Categories: 2010 Game RecapsPosts

Phillies’ Lineup Still MIA as Skid Hits Four

The NBA in late May: Where Amazing Happens.

The Phillies’ offense in late May: Where Nothing Happens.

After the Phillies’ 5-0 loss to the Mets at Citi Field tonight, what else is there left to say about the offense’s slump? (Other than that word “slump” doesn’t come close to quantifying whatever has sapped the offense the past four games.)

When a team gets shut out, that’s normal. Back-to-back nights, well, that happens, too. But three times (nearly four) in four games, and being held scoreless in 37 of 38 innings? That’s no accident. It’s a sign that something isn’t right. The pitchers the Phillies have faced the past four games are Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi. That’s not in the same class as the starting rotation of the 1971 Orioles. If the Phillies faced Tim Lincecum four straight times, they’d probably score more than three runs, which is what they’ve managed against those four … shall we say lesser-caliber pitchers.

The truth is that every offense goes through slumps, some worse than others (and some really, really bad). While the Phillies haven’t had a dry spell quite like this the past few seasons, the combination of a couple of slow starts (Shane Victorino, Raul Ibanez) and having two starters either on the DL or severely banged up (Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Ruiz) has caused a perfect storm.

I’ll spare the highlights of tonight’s game because, frankly, there aren’t any. But for the Phillies, one moment stood out above the rest. With Victorino on second base in the sixth inning and one out, Chase Utley lined a solid single to right field. We’re used to seeing the fleet Victorino zip around third on plays like that, but he was held at third. With the offense needing a spark, Victorino had to score on that play, but the fact that he didn’t served only to illustrate how the offense has lost its way. Third base coach Sam Perlozzo thought he was playing it safe by holding Victorino, but it was the wrong decision – especially considering Ryan Howard’s propensity to strike out against left-handed pitchers (Howard entered Wednesday with a .308 career OBP against lefties and a nearly 40 percent strikeout rate).

If there’s any positive news from tonight, it’s that Charlie Manuel held a short team meeting after the game. When Manuel gets mad, good things often follow.

Jon Fogg

Jon joined Phillies Nation in April 2010 and is perpetually grateful that the World Wide Web came along, allowing him to write about the team he has followed since, well, as long as he can remember. At his first Phils game, in 1991 against the Pirates at the Vet, Jon watched wide-eyed from one of those plastic, spine-numbing seats as a lanky outfielder named Barry Bonds cracked a two-run homer off Tommy Greene and a game-winning RBI double off Mitch Williams in the ninth. In those halcyon days, he listened to most games on the radio because cable TV didn’t extend out into in the remote swamps of South Jersey. Most days, you’ll find Jon looking for misplaced commas and devising flashy headlines at a newspaper; these days his publication of choice is the Baltimore Sun; he’s also worked at The (Allentown) Morning Call and The Washington Times.