Phillies host the Mets
It's an ugly time right now in Philadelphia and manager Gabe Kapler finds himself in an untenable situation. The Phillies were swept over the weekend by the last place Marlins and now find themselves riding a seven game skid and 6 1/2 games behind the Braves in the NL East.

Asked repeatedly this weekend about potential changes to his coaching staff, Kapler deflected the conversation and responded that both hitting coach John Mallee and pitching coach Chris Young are the right coaches for this team.

“There’s no coaching staff in baseball that works harder than our staff does, and we’re going to work to find solutions.," Kapler said.

It's tough to blame a coach when it's the players that perform on the field, but at some point a shake-up has to happen, even if it's sacrificial. If things don't turn around soon, you've got to believe something drastic happens.

As for the Mets, they come to Philly dealing with their own issues, including the fallout from yesterday's brouhaha between manager Mickey Callaway, pitcher Jason Vargas, and Newsday writer Tim Healey that included threats of physical violence and at least two expletive charged rants.

Full story: Words exchanged, Mets' threaten Newsday reporter

The Phillies, on paper at least, are better than a .500 team. Kapler was asked this weekend about how this recent slide could impact the trade deadline. His response was on point.

"We can't even begin to think about the trade deadline right now," Kapler said. "We need to think of tomorrow, that's where our focus has to go/"

Phillies Lineup
Kingery 7
Segura 6
Harper 9
Hoskins 3
Realmuto 2
Hernandez 4
Quinn 8
Franco 5
Eflin 1

Eflin the stopper?
Zach Eflin has been the most consistent starter all season for the Phillies and enters Monday with a 2.70 ERA over his last five starts. He has, however, struggled in his career against the Mets, posting a 5.40 ERA over eight starts.
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Follow Patrick on Twitter: @PGordonPBR

BY PATRICK GORDON
Managing Editor
pgordon@philadelphiabaseballreview.com

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