Phillies' call to 'pen goes awry again

PHILADELPHIA -- Joe Girardi chose Neftalí Feliz again.

It backfired. Again.

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But then, not much is working for Girardi and the Phillies these days. Little worked in Wednesday night’s 11-6 loss to the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park, which dropped Philadelphia to 37-41 and five games behind the first-place Mets in the National League East. The Phils are a month away from the July 30 Trade Deadline, and they have little to show for one of the highest payrolls in the Major Leagues. It is fair to ask if it makes sense for president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to trade prospects to patch holes on a flawed roster. Regardless, the team needs to start playing better.

“Obviously, this is a performance-based business,” Girardi said. “And you have to perform or changes are made. And that’s for everyone. It includes me, too. If the team doesn’t perform to the standards, I’m the one that’s in charge and I’m the one that is responsible. It’s the business we live in.”

The Phillies expected improvement when Girardi signed a three-year contract before the 2020 season. It has not happened.

Girardi is taking heat for it, but several baseball people over the past week have said that a struggling bullpen and a subpar defense can make any manager look bad. Regardless of the reasons for the Phillies’ mediocrity, the team expected to be better than this when club president Andy MacPhail and former general manager Matt Klentak assumed control of baseball operations in 2015.

The organization’s shortcomings have Girardi being asked if those expectations are realistic.

“I believe we can [win], but we have to start doing it,” he said. “That’s the bottom line. There’s been myriad issues that we’ve had during the course of time, whether it’s defense, pitching, hitting. There’s been a number of things, but we’ve got to turn this around.”

One of those things popped up in the fifth inning Wednesday. Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola had a runner on third with two outs when he allowed four consecutive hits and three runs to tie the game, 5-5. Girardi replaced Nola with Feliz with runners at the corners and two outs.

It was a surprising decision because Feliz blew the Phillies’ seventh save in six games on Monday night in Cincinnati. (No MLB bullpen had done that since Houston in September 1995.) That game marked Feliz’s first appearance in the big leagues since Aug. 13, 2017. He entered with one out, a runner on base and a two-run lead. He walked a batter, hit a batter and served up a grand slam in Philadelphia's 12-4 loss.

Feliz’s fastball averaged just 94.2 mph Wednesday, down from 96.3 mph Monday. He allowed a single to Panik and a double to Sandy León to score three more runs, handing Miami an 8-5 lead.

“My bullpen was extremely limited,” Girardi said.

Girardi said closer José Alvarado and left-handers Ranger Suárez and Bailey Falter were unavailable. They have been the Phillies’ best relievers lately.

Suárez could not pitch because of back spasms.

“He’s obviously a logical choice,” Girardi said. “I had five guys to finish that game.”

Héctor Neris was an option, although he lost his closer’s job last week. He allowed two runs (one earned) in the sixth and is 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA and four blown saves in six opportunities in his last eight games. Enyel De Los Santos was an option, although he allowed six runs (two earned) while recording two outs on Monday. He pitched a scoreless seventh. Connor Brogdon was an option. He walked two batters and allowed one run in two-thirds of an inning Tuesday. Wednesday, he allowed one run in the eighth. Archie Bradley was an option. He pitched a scoreless ninth. He has a 3.86 ERA and one save in two opportunities in five appearances since he returned from the injured list.

It did not help that Nola lasted only 4 2/3 innings. He has struck out 23 batters in his last two starts, including an MLB-record-tying 10 consecutive strikeouts in Friday's 2-1 loss to the Mets at Citi Field. But he has pitched just 10 innings, putting more pressure on a bullpen that has not handled pressure well.

“We’ve just had to use our bullpen a lot,” Girardi said.

And lately it has not been a good thing, putting more pressure on Girardi than ever before.