PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In the last nine days, Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins has changed his posture somewhat in discussions about his inconsistent, underachieving team.
A little over a week ago, after bad defense led the Phils to blow another lead against the first-place New York Mets, Hoskins asked Philadelphia media outlets to write about "the great things" as well as the inescapable negative facts about their current season.
Most recently, after a 13-3 blowout of the Chicago Cubs, Hoskins said: "It's time. We gotta start winning series. We gotta start getting on a roll."
This is a huge road trip for the 40-42 Phillies — four games at Wrigley Field, and then three against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Hoskins knows the first half of the season hasn't been smooth sailing. Luckily, the Phillies are in a lackluster National League East, in which neither the Mets, the Nationals nor the Braves have gained complete control.
"I think it starts with this week," Hoskins said. "There's kind of that natural line, obviously, with [the All-Star] break. ... Then obviously we have a couple weeks before the deadline. We know where we stand. We know the Mets are four-and-a-half games up, and there's a couple teams right in between us, but there's been crazier things that have happened in baseball, right? That's a good week."
With 80 games left, now is the time for the Phils to prove they can put together a very long winning streak, in addition to producing more consistent success on the road. The July 30 trade deadline is just a few weeks away, and Phillies brass will need to decide whether to trade for help, stand pat or sell current major league players for minor league prospects in what's currently a weak farm system.
"We gotta put pressure on the front office. That's our job as players, see if we can get on a little run here and make them make tough decisions. That's all we can do."
Hoskins also indicated there's been a noticeable increase in urgency — mentioning their recent series against the talented San Diego Padres, in which the Phils won the first two games of the series at Citizens Bank Park but got shellacked in their attempt to sweep.
Monday night in the Windy City, they gave the Cubs, who have now lost 10 in a row, the same kind of beatdown.
"It hasn't been very often where we've had a big lead. And it was really nice to tack on runs, and it's important that we do that in the future," manager Joe Girardi said.
You could argue a reason the Phillies took advantage of the struggling Cubs was because of the consistency they've had in their lineup the past three to four days. Didi Gregorius is back after a long absence on the injured list. The Phils have their regular lineup altogether. And even though Andrew McCutchen ended the weekend with some nerves by leaving the finale against the Padres with an apparent injury, he was back in the lineup Monday night collecting a team-high three hits.
"Let's knock on wood and make sure that everybody stays healthy, but I think you can just kind of see the depth and the length of the lineup," Hoskins said.
It's time to see that every day, and not half — or less — of the time.