My Fellow Phans,
I do not know what is more concerning at this time. The Phillies poor play or the injuries. Granted some of the poor play has been caused by injuries, but even with Polanco, Utley, and Chooch out there is still a considerable amount of talent on the field.
Despite this, the last week or so for the Phillies has been disgraceful. They haven't play well enough win a single game this week and have a 1-3 record to show for it.
The only victory came in extra innings after the Phillies blew a considerable lead and Brad Lidge couldn't hold it. Listen, Joey Votto is probably the National League MVP at this point, but he should have never batted in that 9th inning. I guess it doesn't help that Lidge was shaky and the worst umpire in the league was behind home plate that night. How C.B. Bucknor still has a job is beyond me. He's making a bad name for all umpires with his poor job performance. Hey, I'm not the only one who sees this either; the players do too. (http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2010/06/jim-joyce-named-best-umpire-cb-bucknor-worst-in-espn-the-magazine-%E2%80%9Cbaseball-confidential%E2%80%9D-players-poll/).
In his argument with Bucknor. Manuel "supposedly" bumped the home plate umpire. I saw a replay, I didn't see that much besides Bucknor doing his terrible old job and being a little wimp when being called out on it. Manuel should get the benefit of the doubt since he was dealing with the worst umpire in baseball, but i digress.
Last night, the Phillies faced a Pirates pitcher with an ERA of 11 on the season. Yes, 11.00. How did they do against a guy who on paper they should have obliterated? They managed just 1 earned run off of him in 5 innings. They scored 2, but the only earned was a Wilson Valdez home run tying the game at 1. Hamels gave up just 3 runs in 7 innings, but once again got no run support and was denied the victory as the Phillies lost 3-2.
Hold the Phone! We had 3-2 loss to a guy who started games that the Pirates lost 16-5 and 20-0? We could only muster 2 runs? That is utterly ridiculous. A bad week keeps going downhill and the Phillies seem to be in another spiral.
We lost 2 out of 3 to the Reds, but could have been swept if we didn't bail a struggling Lidge out in that 2nd game. Did Manuel leave Halladay in too long in that 3rd game? I don't know and that's a debate worth having for another day. There are times I sit and wonder why Halladay is still in some games with his performance or a lead that we have, but that is another post possibly down the road. Maybe Romero would be better against Jay Bruce? That's up to speculation, but later on.
Injuries are not helping this team either. We cannot go two months with Dobbs, Castro and Valdez. We need to trade for a quality infielder and it looks more and more like we need a starter as well. Could Jayson Werth be trade bait? Now that is a post I may have to explore. Check back later on that topic.
How many more games will the Phillies win this series? We couldn't beat their worst starter. Now we face Ohlendorf (3.75 ERA vs. Phi) tonight, Maholm (2.40) on Saturday and Karstens (0.00 ERA in just 3.2 innings) on Sunday.
Maholm is another below average lefty who we cannot hit (2-0 2.40 vs Phi last 3 years). That could be a painful game to watch. The Phillies seem to have trouble with average to below average lefties To split this series would be good; to win it would be great. Lets just focus on winning one game at a time and avoiding getting embarrassed by the worst team in the National League.
Until we meet again Phillies Fans; Happy Readings and Go Phillies!
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