Now that wasn’t so bad. Sure, the Phillies lost to the Rockies on Thursday afternoon - their eighth loss in a row - but unlike the previous three games, this one was just a sad, boring affair rather than a complete embarrassment.
Unlike the starters who preceded him in this series, Jake Arrieta managed to turn in a respectable performance. When the Phillies signed him just before the season, they probably didn’t think we’d be happy if a late September start could be described as “not awful,” but expectations have changed a bit since then.