It’s not too difficult to identify what’s wrong with the Phillies: The starting pitchers aren’t pitching deep into games, and it’s putting too much strain on the bullpen. Offensively, they can get runners on base, but they’re not getting enough of them home, and the power output has been underwhelming. And it feels like the biggest culprits are the biggest names on the team.
Four games against the Reds seems like a good opportunity to get those problems resolved. On the other hand, the Phillies just played the Reds last weekend, and despite the Reds’ seeming deficiency in talent, they gave the Phillies all they could handle.