Kiké Hernández being Dodgers' best pitcher vs Phillies has LA begging for deadline help

Okay, let's talk about Tuesday night. The Dodgers took on the Phillies in Game 1 of a series that already feels like a postseason forecast; both are running 7.5 games ahead of their closest division rival and have nearly 100% chances of making the postseason. These are teams that are sending six (Dodgers) and seven (Phillies) players to the All-Star Game next week.

Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber returned to the Phillies' lineup in the nick of time, and proceeded to help their team absolutely crush the Dodgers. Blame falls mostly on Bobby Miller, who's been terrible ever since he came back from injury and topped it off with four-inning, 10-hit, nine-run appearance that included a grand slam for Trea Turner.

By the end of the game, the Dodgers' lineup and defensive configurations looked like an absolute mess. Backup catcher Austin Barnes DH'ed and played second base, Chris Taylor ended up moving from the outfield to third, Cavan Biggio migrated across the diamond from third to first, and in the bottom of the seventh, Kiké Hernández took the mound as the Dodgers' closer.

He did something that neither Miller nor Michael Peterson could do: he retired four Phillies in order, all while never throwing over 54 MPH.

Kiké Hernández's surprisingly good outing vs. Phillies reemphasizes Dodgers' desperate need for pitching help at trade deadline

Tyler Glasnow went onto the 15-day IL on Tuesday, retroactive to July 6, and an ailing Dodgers rotation got even worse. Both Miller and Dave Roberts insist that the righty is healthy, but if that's true, it somehow makes his performances feel even worse. Since he came back in mid-June, he's made four starts for a 9.87 ERA, has allowed at least one home run in each of them, and has only struck out nine batters.

He's making James Paxton, who got blown up with 12 hits and nine earned runs on June 30, look pretty good. Gavin Stone is still dealing, Landon Knack is looking pretty good so far, and Justin Wrobleski had a solid MLB debut, but the Dodgers are now in a place where they're having to ask three rookies to carry the weight of the rotation by themselves.

Something has gotta give. With the loss against the Phillies, the Dodgers dropped below .600 and suffered perhaps their worst humiliation of the season. If the front office wasn't scrambling to find cream of the crop aces at the trade deadline before, they definitely are now. It wouldn't be surprising if we ended up seeing a legion of prospects head to Chicago in return for Garrett Crochet, but if this team wants to have a single shot at beating the Phillies in the NLCS this year, that might be the only way to go.