The Mets and Phillies are both 9-19 despite massive payrolls, with star players struggling and playoff probabilities dropping from 85% to the low 30s.

Should the Philadelphia Phillies shake things up with the team struggling?

A familiar roster with a familiar coaching staff slogging through a nightmarish first month only intensifies the scrutiny. Time for changes?

Phillies fans could easily spot former NBC Sports Philadelphia reporter Taryn Hatcher on the sideline during last year’s broadcasts. And somewhere among the first questions that popped into their minds were: Where did she get that outfit?

Yet if you're looking for the messiest big-market failure as April draws to a close, the Philadelphia Phillies might fill the bill. They didn't lose a dozen games in a row, like the Mets, just 10. Yet a one-night reprieve gave way to perhaps their most discouraging setback yet - a 6-2 loss to the front-running Atlanta Braves in which starter Aaron Nola was very bad and the lineup utterly powerless to counteract lefty Chris Sale.

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

April will go down as a month that manager Rob Thomson and the Philadelphia Phillies would prefer to forget. With 11 losses in their last 12 games and only nine victories on the season, the Phillies are desperate for a win Tuesday when they host the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game set.

Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson defends his job security after having lost 15 of their last 18 games.