PHILADELPHIA - The trash talk started well before kickoff, several Phillies sat on clubhouse sofas dissecting their fantasy football teams and giving grief to the players already off to slow starts.
And after the Phillies waited out a 3 1/2-hour rain delay — a break interim manager Rob Thomson sheepishly admitted he spent watching the NFL — Rhys Hoskins crowed to the media he was beating Bryson Stott in their fantasy matchup."Literally the whole world knows now I’m beating you in fantasy football," Hoskins yelled down to Stott after his interview ended.Who’s hot, who’s not, which QB stinks, it’s all on the table for a lively debate.But inside the clubhouse, one topic largely consciously avoided is Philadelphia’s spot in the NL postseason standings.
Is there talk about the playoffs? Much scoreboard watching of other teams in the hunt?Hoskins, who hit two homers in Philadelphia’s weekend sweep of the Washington Nationals, shook his head as the question was asked."We know it’s there.
You can feel it," Hoskins said. "We need to win games. We’ve got to win as many games as we can before we get there and that starts on Tuesday."The Phillies' stretch run as they go for their first playoff appearance since 2011 — the 11-year drought the longest in the National League — chugs ahead this week with a six-game road trip that starts Tuesday with a three-game series in Miami and then three more in Atlanta.