After step toward future, current Phillies suffer another loss

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On Monday afternoon, new Phillies baseball boss Andy MacPhail said the team’s current “snapshot wasn’t all that good,” but he applauded the franchise for devoting itself to a rebuild and said teams that do that, and stay the course, get rewarded down the road.

There is a lot of work to do before the Phillies get their reward. Many areas have to be improved, especially the offense, which is the worst in the National League.

The starting pitching also needs a major boost. Sean O’Sullivan was tagged for six runs in five-plus innings in a 7-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night (see Instant Replay). For the month of June, Phillies starting pitchers are 2-15 with a 6.58 ERA, worst in the majors over that span.

Believe it or not, things could get worse. Cole Hamels and Aaron Harang, the team’s two most dependable starters, could both be traded in July.

O’Sullivan actually had a 4-1 lead after two innings, but could not hold it. He pitched into the sixth but did not retire a batter in that frame and was tagged for three runs in the inning as the Brewers went ahead, 6-4.

“I was getting ahead in counts, but I wasn’t putting guys away,” said O’Sullivan, who gave up a season-high 12 hits. “I didn’t minimize damage. I’m pretty disappointed with the results.”

Phillies officials will have a big starting pitching decision on their plate in the next few weeks as they mull when to bring up Aaron Nola so he can get his feet wet in the majors.

But for now, the central starting pitching decision revolves around O’Sullivan and Adam Morgan. Chad Billingsley is slated to come off the disabled list and pitch in Morgan’s spot on Thursday. It’s possible that Morgan could be sent back to Triple A to clear roster space. But it’s also possible that the Phillies could keep Morgan in the rotation and subtract O’Sullivan.

“I’m not sure what we’re going to do at this point,” interim manager Pete Mackanin said. “We’re going to discuss it.”

O’Sullivan gave up a pair of singles to lead off the sixth. Pinch-hitter Aramis Ramirez followed with a two-run double to put the Brewers ahead for good.

“With the doubleheader (Sunday), we had to be careful about the pitching,” Mackanin said. “We needed to stretch (O’Sullivan) into the sixth. We don’t want to have to use our late-inning guys if we can avoid it, especially if we don’t have the lead.

“The third time around (a lineup), you’ve got to be a little creative and he just got a few pitches up.”

Cesar Hernandez continued to swing a hot bat and play good defense at second base. He had a pair of hits, giving him nine in four games on the homestand. Over his last 15 games, since June 10, Hernandez is batting .375 (21 for 56) to raise his batting average from .217 to .277.

“I’m happy to see what Cesar is doing,” Mackanin said. “We were hoping to get him as much playing time as possible as the season went on. I think this is a good year to find out about guys. He’s making a strong showing for what he’s capable of doing. The guy steals bases, he plays pretty good defense, very good defense. The ball jumps off his bat from both sides. We’re excited about that.

“We’re waiting for the rest of the guys to really come through. I know (Cody) Asche is better than a .250 hitter. We’re waiting for him to come through. (Domonic) Brown -- we’re trying to get him back to that year he made the All-Star team. We feel by the time the season is over, we’ll have a good idea of what we’ve got for the next few years.”

The Phils don’t need the rest of the season to know they need to improve their starting pitching. That much has been clear this month and was again Monday night.

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