Through August 5th, the Phillies were 63-48, in first place in the NL East, with the second best record in the NL.
Had they continued at that pace, they would have won 29 of their final 51 games. Instead, they won only 17 of 51.
How did 12 games turn from wins to losses? Breaking it down by phase of the game, here is one way we can apportion the blame for The Collapse:
- 4 losses can be attributed to the offense — they scored fewer runs, from 4.42 per game, to 3.65 (0.78 runs per game worse)
- 6 losses from pitching/defense — they gave up lots more runs, from 4.