Trea Turner sprints into MVP race, but Phils drop series to A’s

The Phillies dropped two of three to the basement-dwelling Oakland A’s to head into the All-Star break.

They were flat on Friday, alive on Saturday, then came crashing back down in the finale on Sunday in a bullpen game that Oakland just completely teed up on – tagging the Phils for eight home runs.

The Phillies, at 62-34, will still go into the break as the top team in baseball, and with a still comfortable nine-game lead over the Braves in the NL East race, but it was an odd note to end the first half on, especially after such a monumental sweep over Shohei Ohtani and the juggernaut Dodgers.

Anyway, here’s what stood out from the three-game set against the A’s, good and bad…

Turner’s on a heater

Trea Turner hit a laser of a two-run shot into left-center on Saturday that broke the game open and put the Phillies up 6-2.

Trea Turner has 7 home runs in his last 11 games 👀 pic.twitter.com/gj6QQpNorT

— MLB (@MLB) July 13, 2024

Then he came right back out on Sunday and immediately launched a solo homer to the same spot in the first inning.

8 homers in his last 12 games. Trea Turner you are RIDICULOUS#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/OUuo6cvR85

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) July 14, 2024

Entering Sunday, Turner was slashing .391/.417/.848 with seven homers and 17 runs batted in through 11 games for the month of July so far.

Going back to June 17, when he returned to the lineup from a hamstring strain, his line has been .343/.381/.626 with four doubles, eight of his 11 total homers on the season, and 22 runs batted in.

Turner has been swinging the bat incredibly well to head into the All-Star break, and for the year on the whole, he’s at .343/.387/.530, which would put him right up there with the NL’s best if he had the same amount of games played – he was only at 56 entering Sunday because of the injury.

So let’s say he does stay healthy and keeps at this pace coming back, that puts him in the NL MVP race, right?

Bryce Harper has been the default for that conversation, and rightfully so, but by a lot of measures, Turner has been keeping up and has definitely been living up to that $300 million shortstop billing.

Either way, it speaks to how much the Phillies’ lineup has been clicking through the first half.

Harper hits ’em all
Speaking of Harper, he took one to the opposite field in the seventh on Saturday for his 21st home run of the season, and with that, he’s now homered against all 30 teams in Major League Baseball.

Bryce Harper has now homered against every Major League team 👀 pic.twitter.com/WNVhm0DJNS

— MLB (@MLB) July 13, 2024

Harper is the 17th active player to reach the milestone, on a list that includes Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos, and joins some pretty extensive company in baseball history since the turn of the century, all of which you can see over at MLB.com HERE.

The names on the list vary when it comes to the types of careers they’ve all had, but top to bottom, steady hitting and longevity are the two shared traits throughout.