Phillies 'very focused on winning' at midpoint

PHILADELPHIA -- June is past -- and thank goodness for the Phillies that it is.

Philadelphia could use a fresh start after finishing the month at 11-16, which felt worse because the Braves (20-8) and Nationals (18-8) finished with the two best records in baseball in June. Who knows what the Phillies might have done had Brad Miller not purchased good-luck bamboo plants for the clubhouse, coincidentally, at the same time the reeling Mets rolled into town for a four-game series that Philadelphia swept last week at Citizens Bank Park?

The Phillies woke up Monday with a 44-40 record, 5 1/2 games behind Atlanta in the National League East and tied with the Rockies for the second Wild Card. They are very much in the thick of a postseason race.

“Part of my job is to understand that throughout a 162-game season, you’re going to have ups and you’re going to have downs,” Phillies general manager Matt Klentak said over the weekend in Miami. “When you get swept, it’s bad, and when you sweep the opponent, it’s great. That’s part of going through a long season. We need to … not look too much in the rearview mirror at what has happened. There’s half a season ahead of us, and we need to be very focused on winning as many games as we can.”

July will be a huge month, if for no other reason than that it ends with the July 31 Trade Deadline. The Phillies have needs everywhere, including the offense. They rank eighth in the NL in on-base percentage (.324), ninth in Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA; .316), 10th in Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+; 93) and 11th in both slugging percentage (.422) and home runs (107), according to FanGraphs. There seem to be few solutions available offensively, meaning the Phillies might have to hope that maddeningly inconsistent third baseman Maikel Franco gets on track and stays there for the rest of the season, which would allow the Phillies to play Scott Kingery exclusively in center field. But, really, what the Phillies need is for a talented lineup to produce like it has in the past.

Klentak said he is looking at the returns of Tommy Hunter, David Robertson and Seranthony Domínguez to bolster the beleaguered bullpen. Hunter came back over the weekend. Robertson could return sometime this month and Dominguez might be back not long after him.

“That doesn't mean we won't necessarily look at other players in potential trades, but if we can get our own bullpen in good shape as we approach the end of July, that will really help us to make good decisions come Trade Deadline time,” he said.

Of course, the biggest need seems to be the starting rotation. It is 10th in the NL in ERA (4.51) and last in Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP; 5.06). Look for the Phillies to be connected to every starting pitcher on the market, including Madison Bumgarner, Marcus Stroman and Matthew Boyd. The asking prices for those pitchers will be high. MLB.com’s Jason Beck reported recently that the Tigers are looking for a four-player package for Boyd, who has three more seasons of team control before free agency, similar to the one the White Sox received from the Cubs for Jose Quintana in 2017.

The Phillies shipped their former top prospect, Sixto Sanchez -- now the No. 6 prospect overall, according to MLB Pipeline -- to the Marlins in February for All-Star J.T. Realmuto, so they have one less blue chip prospect to use this month. If the Phillies get on a roll they might be more willing to empty the cabinet to land an impact bat or pitcher. If they muddle along, they might make smaller, more incremental improvements.

The Phillies play 23 games in July, beginning Tuesday night against the Braves at SunTrust Park. They play 12 games at home: Nationals (three), Dodgers (four), Braves (three) and Giants (two). They play 11 on the road at the Braves (three), Mets (three), Pirates (three) and Tigers (two). The Braves, Nationals and Dodgers have winning records. They are 1-8 against those teams in their most recent meetings.

“We've got three months of baseball, and ride these next six games into the break,” Bryce Harper said Sunday. “Big series here in Atlanta coming up -- hopefully play some good baseball and go into New York, play them well and enjoy the break and get back to work."