As dozens of All-Star players scrambled Tuesday night to escape Citizens Bank Park so they could enjoy whatever was left of their midsummer break, the real race was beginning in the bowels of the ballpark. Philadelphia Phillies employees had less than 48 hours to reclaim their home from Major League Baseball, which commandeered the whole place. The league has scheduled the Phillies and New York Mets for a standalone game Thursday night; every other team returns Friday.There is no rest. The upcoming nine-game, 11-day homestand for the Phillies includes visits from the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. Then, it’s a six-game trip to Miami and Baltimore right into the Aug. 3 trade deadline.It’s a 65-game sprint now.The Phillies have a .303 on-base percentage. That ranks 29th in baseball. All pitchers they’ve used not named Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler or Jesús Luzardo have a 5.14 ERA. It’s fortunate, then, that those three pitchers have logged 38 percent of the team’s innings.Maybe it feels too top-heavy, but that’s better than feeling nothing at all. Here are three second-half storylines to monitor.How Philly landed the All-Star Game for America’s 250Tyler Kepner and moreBrad Keller and the late-inning bullpen mixThere is concern for Keller, who has pitched one time for the Phillies in the last 32 days. He’s missed time with right elbow inflammation. He is their highest-paid reliever, and though he’s not the most important one, he is integral to the whole thing. The Phillies envisioned him as a lockdown setup man for Jhoan Duran.Keller was activated July 8, pitched a scoreless inning in a blowout loss that night, and then did not appear again for the next four games. There were obvious spots to use Keller, but interim manager Don Mattingly never went to him.Mattingly told reporters after last Sunday’s game that he was “staying away” from Keller. Any further setback would have significant ramifications for how the Phillies approach the trade deadline. It’s possible another trusted late-inning reliever would become the team’s top need.Even if Keller is healthy, he has only two weeks to prove to the Phillies that he can be the piece they expected. Keller had pitched with the soreness for weeks, he said, and it affected him. He hasn’t had pristine command. He has been hittable.Jonathan Bowlan has ascended Mattingly’s trust tree, and he is intriguing. He has a fastball that models grade as one of the best in the sport. He has a bunch of secondary weapons that have been effective enough. But the Phillies have tried to avoid using him often on back-to-back days, and he’s seen fluctuations in fastball velocity when pitching with less rest. Can he be trusted as the main setup man in a pennant race? The Phillies might have no better choice than to see.José Alvarado has fallen out of favor with Mattingly. Lefties Tanner Banks and Kyle Backhus have been demoted to the minors. Orion Kerkering has a 2.43 ERA, but he’s carrying a career-worst 12.7 percent walk rate. The Phillies need things to settle in their bullpen.Three horses, pray for rainThe Phillies are 40-14 whenever Sánchez, Wheeler or Luzardo starts. That is a 120-win pace over 162 games. It’s a trend that bodes so well for October, when teams can whittle their pitching staffs.But it means the Phillies are 14-29 in all other games. They have to find a way to raise the bar, even just a little bit, from the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation. Aaron Nola will start Thursday night’s series opener, with rookie Alan Rangel on Sunday. Luzardo is sandwiched between them. This way, Wheeler and Sánchez will pitch against the Dodgers next week.Rangel is a placeholder; he’s walked seven batters in his last two outings. The Phillies are waiting on Andrew Painter, who has made three starts at Triple-A Lehigh Valley with some good and bad. He’s leaned on his fastball more in an attempt to correct some issues. The Phillies might have to make rotation decisions before the deadline without having clarity on whether Painter can return as even a semi-competent fifth starter this season.Nola is less important to the whole operation than he once was, but he could help lessen the focus on the back of the rotation and ease some bullpen concerns with more consistent outings. It’s been better; Nola has permitted three runs or fewer in seven of his last nine starts. He struck out 15 and walked two in 12 innings over his final two starts before the All-Star break.It’s no coincidence that Nola used his changeup more than he has all season in those two starts. He’s become more curveball-changeup heavy while using his sinker less. The changeup has helped him back into counts. It’s a weapon against lefties.Aaron Nola changeup to Kerry CarpenterMore than anything, the Phillies have to do whatever it takes to keep Sánchez, Wheeler and Luzardo healthy and pitching every five days.The double-play tandemQuick: Who has the third-highest on-base percentage on the Phillies over the last 45 days? Bryson Stott’s .361 mark reflects a steady climb for the second baseman. His season numbers (a .700 OPS) are weighed down by a horrendous first month. Since May 1, Stott has hit .265/.326/.436. He is hitting the ball harder and pulling it in the air more than ever. It’s not perfect, but it has been better.Stott’s defense has taken a hit; he’s somewhere around average, which splits the difference between two of the leading defensive metrics. It should be better. He is not the chief defensive concern up the middle. That is Trea Turner, the shortstop.Turner has 2 1/2 months to salvage his season. It can start, at the very least, on defense. He’s regressed in a major way. The 33-year-old veteran has won a World Series and signed a $300 million deal, but he’s still guilty of carrying offensive struggles into the field. Separating those two things is paramount, especially if Turner has accepted the reality that his season-long offensive numbers won’t look the way they should — no matter what he does to finish this season.It is more complex than this, but Turner is better when he does not chase. The blue line in the graph below is his wOBA, while the red line is his rate of swings outside the strike zone.In the short term, the Phillies have no other choice. Turner is their shortstop. If he does not show improvements in the field over the last 65 games, the long-term implications are real. It would be malpractice for the Phillies not to consider a position switch in the offseason.Turner takes pride in his work and his status as the shortstop. It’s where he wants to be. But it is not a stretch to suggest he’s playing in August and September for his future at that premium position.