Asher to Asche; Dust to Dust: Marlins 1, Phillies 0

No one is asking the Phillies to win anymore games, but you get the distinct impression that they might not, even if you begged them.

After sending Aaron Harang and David Buchanan - and even Jerome Williams for a little bit - out there this week in Miami, the Phillies started somebody with a more likely future in their organization this evening in Alec Asher. Acquired from Texas for Cole Hamels, Asher has started five games, been tagged for the loss five times, and allowed enough runs for a 7.42 ERA in the big leagues. Darn.

Tonight, though; the Marlins had to work a little harder for their run. Asher was tough, allowing a Christian Yelich single in the first, but keeping Miami's offense limited to that until he went out for the seventh. Unfortunately, by this point, the Phillies had not bothered to score for him either, so J.T. Realmuto's RBI triple that scored Derek Dietrich (only the third hit Asher allowed) was the deathblow, making it 1-0. This had been preceded by a Cody Asche play at third in which Asche had attempted to bare hand a ball and booted it, keeping the inning alive and allowing a subsequent base runner.

In Asche's defense, he had made some nice plays on the evening and was likely feeling confident enough to log a web gem. But, instead, he ruined the game for everyone, especially the 23-year-old starter just trying to eke out one measly meaningless "win" stat so his family would stop calling to ask if he was okay. Thanks a lot, Asche.

Pete Mackanin pulled Asher after the seventh, letting him work his way out of trouble - and letting Brian Bogusevic nail Realmuto at the plate on an attempted sac fly on the next play which also included a neat Cameron Rupp tag - and leave with seven strong ones under his belt. On a better team, a 1-0 deficit in the eighth isn't the end of the game. After all, Asher himself had his first two MLB hits tonight, one of which was a double. But for these Phillies, well. You know.

Odubel Herrera led off the ninth by getting plugged in the back with a pitch. Now the Phillies had a base runner with no outs in a 1-0 game. Surely they could--oh, no Miguel Rojas made an incredible catch on a Cody Asche pop-up. Okay.

And that's it, that's the last time the Phillies go to Miami in 2015. They'll see the Marlins again in October... for the final series of the season that will be a mockery of what normal October baseball is supposed to be.