Where do we begin with the Phillies' struggles of late? They are 3-8 in their past 11 games, they now have lost four, count 'em four straight series' and the only thing more inept than their offense is their pitching.
It is a miracle that this team is still in first place when you look at the low-level they are peforming on right now. They have reached bottom-feeder status as of last night; rock bottom.
You know you're bad when your opening day starter who has struggled mightily pitches extremely well for 7 innings, the team finds a way to tie up the game, then he gives up a homerun to a guy who had one homerun all season long.
Maybe it's the bandbox down there. Maybe the players aren't responding to Charlie Manuel.
Maybe they're just not that good.
Here's a run-down of their 11-game June swoon.
5-4 loss at Florida.
6-2 loss at Florida.
3-0 win at Florida.
20-2 win at St. Louis.
3-2 loss at St. Louis.
7-6 loss at St. Louis.
8-2 win against Boston.
3-0 loss against Boston.
7-4 loss against Boston.
7-1 loss against Los Angeles.
6-2 loss against Los Angeles.
Notice a pattern here? Aside from their 20-run aberration against St. Louis they are playing like a AAA club. The offense has averaged a paltry 3.2 runs a game in the 10 games aside from that fluke. And, their pitching has allowed 4.9 runs per game.
This team has looked more like the Seattle Mariners in the past two weeks then the leader in the NL East. But, today their stopper-their closer in Cole Hamels takes the hill against Jared Weaver and look for him to end this losing streak.
That's the importance of having an ace. But, this team needs more than an ace and a bunch of hopefuls and schleps to make it anywhere in the postseason. I think their needs to be a trade that brings someone who can do different things on offense into this lineup. They still have far too many strikeouts and when they have a power outage like they've had in the past two weeks they are prone to prolonged slumps like this.
So, after having two days off (including the idle day on Thursday) in recent days will the real Chase Utley step up to the plate? And, will King Cole stop this streak?
That may not be enough with the stupid mistakes like Eric Bruntlett made last night, when he got thrown out at second base.
Even if the Phillies get a win today they have a long ways to go before proving themselves to be anything more than top dog in a weak division. They have failed four times in a row against good teams. They have to start winning against good teams if they are to be taken seriously.
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