It’s been two weeks since opening day, which means it’s been two weeks since the Phillies began their season with four straight wins. The Phillies were on a roll. But what has happened since then? After Wednesday night’s listless 5-1 loss in New York, they’ve now lost five of their last seven games and dropped back to.500. The Phillies struck out 14 times on Wednesday and have only two extra-base hits in the series’ first three games. The series finale on Thursday could be cancelled due to inclement weather. That could be a good thing, as the struggling Phillies may want to avoid facing Jacob deGrom.
“When you don’t hit, it appears as if the world is ending,” Joe Girardi said. “Everyone goes through it. That’s all there is to it. It is impossible to predict when it will occur. You have no idea why this is going to happen. … It’s happening right now, and we need to get out of it. That is the gist of it. We need to get out of here. We must fight our way out of this.”
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The Phillies are hopeful that Mickey Moniak can alleviate their center-field woes.
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Wednesday started out like any other day for Mickey Moniak, who finished his batting practise in Allentown and was getting ready to board a bus to Scranton to face a group of Yankees minor-leaguers. He was then summoned to the manager’s office.
Moniak described the Phillies’ triple-A manager, Gary Jones, as “super nonchalant.” “He was like, ‘Hey, man. You’re on your way to the big leagues.’ That was the end of it. It’s great to be back.”
Moniak had his major-league debut last summer, but his return this season feels different. The Phillies brought the 2016 No. 1 pick to Philly last year to be a spare part off the bench. He’ll be given a chance this month to play nearly every day after center-fielder Adam Haseley left the team for personal reasons.
“We felt that Mickey’s at-bats were probably the best,” Girardi said. “We liked what we saw from Mickey in spring training. We thought he was probably the most ready to help us.”
Girardi said Moniak will start against right-handers, which should put him in Thursday’s lineup against deGrom. The Phillies are going to give Moniak a chance this season to be more than a spare part.
“It’s different than last year,” said Moniak, who turns 23 in May. “I think I have a better idea of what’s to come. It’s early in the year, the team has been doing well, and I’m just excited to go out there and help the team win. My whole mind-set is to just go out there and play hard every single pitch.”
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