That was ugly.

Three games, three low-scoring losses in Houston.

Watching the Phillies waste brilliant starting pitching from Ranger Suarez, Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez was a baseball tragedy.

And as the team reaches the midway point of the season, the picture of this offense has become quite clear. While they’ve created better overall at-bats and tweaked the approach, it’s come at the sacrifice of something else really important: Home runs.

Here’s a look at the Phillies home run issues, and how it compares to the last 10 World Series champions.

We officially have a math problem.

At the halfway mark of the season, the Phillies have one hitter (Kyle Schwarber) on pace to hit 48 homers. No one else in the lineup currently has reached double digits, which makes no one else on pace for 20 homers.

In the last decade, every single World Series championship team (with the 2020 Dodgers statistics prorated for a 162-game season) has had at least three hitters reach the 20-homer mark. Some had four. A few had five. The Phillies have one of those guys right now. If Schwarber doesn’t hit a home run, it’s likely no one else will. That’s a tough way to live.

On average, the last 10 World Series winners ranked 7th in total team home runs during their title season. The Phillies currently rank 16th.

This is like watching a dink and dunk offense in the NFL devoid of explosive plays, or a two-point shooting team in a three-point shooting NBA.

Against good pitching, it’s hard to string together multiple innings of walks and timely hits. Great teams bash. This Phillies team does not.

Can Bryce Harper’s return fix it? And will Dave Dombrowski make a deadline move for a bat?

Let’s hope.

Finally, hope has arrived for the Sixers.

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