Where have you gone, Chase Utley? Marlins 2, Phillies 1

If you hoped that a series against the Marlins would cure all that ails the Phillies, you were wrong. If you thought that the retirement ceremony for Chase Utley would fire up the Phillies’ bats, think again. Instead, the Phillies’ offense was quiet yet again, and they lost their fifth straight game.

Aaron Nola has been as responsible as anyone for the Phillies’ underachievement this season, but he was the least of their problems on Friday night. In his best performance of the season, he threw eight strong innings, giving up only two runs, one of which was unearned.

Of course it wouldn’t be a Nola start if he didn’t give up a home run, and this time he was victimized by the immortal Bryan Holaday, who took him deep in the second inning.

The Phillies got that run back when they showed some aggressiveness reminiscent of Utley.

Sadly, that manufactured run was all the Phillies could manage. The rest of the night, they went quietly against Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara. As has so often been the case recently, when they got runners aboard, they couldn’t get them home (2-12 with runners in scoring position).

When the Marlins scored a second run thanks to an error by Scott Kingery, the Phillies were unable to answer, and their losing streak now sits at five games.

They’ll have two more cracks at the Marlins, but considering their recent level of ineptitude, it’s difficult to say that the next two games are going to go much better than Friday’s did. Because if the presence of Chase Utley can’t inspire the team to play better, I’m not sure anything can.