Franco stays hot but reeling Harang, Phillies fall to Cardinals

The Phillies lost for the 11th time in their last 12 games on Saturday night, dropping the second game of their series against the Cardinals, 10-1. With the loss, the Phillies fell to 23-47 on the season and starter Aaron Harang saw his record drop to 4-9 and his ERA inflate to 3.41.

For Harang, it was his sixth straight loss after starting the season 4-3 with a 1.82 ERA (more on that later).

That being said, I'm going to try to keep it positive -- or at least light -- tonight. Not because I'm a fan or a homer, but because you're all probably tired of reading about how bad the Phillies are this year. Plus, it's a Saturday night and the last thing you want to do is hear about another blowout loss. 

Here are some observations from the game:

One reason to be hopeful

At least there's one player on this team for fans to get excited about and that's Maikel Franco, who improved his average to .282 on Saturday night after going 2-for-3 with two singles and a walk in the Phillies' 10-1 loss to the Cardinals.

After being called up in the middle of May, Franco hit just .194/.242/.339 with two home runs and 8 RBI in his first 16 games (ending May 31). But June has been quite a month for the 22-year-old third baseman, who entered Saturday's game with a drastically improved triple-slash of .348/.386/.667 and five home runs, six doubles, 10 RBI, and 10 runs through 66 at-bats -- only four more ABs than he had in May.

*Through June 19.

**Adjusted for full 162-game season (per baseball-reference.com).

And those numbers aren't just impressive when compared to his offensively-challenged teammates; his 1.052 OPS ranks among some of the best hitters in the league.

Small sample size, sure, but it's nice to see a progression rather than a regression. And yes, Franco started off hot once he arrived, getting seven hits in his first 20 ABs before hitting a rough patch -- he had just five the rest of the month. The recent surge in not just production, but power as well, is promising to see from the young infielder.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Franco's June has been his consistency. He's reached base in 16 of the team's 18 games, and has recorded a hit in 15* of them, including his two-hit game Saturday against St. Louis.

*Franco had multiple hits in nine of those games.

I don't think he'll wind up playing as poorly as he did in May or as well as he has in June -- bold prediction, I know -- but rather something closer to what his 162-game projection suggests. 

And that's just fine. Plus, there's no reason to think he can't improve on them either. He struggled last September when he was called up for the first time and improved on those numbers this May, as hard as that may be to believe. He then went out in June and showed even more improvement. 

But then I look out to right field and remember what Domonic Brown did just around the same time in 2013 and what's transpired in the two years since. Hopefully, Franco won't follow the same path...

Harang picks up sixth straight loss

I know I said this was going to be positive, and we'll get back to that theme in a minute, but it's going to be hard to find a silver lining on this one.

Harang allowed four runs in six innings of work on his way to his ninth loss of the season. It hasn't been pretty for the 37-year-old righty recently. Since this run of six consecutive losses began on May 27, Harang has a 6.05 ERA and has seen his season ERA nearly double, from 1.82 to 3.41. Furthermore, he's failed to pitch into the seventh inning since his last win, which came on May 14 against the Pirates.

If the Phillies were hoping to deal Harang at the deadline for a prospect or two, his last month has definitely hurt his value. However, his age could help him here. Most teams will be looking at him as a rental arm, someone who can deepen their starting rotation prior to a playoff push. They've likely seen enough from him over his career that if he can put together a solid start or two prior to the July 31 deadline, there will be at least some interest around the league.

Sanberg on the loss

Hose report

There were a pair of nice defensive plays by the Phillies in the loss, one of which came from an unlikely source, Cody Asche*.

*Asche also hit his first home run since April. It was the only run the Phillies would score all night.

It appears all that work in triple-A paid off for new left fielder Cody Asche, who threw out Peter Bourjos at third during the Cardinals' four-run eighth inning. He nearly added a second outfield assist in the same inning after a nice throw to the plate that beat the runner, but Carlos Ruiz missed the tag on Jon Jay.

Speaking of Ruiz, the Phillies catcher made a nice play of his own, throwing behind Matt Carpenter at first for the pick off.

Catch of the game

Well, that goes to this fan...

[There should be an embedded video here, but MLB hasn't figured out how to monetize that yet, I guess. You'll have to watch the clip on their site, which you can do here.]

Scherzer coming to town

Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, who had to settle for a no-hitter Saturday after losing his perfect game with two outs in the ninth, will likely get his next start on Friday against the Phillies when they open their weekend series against Washington.

That doesn't bode well for the Phillies.

Next up

Adam Morgan will make his major league debut Sunday when the Phillies wrap up their series against the Cardinals. He will face Michael Wacha.