By Taking a Major Step Back, Phillies Set Up Bumpy Road Ahead

My Fellow Phans,

I know I said earlier that I would not post again until I got back, but I need to vent after watching tonight's game.

I'm sure a lot of you saw the game as it ended just a little while ago. For those of you who are friends of me on Facebook, I'm sure you have seen enough of my status to know I am frustrated with this 2-0 loss.

Let's look at the box score and what do we see?

The Phillies managed 4 hits; just 4 damn hits. 4! That is sad, plain sad. Now I know Josh Johnson is good, but he was hittable tonight. We had guys on base. 3 of our 4 hits were doubles. So we had people in scoring position. As a team we went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position.

So who were the lucky hitters who got hits today? Hmm, it seems to be the usual suspects: Victorino, Polanco, Ibanez and Howard. Saying that Howard, Polanco and Victorino got hits are becoming a broken record these days. Nobody else is hitting. Utley and Werth couldn't hit water if they fell out of a damn boat right now.

What makes their lack of hitting even more frustrating is how and what they are doing. Werth has become a strike out machine. Put a guy or two on base and its nearly a lock that he will strike out. Put the runners on base during time when the Phillies can get back into a game (basically a threat) and a strike out is assured. In the rare case he doesn't strikeout, Werth will just hit into a double play ending the inning. He may be the most frustrating Phillie right now for me to watch. Strike outs and double plays in possible run scoring situations are the two worst things that can happen.

Speaking of double plays, Wilson Valdez isn't even in the top 140 in terms of at bats in the major leagues; but ranks 5th in grounding into double plays. Go figure that out. No wonder you are a career minor leaguer buddy. You aren't even that slow. Talk about being a Double Play Machine. Maybe we should call you Wilson "Double-Play" Valdez from now.Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

As for Utley, I really have no explanation. Is he hurt? I cannot say either way for sure. I would love to get a definite yes or no on that fact. Think of this: On May 20th, Utley was hitting .307 and now he's hitting .266. Werth was hitting .324 and now he's hitting .278. Has Utley ever had this bad? Let me rephrase: Has a HEALTHY Chase Utley ever gone through a slump this bad? I really don't think so. That is why I am really anxious to know if our best player is healthy and playing on all cylinders.

I'm going to leave the rest of the lineup alone for now and talk about the pitching. The only good point in tonight's game: Roy Halladay. How much more can we say about this guy? I am running out of compliments to throw this guy's way. He was amazing tonight giving up just 1 run in 8 innings. Sadly he will be saddled with the loss. He is 8-4 now. 8-4??!! That is unbelievable. the man has a 1.96 ERA 1.96!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With 3 runs of support each start, Halladay would be 10-2 instead 8-4.

I would rather lose 10-0 than 2-0. I hate wasting beautifully pitched games and the Phillies are continually doing this night after night. With just 3 runs a game during these past couple of weeks; who knows where we would be. Way up in first place that is for sure. We keep wasting these positive outings and it is going to come back to bite us in the ass in the end. This is just disgraceful.

I salute you Roy Halladay for pitching your ass off every time and getting nothing to show for it. We owe you big time buddy, and hopefully we pay up soon enough.

As for the other pitcher used, Danny Baez, I have no praise for him. He has started to give up a run every single performance. He needs to go. I think we can all agree on this fact. I don't know why Charlie keeps using him in close games. Let's face it Charlie, Baez sucks. Get him out of our bullpen. I could do better.

I'm not going to comment on how bad our bench really is this year. That can be saved for a later date. All I will say is, Dobbs hasn't had a good seasons since 2008. Maybe its time for a change?

If you think its bad now for the Phillies, the next 9 games may be the death of you. The Phillies face 3 of the 4 best American League teams for 9 straight games. We begin with 3 in Boston and then travel to Skankee Stadium, and finally meet the Twins for 3 in Philly. If you think its bad now Phillies' fans, it may just get a whole lot worse. I have a bad feeling about this next week and a half. This could get ugly.

Well now that I've vented, I can take my leave of absence from the blog writing world. Chances are I will not be able to post again until next week so let's hope the Phillies' fortunes turn around before then or I could be writing about the final downfall of the National League champs.

Until we meet again Phillies Fans; Happy Readings and Go Phillies!