Nationals come to town as Phillies look to turn page on awful June

The forecast for this upcoming weekend in South Philadelphia is forlower temperatures and a high chance of showers and thunderstorms. In other words a pretty messy time, much like the month of June for the Phillies.

At 7-15 with five games remaining, June is a month many of the players and coaching staff will shut out of their heads. Through the 22 games, the Phils pitching staff has posted an MLB worst 5.63 ERA while allowing the most hits at 241. Opposing teams are batting .295 against.

And to make matters worse, the first-place Washington Nationals are coming to town.

Heading into Thursday, the Nats are on a five-game winning streak behind their legion of arms. The pitching staff has turned it on during the last few days of this month, most notably Max Scherzer.

The former Cy Young winner is coming off of a no-hitter last Saturday against the Pirates, which contributed to his ongoing success in his first year playing for the Nation’s capital. Scherzer is 8-5 on the season with a 1.76 ERA.

The Phillies lineup must not be looking forward to that, considering the righty is 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA for his career against the team. Another blunder to add, the lineup is hitting a deplorable .236 at Citizens Bank Park during this woeful month.

If the Phils figure out Scherzer Friday night, things won’t get any easier inthe remaining two games. Washington’sprobable starters are Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez to finish out the final weekend series of June.

Hopefully, the month of July will be more successful. Maybe not on the field but within the front office, as the rumors continue to swirl about Cole Hamels and Johnathon Papelbon with the trade deadline drawing closer and closer.

Who knows, maybethe hot bat of Maikel Franco could possibly swing this upcoming series in favor of the Phillies and put a positive spin on the remaining days of the month. Anything of that sort will help, especially because the memory of June will be of bad pitching and a waving of a white flag.