The Philadelphia Phillies need to have a quick memory. 

After a dominant 13-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday, the Philadelphia Phillies lost 8-1 on Saturday and 3-0 on Sunday, losing the series against the Twins, who lead the American League Central Division. 

The series was very winnable for the Phillies, who hold the top spot in the National League Wild Card. The San Francisco Giants won in extra innings Sunday, so they are now just a game and a half behind the Phillies for the top Wild Card spot. The Giants play Monday night, so they can inch even closer.

The Phillies could have prevented that by winning their last two games, keeping the lead they had before this Twins series started. But it’s not so much losing these games that bothered me…

It’s how they lost them. 

On Saturday, the Phillies entered with 60 runs and 21 homers in their homestand. Sadly, they did not utilize that momentum. 

Taijuan Walker lacked both command and velocity, walking six and struck out just two in five innings. Quite honestly, he was not good and could have have given up more runs. However, was he all to blame? 

Teams cannot win with one run. Despite having many opportunities and nine hits, the Phillies could not add more than one run. And that’s not good. 

On Sunday, sure the umpire was horrible. Even I would have called that a ball-four on Alec Bohm, so I get his frustration, especially in that situation. But again, five hits is not enough. The Phillies struck out 11 times in the game. And Ranger Suarez pitched a decent  game, striking out eight, walking three and allowing just two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings. Yes, the calls were bad but so was the offense. 

So, now what? 

The Phillies (65-54) open a two-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays (66-54) at 7:07 p.m. Tuesday. The Phillies and Blue Jays have almost equal records, but that means absolutely nothing. Toronto has some big wins under their belt and compete in one of the best divisions right now, the A.L. East. They also hold the third Wild Card spot in the A.L.

The Phillies need to do something this series. And with Zach Wheeler starting the first game, the Phillies have an opportunity take Game 1 and maybe spark something, because they were certainly missing something Saturday and Sunday.

Still, even though last two games may have been a downer, the rest of the homestand was a success. Trea Turner got a standing ovation, and turned his slump into a  10-game hitting streak while batting .436. The biggest highlight was Michael Lorenzen’s no-hitter, the 14th in Phillies’ history. 

It was not all bad at all.

The Phillies just need to rediscover that momentum and gain even more against Toronto. The Phillies are still the top Wild Card team, so there’s that. But they  just cannot lose that. 

After the Blue Jays series, the Phillies will travel to the Washington Nations for two games and play a third in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for the Little League Classic. 

Then the Phillies host the Giants in a three-game series, which will be very crucial in the Wild Card standings. 

The Phillies close out August with two home series , one against the St. Louis Cardinals and the other against the Los Angeles Angels. 

The Phillies’ schedule gets very tough in September as they start the month with the Milwaukee Brewers, the San Diego Padres, the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves. The Phillies will have two, three-game series with the Braves in September.

With 43 games remaining, it’s do or die time for the Phillies. The starters need to be consistent and the Phillies have to stop leaving runners on base. That might sound obvious, but hopefully they are fixing those issues. There’s no room for error or a big losing streak. The Phillies have to finish the job and make the postseason for the second straight season.