The Phillies are as bored with playing baseball as you are watching them right now. There's no other explanation for this current funk. This last week has felt vaguely similar to the last week of Spring Training back in March. Bench guys are getting playing time at a number of different positions, regulars are resting just about every other day, and I spend half of every game explaining to my wife who that guy is with the weird number she hasn't seen all season and the name she can't pronounce.
It's a combination of not playing, and not playing together. The starting 8 have only played together a handful of times in the last month. Nagging injuries have sidelined regulars, career minor leaguers have been forced into duty in positions they aren't comfortable (Michael Martinez can't play 3rd base), and pitchers have been given longer than usual leashes to allow management time to evaluate. The last meaningful series the Phillies played was a 4 game set against the Brewers two weeks ago where they went 3-1. Before that, they swept the Braves in a 3 game set. It's near impossible to get up for an irrelevant series against the Astros or the Nationals even for the strongest willed of players.
So with a week's worth of games left, expect more of the same from the Phillies. It's inevitable. They'll win two of three to get over the triple digit hump, but probably not much else. So use this time as a fan to get your affairs in order; pay off some of those bills, re-stock both the liquor and medicine cabinets, freshen the batteries in your remote, and relax. The real season begins in 9 days.
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