Meet the new Phillies closer, same as the old Phillies closer

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It took Brandon Workman one outing to be accepted into the brotherhood of the bruised and battered Phillies bullpen.

Actually, it took him one pitch.

One day after being acquired from Boston as the centerpiece in a desperately needed bullpen makeover, Workman suffered through a brutal Phillies baptism in the team's demoralizing 6-5 loss to the Braves in Atlanta on Saturday night.

The Phillies' fifth straight loss dropped them to 9-14.

Workman was charged with a blown save after throwing just one pitch — Matt Adams hit it to left for a two-run double — in the eighth inning. 

He then walked off the field an inning later as the losing pitcher after giving up a two-out, bases-loaded single to Adam Duvall.

In all, Workman faced nine batters. Five reached base. He was tagged for four hits. He inherited two baserunners from struggling Hector Neris in the eighth and both scored. The Phils rallied to tie the game in the top of the ninth before Workman gave up three more hits, including the one that lost the game.

"That's not the first impression I'm trying to make, obviously," Workman said afterward. "That's not what I do on the mound. There's no excuse for that. I need to execute pitches better than I did tonight and do a better job getting the job done.

"I'm not happy at all with how I threw the ball."

The loss was excruciating not just because it happened late and late losses are always excruciating.

This one hurt terribly because the Phils wasted a strong start from Zack Wheeler, who went seven innings, walked none and stuck out eight.

Wheeler took a 4-0 lead into the seventh and left after that inning with a 4-2 lead. Baseball's worst bullpen needed to get six outs. It couldn't do it.

"When you're ahead in a game like this and Wheeler's doing what he's doing, we've got to win these games," Bryce Harper said. "It's a sure-shot win for us and we weren't able to do that tonight."

The Phils have blown a lead in each of the five losses during their losing streak. In those games, they've held leads of 2, 2, 7, 1 and 4 runs.

"It's no fun when you go through it," manager Joe Girardi said. "Tomorrow is a new day. We have to be ready to play."

It'll be interesting to see who Girardi uses as his closer if the Phils have a late lead in Sunday night's series finale against the Braves.

He met with Neris and Workman after the latter joined the club Saturday afternoon and told them he'd use matchups to determine who would pitch the eighth and who would pitch the ninth. Neris got the call to protect Saturday night's two-run lead in the eighth and failed miserably. Of course, things might have been different if Marcell Ozuna's groundball RBI single through the right side had been a double-play ball. It should have been, but the Phils were in a shift.

Why?

That's what teams do nowadays.

"It's what the numbers told us to do with our infield defense," Girardi said.

Both of the run-scoring hits that Workman gave up came on hanging curveballs. It was very humid in Atlanta and he appeared to have trouble gripping the ball, but he did not use that as an excuse.

The Phils' bullpen ERA is now 8.29, worst in the majors.

Yes, Workman knew the plight of the bullpen he was joining, but it was not on his mind when he took the mound.

"Obviously, I know the situation and how it's gone here, but that's not something I'm thinking about when I'm trying to do my job," he said. "I just didn't do my job tonight."

Harper drove in three of the Phillies' runs, two on a mammoth first-inning homer.

After the game, he offered the cure for all that ails the Phillies.

"We have minimal games to play this year," he said, referring to the short, 60-game schedule that is now down to 37 for the Phillies.

"We have to win. We have to go on a streak and win nine of 10. It needs to happen. That's very tough to do in baseball, but to get where we need to be, it needs to happen."

Nine of 10?

With this bullpen?

Really?

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