Well that didn’t work.
After the Phillies fought back to take a ninth inning lead in a game they should have been leading by five anyway, Joaquin Benoit took his first blown save of the year in a series-ending 6-4 loss to the Washington Nationals on Sunday on a three-run, walk-off Bryce Harper home run that seemed about as predestined as anything you’ll see.
Momentum-wise, it was the absolute worst thing that could have happened with the Phils staring down a three-game series in Queens with the New York Mets, the team that man-handled the Phillies last week without breaking a sweat.