie "Puddinhead" Jones hit safely in the first 16 games of the 1950 season. That year, of course, the Phillies' "Whiz Kids" won the National League pennant.

Stott is hitting .375 after going 1-for-4 Saturday. He has 24 hits in 15 games, including 4 doubles.

Thomson pulled Strahm after he struck out two consecutive hitters, then brought in Andrew Bellatti, who gave up a 3-run homer to Wil Myers on his first pitch. McKinley Monroe came in to pitch the fifth inning and surrendered 3 runs on 3 hits.

All added up, the Phillies broke a three-game losing streak Friday and then started another potential losing streak Saturday.

The Phillies and Reds finish their 4-game series Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Aaron Nola (0-2, 7.04 ERA) will attempt to get the Phillies, and himself, back on a winning track. Right-hander Luis Cessa (0-1, 7.00) will start for the Reds.