Offense Shames, Frustration Reigns As Phils Fall

Twenty-six.

That’s how many runners the Phillies left on base in a 4-2 loss to the Rays in game two of the World Series. The series is now tied 1-1 with the series going to Philadelphia Saturday night.

The Phillies offense was atrocious with runners in scoring position. They failed and did it in every way — strikeouts swinging, strikeouts looking, pop outs, ground outs. The whole nine yards. Everyone failed, too — Jimmy Rollins left four; Jayson Werth left two; Chase Utley left four; Ryan Howard left three; Pedro Feliz left six. Etc. Etc. Pressing, pressing, pressing. They could’ve scored so many more runs.

Instead, they scored two, thanks to an Eric Bruntlett home run, and a Werth hot shot that was called an error. The one real exception from this game (well, besides Bruntlett) was Carlos Ruiz, who smoked two doubles, walked twice and scored a run. How is it the Phils worst regular hitter is now the only guy hitting the ball?

Brett Myers pitched a quality seven innings. The first couple were shaky — Myers let through two first-inning runs, the difference in the game. Once he crawled out of the jams, he settled in and performed well. But four runs isn’t good enough right now.

Talk all you want about the horrendous umpiring — and it was horrendous — but you cannot … can not leave that many men on base. It’s bad. And it won’t win you any world championships.

Associated Press photo