TORONTO — The Philadelphia Phillies need a victory Sunday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.They need the win to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays Ender Inciarte Jersey , who are dawdling in fourth place in the American League East.More important, they must reverse a recent trend that threatens their playoff hopes.Article continues below ...They let a 5-0 lead get away Saturday afternoon and lost 8-6 to the Blue Jays on a three-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning by Aledmys Diaz.The Phillies, who entered Saturday three games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East, have lost six of their past seven games.“We’re still in a good position to strike,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said.The Blue Jays have won five in a row for the first time this season and hold a 4-1 lead in the season series against the Phillies.The Phillies (69-60) will start right-hander Vince Velasquez (8-9, 4.06 ERA) Sunday and the Blue Jays (60-69) will counter with right-hander Marco Estrada (7-9, 4.88).Velasquez has never faced the Blue Jays in the regular season, although he has pitched against them in spring training.Estrada has not pitched against the Phillies in the regular season this year, but in 11 career games (five starts) against them he is 2-1 with a 5.45 ERA.The Phillies have struggled on the road this season, going 28-48 (41-21 at home) and 5-14 in their past 19 games.“I think we maintain the same poise that we have in rough stretches all season,” Kapler said. “I think we’ve had stretches similar to this one. This one has been undoubtedly difficult. but we want to remind our guys how tough we are and how resilient we are, how teams have rough stretches and this by no means does this mean we don’t have the ability to win the National League East.“I think one of the things that we can focus on is the reason this one may be a little bit more challenging is because it takes more energy to be resilient when you’re closer to the end. So it just means that we’re going to need to dig real deep and get that last drop of energy. I believe we have it in us.”While Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was 0-for-3 with a walk Saturday to end his hitting streak at 12 games, the home run streak of Kendrys Morales is alive. He has hit home runs in six consecutive games (for a total of seven) that matches the club record set in 2001 by Jose Cruz Jr.The streak by Morales equals the longest in the majors this season set by Matt Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals on July 14-21.Morales also has a nine-game hitting streak. His batting is .516 (16-for-31) with seven homers and 13 RBIs.“He’s been on a nice little roll now for a while, a good while,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “Early in the year http://www.bravesfanproshop.com/authentic-jose-ramirez-jersey , he was chasing a lot of breaking balls, off-speed pitches down in the dirt, down in the zone — that’s what was getting him into trouble. He’s laying off those now and he’s even hitting breaking balls.”Outfielder Billy McKinney hit a two-run homer Saturday and has three homers in his first seven games from the Blue Jays after being called up from Triple-A Buffalo. He was part of the deal that sent left-hander J.A. Happ to the New York Yankees on July 26.McKinney is the first player to combine three homers and nine RBIs in his first seven games with the Blue Jays. Seven others have hit three or more homers in their first seven games with Toronto and Dave Martinez had nine RBIs in his first seven games with the Blue Jays in 2000. MILWAUKEE 鈥?Here it comes, the blockbuster Game 7 in all its glory on Saturday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers for the right to play the Boston Red Sox in the World Series, and鈥orget nervous stomachs.What the Dodgers really need is for Manny Machado to tame the butterflies in his head.There was always going to be a price to pay for his bush-league behavior in Los Angeles in this National League Championship Series鈥攌icking Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar as he crossed first base in Game 4 and explaining away the periodic dog in him with his infamous hustling is 鈥渘ot my cup of tea鈥?remarks鈥攁nd the first check came due hard in Friday night鈥檚 7-2 Game 6 loss to the Brewers.The Brewers鈥?crowd booed Machado as if he were in town to introduce Prohibition.Machado responded with a dry night at the plate, meekly going 0-for-4 and stranding three.鈥淚t was a tough loss for us today,鈥?he said when asked about the crowd, which was the polite way of checking on the ringing in his ears. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to come back and play better baseball tomorrow night.鈥漁K, well, um, sure.The way the Brewers ambushed starter Hyun-Jin Ryu for four runs in the first inning, another in the second, four doubles in the first two innings and then scored their sixth run when a wild pitch slipped past Yasmani Grandal, who is to catching in this NLCS what a single sandbag is to a raging flood鈥f course the Dodgers must play better Saturday night if they are to return to the World Series.That includes their marquee trade deadline addition Ronald Acuna Jr. Jersey , who appeared determined to hit the ball farther as the boos got louder.鈥淣o,鈥?Machado protested. 鈥淢y focus was on the game, trying to go pitch-by-pitch and drive in runs.鈥漈he sellout Miller Park crowd of 43,619 booed early and booed loudly. They hit decibels that made you hope parents were responsible enough to bring earplugs for infants. It was ear-splitting, it was sustained and it sure appeared to work.Within that 0-for-4, Machado fanned twice, never got the ball out of the infield and appeared in need of a good set of noise-canceling headphones.Charlie Riedel/Associated PressHis name was buried in boos during pregame introductions. An avalanche of boos greeted him again as he walked to the plate in the first inning, and the deafening noise remained throughout the at-bat, hitting a crescendo when he swung through strike three, a 92 mph heater from Milwaukee starter Wade Miley.He popped to short in the third and whiffed again in the fifth. With each swing-and-miss, the crowd went bonkers.But the topper came in his final at-bat in the eighth with the Dodgers trailing 6-2.He ran hard all the way down the line鈥攖hat shouldn鈥檛 be worth noting in a major league game, but it is now with the self-proclaimed anti-Johnny Hustle鈥攂ut was thrown out.As he went back across the infield to the Dodgers鈥?third base dugout, he was booed vociferously every step of the way.After disappearing into the dugout, he re-emerged to join his teammates on the top step and couldn鈥檛 resist an exaggerated wave with his right arm as if to challenge the fans.By then, a full-throated 鈥淢anny sucks! Manny sucks! Manny sucks!鈥?chant was in full force.When I asked him about the motion afterward鈥擶as it a wave or brushoff of the fans? Was he motioning to a teammate? Did I mis-see something altogether?鈥擬achado gave a convoluted answer.鈥淚鈥檝e gotta play baseball http://www.bravesfanproshop.com/authentic-sean-newcomb-jersey ,鈥?he said. 鈥淵ou come back to the dugout and try to root on your teammates. Belly [Cody Bellinger] was having a good at-bat. I always go back to the top step to root on my teammates.鈥淎 lot of things happened in the game. I can鈥檛 remember.鈥漀obody in the library-quiet Dodgers clubhouse could help but remember most of the rest of the evening. Milwaukee鈥檚 faithful came to see that their winter didn鈥檛 come early. By evening鈥檚 end, summer was assured to last one more day, even though it was a chilly 57 degrees with high winds outside.A cloudy, dreary day turned into a red-hot evening, and when it came time for the Milwaukee tradition following 鈥淭ake Me Out to the Ballgame鈥?during the seventh-inning stretch, with the Brewers leading 5-2, everyone sang 鈥淩oll Out the Barrel鈥?with gusto鈥nd the line 鈥渞oll out the barrel, we鈥檝e got the blues on the run鈥?seemed especially apt. The Dodger blues.鈥淭his is what you want to play for, this is the fun time,鈥?Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen said of Game 7. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to go play Dodger baseball.鈥滿att Slocum/Associated PressAcross the room, someone asked Chris Taylor about the way the Dodgers have responded all season, from trailing Arizona by nine games in the division a month into the season to chasing down Colorado in September when the Rockies briefly seized first place.鈥淲e have to keep that same mindset,鈥?Taylor said. 鈥淭omorrow is a new day. We have to come out and execute and try to win a game.鈥漅ookie phenom Walker Buehler will start, and you can be sure that ace Clayton Kershaw, who threw a 98-pitch gem on Wednesday Preston Tucker Jersey , will be available out of the bullpen.On the flip side, another Friday night victory for Milwaukee was this: The Crew beat the Dodgers so badly that they didn鈥檛 even have to use relief ace Josh Hader. So the filthy left-hander will be available in Game 7 for multiple innings. Early? Late? Who knows, the way Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell maneuvers things.鈥淭hat鈥檚 their best reliever, and obviously you would have liked to have kept the game close enough to have them use him tonight,鈥?Roberts said. 鈥淭hey got away tonight because of run differential, they didn鈥檛 have to use him.鈥滺ader hasn鈥檛 pitched since Game 4 and now has a full three days鈥?rest.In fact, when asked how many innings Hader can go in Game 7, Counsell quipped, 鈥淭welve.鈥漌hen the laughter subsided, the manager clarified: 鈥淚鈥檓 just kidding.鈥滿aybe, maybe not. Who knows? For one night, it was party time in Milwaukee. As Game 6 played out and led toward Game 7, downtown the NBA鈥檚 Bucks were hosting the Indiana Pacers in the first game at the brand-new, state-of-the-art, $524 million Fiserv Forum.The Brewers went 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position after going 5-for-35 with RISP combined over the first five games of this NLCS. The Dodgers went 0-for-3 in those situations http://www.oriolesfanproshop.com/authentic-j.j.-hardy-jersey , making them 6-for-36 over the past four games.鈥淚 think he had to know what was going to be coming,鈥?third baseman Justin Turner said of Machado. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it affected him.鈥滻t sure looked like it did. But then, hey, who knows, maybe Turner was distracted, too. The crowd reserved a little time for him as well. Going into the bottom of the fourth, the giant center field scoreboard focused on a bearded man in the stands hoisting a sign that read: 鈥淛ustin Turner Can鈥檛 Grow a Beard Like Me.鈥漈he crowd roared.Call it a prelude to Saturday night, and Game 7, as the Brewers try to snag what would be only the second World Series appearance in franchise history. Roll out the barrel, indeed. Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow Scotton Twitterand talk baseball.
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