It’s safe to say all the momentum the Phillies had going into the All-Star break is gone.
Opening the second half at home with seven games against two NL East rivals, the Mets and Marlins, the Phillies had a prime opportunity to improve upon their position in the standings. Both New York and Miami were tied for the final wild card spot, the goal manager Pete Mackanin set for the Phillies a week ago.
Instead, the offense that was so good the second half of June has gone ice cold once again.
The Phillies were out-hit 16-3 as they dropped a 9-3 decision to the Marlins. It was their fifth loss on the seven-game homestand and the first time they ever lost a four-game series to Miami in Philadelphia.
“It’s always disappointing when you have a homestand at 2-5 but at the same time I’m not giving up hope for that wild card because I’ve seen us better,” Mackanin said. “We faced some tough pitching.”
They did have to face pitchers like the Mets’ Jacob deGrom and the Marlins’ Jose Fernandez, but the Phillies didn’t do much at the plate the entire homestand averaging just 2.43 runs per game.
The only solace Thursday was that two of the hits were homers. They’ve hit at least one in 13 of their last 15 games.
Ryan Howard got the Phillies on the board in the fourth inning with a two-out, two-run homer. Peter Bourjos reached on an error before Howard sent a 1-1 fastball out of the park to the opposite field. The homer was Howard’s 14th of the year, and 371st of his career moving him into sole possession of 77th on MLB’s all-time home run list.
The other long ball came in the eighth when Freddy Galvis hit a solo shot into the Phillies bullpen in center field. Prior to Galvis’ homer, the Phillies were in danger of being one-hit for the second time in four days.
Over the seven-game homestand, the Phillies hit just .175 and went 5-for-33 with runners in scoring position (.152). The only runner to reach scoring position came in the ninth when Bourjos led off with a single and made it to second on a defensive indifference.
Even though the Phillies’ offensive put together an impressive stretch at the end of June, Mackanin’s worries never completely subsided.
“I’ve been concerned about the hitting all year,” Mackanin said. “It was nice to see that three-week stretch where we were hitting the ball. It’s a constant issue that we have to improve upon. If we improved our hitting, we would have won more games. In the first two months, our hitting was not very good but we won quite a few games because our pitching was so dominant at the time. At this point, it boils down to getting hits and scoring runs. We’re just not doing that.”
The Phillies don’t have an answer for why offense has been so hard to come by at home, but they’re hoping the tide turns with 16 of their next 19 on the road, including a 10-game road trip that begins in Pittsburgh.
“I don’t know man, it’s crazy,” Galvis said. “We were talking about it. I don’t know if we try to do too much here at home, but every time we go on the road, we click, man.”
Unlike the Phillies offense, starter Jerad Eickhoff has been much better at home than on the road this year.
Away from South Philadelphia Eickhoff owns a 5.51 ERA in 2016 versus a 2.45 ERA at Citizens Bank Park, which is known as a hitter’s park, entering Thursday night. But Eickhoff went the way of the offense at home against the Marlins.
Christian Yelich started things off for the Marlins leading off the fourth with his ninth homer of the year, which ties a career-high. A third of his home runs this season have come against the Phillies. That began a rough frame for Eickhoff.
Four batters would reach safely, before he recorded the first out. In addition to the home run, the righty allowed three doubles and hit a batter as Miami jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
They added on in the fifth as the first two batters, Martin Prado and Yelich, both singled and eventually scored -- Prado on a wild pitch and Yelich on Derek Dietrich’s double -- giving the Marlins a 6-0 advantage. One of the runs was unearned for Eickhoff.
Part of the problem was Eickhoff got away from using one of his best pitches, his curveball. It’s something Mackanin would have liked to see him use more, especially in the fourth inning.
“Looking back, after the outing was over for me there was definitely times where I could have used it more,” Eickhoff said. “It was kind of heavy slider and two-seamer tonight, the occasional curveball. Even that last inning there I was able to use it more and I got some really bad swings on it. It was just unfortunate I wasn’t able to realize that myself and throw that more in the game.”

RESULTS
LA Dodgers     6     WASHINGTON     3
Baltimore     4     NY YANKEES     1
Miami     9     PHILADELPHIA     3
PITTSBURGH     5     Milwaukee     3
BOSTON     13     Minnesota     2
ST. LOUIS     6     San Diego     5
Detroit     2     CHICAGO WHITE SOX     1
             (7 innings)