First Pick Secured: Marlins 7&5 - Phils 6&2

With all manner of important stuff on the line around the league, the garbage of the NL East played a riveting double-header in the midst of some wonderful weather.

Oh pipe down the weather isn't that bad. pic.twitter.com/0bUB6LXmJQ

— Pope Denali (@Phrozen_) October 4, 2015

Well. Anyway.

In the opener, Aaron Harang nearly earned a Quality Start, finishing with five and two-thirds innings, allowing four runs (one unearned) on eight hits and a walk. He struck out two before handing things over to the bullpen. Ken Roberts gave up a run on two hits without retiring a batter; but Hector Neris and Dalier Hinojosa combined for two and a third perfect innings with four strikeouts. On the other hand, Ken Giles, the more reliable of the bullpen's redundant Kens, was bad. Three hits and a walk, two runs and a blown-save loss. Boo.

Cody Asche opened the scoring for the Phils in the third, with a three-run triple to drive in Freddy Galvis, Aaron Altherr and Darin Ruf. Brian Bogusevic followed with a solo home run in the fourth, and Odubel Herrera singled in Altherr in the fifth, giving the Phils (at the time) a 5-4 lead. In the sixth, after Miami tied it up, Galvis flied to left, allowing Chase d'Arnaud to score on the sac fly.

In the nightcap, Alec Asher started on his normal throwing day in what was otherwise a bullpen game, in search of rebuilding some confidence after a disappointing 2015 season. He was unable to do so, being tagged for three runs on six hits in just two innings. While this was better than his last outing, he leaves 2015 behind with an ERA of 9.31.

Long Relief De Fratus followed Asher, pitching three innings, allowing another run on a pair of hits and walks. Nefi Ogando and Roberts followed with clean sixth and seventh innings, respectively; and Colton Murray gave Miami another run in the eighth. Adam Loewen followed with a scoreless ninth.

The Phils offense in the nightcap was stymied by Miami's Justin Nicolino, who held them to two runs on six hits. The biggest hits both came off the bat of Maikel Franco, who, despite much unnecessary hand-wringing, was not rushed back from an injury. Franco's home run in the fourth and RBI single in the sixth were all the Phils would get, though, despite starting only two players hitting under .200.

Miami's Christian Yelich had himself a hell of a day, for what it's worth. Yelich, who entered the day batting .290, went 5 for 5 in the opener, and 3 for 4 in the nightcap, raising his average to .302. A twelve point bump in BA in the second to last day of the season, by a guy with over 500 plate appearances. Yipes,

Sometime around the seventh inning, everyone got some good news, as the Reds helpfully defeated the Pirates, clinching the first overall pick in next year's June draft for the Phillies, regardless of how this or tomorrow's game play out.

Booya.

With the pair of defeats, the Phillies drop to 62-99 on the season. So, like, a win would be nice. Please?