ATLANTA - There were no excuses from two of the biggest names in the Phillies clubhouse.
Jake Arrieta didn't get the job done Saturday and he said as much.
Rhys Hoskins didn't get the job done down the stretch and he said as much.
The Phillies have breathed their last in the National League East race. Their long, painful collapse became official in a 5-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday (see first take). The Braves are NL East champions for the first time since 2013. They trailed the Phillies by 1 ½ game on Aug. 5 then went 27-20 to eliminate the Phillies. The Phils are 15-28 since being 15 games over .500 on Aug. 5.
The slow fade culminated with Arrieta lasting just two innings Saturday. He issued a four-pitch walk to three of the first four batters he faced and gave up four hits and four runs in the shortest start of his career. There was no politicking to try to stay in the game.
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"If I did, my case wouldn't have been very good," Arrieta said. "I didn't do my job today. You've got to tip your cap. They won the division. They really did.
"This wasn't something that started today, obviously. Individually, the last month or so I haven't been very good and we didn't really take care of our business to get the job done. They did. That's why we have the result we have.
"Defense, pitching and we didn't swing the bats well. That's all phases of the game that we weren't as good and I think that's pretty obvious."
In March, the Phillies signed Arrieta to a three-year, $75 million contract - his $30 million salary this season is the largest ever for a Philadelphia athlete - because they believed his talent and veteran experience would be valuable in snapping a long postseason drought.
The 32-year-old right-hander failed to deliver down the stretch. He has a 6.64 ERA over his last eight starts. In 12 starts after the all-star break, his ERA is 5.09.
"This game is humbling," Arrieta said. "You don't always have it figured out and when you feel like you do you get kicked in the teeth. I'm not blaming it on anything other than just not being very good."
With eight games to go, Hoskins is hitting .247 with 32 homers and 93 RBIs in his first full big-league season. At 25, he is a core building block for the future. But like Arrieta, he expected more from himself down the stretch. He is hitting just .204 with a .729 OPS over his last 44 games. He was hitless in 12 at-bats in the series before an RBI single in the eighth inning Saturday.
"It's disappointing," Hoskins said in the postgame clubhouse. "You probably see that on a lot of our faces.
"I take a lot of responsibility for it. I wasn't me. That's frustrating and disappointing. But all you can do is learn from it.
"The inconsistency is frustrating. That's what makes good players great. I think it comes as a learned skill. All I can do is take what has happened, albeit disappointing, and learn from it and move forward with it."
