Phillies Mailbag: Offensive Outage, Fifth Starter, Bench Harper?

We are back once again with the 97.3 ESPN Phillies Mailbag.   We take your questions each week and answer them on The Sports Bash with Mike Gill.  Tune in Tuesday afternoons to hear your questions answered on the air.

When are they going to start hitting?
~CJ
Why does the offense stink?
~James

I think this one is somewhat easy to answer: everybody is banged up!  On the injured list: Alec Bohm, Edmundo Sosa, Austin Hays.  Not on the injured list but out: J.T. Realmuto.  Playing through pain and discomfort: Bryce Harper.

That is a lot of offense that is out of the lineup right now.  That makes it easier for the opposition to pitch to the Phillies.  If you are the opposing pitcher right now, does facing Bryce Harper scare you like it usually does?  Harper is dealing with a sore elbow - the one on which he had Tommy John surgery.

His power is up to warning track power.  He's getting close.

But it's fair to say that Bohm was the most consistent hitter this year.  Sosa, his primary sub, also usually contributed when filling in.

Facing left-handed pitching, they lost Hays, who has hit .350 against left-handed pitching in 2024.  And Sosa cannot come in as a platoon.  Let's not forget that Johan Rojas has not fared well against lefties overall.

The Phillies need to get healthy in these last games.  That will go a long way.

What's next in the carousel of fifth starters?
~Jeremy

The Phillies tried Taijuan Walker again.  And gave him one start too many.  Then it was another try for Tyler Phillips.  Then, Seth Johnson made his very memorable major league debut, memorable for all the wrong reasons.  What is next?

I believe what is going to happen next is that Kolby Allard will return and take the fifth starter spot the next three starts, with a possible fourth if the Phillies clinch and they want to rest their other starters.

The Phillies made a mistake when they optioned Allard on August 26.  At the time, they were in search of a fresh arm for the bullpen.  That came in the form of Michael Mercado.  Mercado spent three days on the roster.  He was replaced by Yunior Marte, who spent two days on the roster.

Those arms were "fresh" but did not do much for the team.

Since Allard is now available as of today to be recalled, expect to see him soon.  He did pretty well for the Phillies in his spot starts, going 2-0 with a 3.50 earned run average.  His last two starts were five innings, and allowed one run and two runs in those starts.  That's a good output for a fifth starter.

Come playoffs, a fifth starter will not be necessary, injuries permitting.

Should Topper have benched Harper?
~Zippy Da Pizza Dog

Last night's Phillies game could have gone very differently.  In the 9th inning, with the game tied, Bryce Harper stepped to the plate.  He launched one deep to right field...and did not run.

The Phillies ended up with a runner at first with one out instead of a runner in scoring position.

That could have proven costly.  But after Bryson Stott singled with two outs and Buddy Kennedy walked, Kody Clemens got the game over with.  The Stott single probably would have been enough to score Harper from second base.

Harper immediately went to Phillies manager Rob Thomson to apologize.  With a shorter bench, thanks to injuries to everyone mentioned above, and with a couple pinch hitters used already, taking Harper out there would not have been practical.

So the moment he had the chance, Harper apologized.  That probably will be the end of it.

So Clemens really got Harper off the hook for the evening.  The Phillies need Harper hitting baseballs off of the right field wall, running the next time.  I think that the matter would be considered done, and hopefully a reminder for the stretch where nothing can be assumed.