Just three days ago, it seemed as though the Phillies were moving in the right direction. They had just beaten the Boston Red Sox to win their sixth straight game, and their mediocre offense had been finding ways to consistently score more than three runs a game.
Three days later, the Phillies have dropped three straight games, and have once again fallen below the .500 mark. The latest loss came on Monday at the hands of Gio Gonzalez and the Washington Nationals by a score of 2-1.
The Phillies wasted a solid starting performance by Kyle Kendrick, who gave up only two runs on five hits in seven innings of work. The righthander did more than enough to win the game, but was the latest pitcher on the Philadelphia staff to fall victim to a lack of run support.
The offense had their opportunities to score off of Gonzalez and the Washington pitching staff, but failed in every opportunity to come up with a big hit. The meat of the order (Hunter Pence, Carlos Ruiz, and John Mayberry) left seven, five, and four runners on base respectively, and the team as a whole stranded 21 on the night.
Pence, one of the most guilty parties of the night, failed to come through despite multiple opportunities to drive in runs. In the third inning, the rightfielder grounded out with the bases loaded to retire the side. In the sixth inning, he had runners at second and third with no outs, but couldn’t get a run home. Then with runners at first and second with one out in the eighth inning, the former Astro produced a nice-and-easy pop up to third base. 
Pence has had a rough start to the season, and hasn’t responded well to the pressure of filling Ryan Howard’s shoes in the four-hole, but he’s got to do better than what he’s done so far.
Before the game, the Phillies sent out some troubling news regarding pitcher Vance Worley. They sent the righthander to Dr. James Andrews to examine the inflammation in his elbow that resulted in his trip to the disabled list. Though the team says the visit was simply precautionary, its hard to take the Phillies at their word regarding injuries. If Worley’s problem becomes more serious, the team’s interest in bringing back Roy Oswalt could increase dramatically.
The Phils are now 1-4 in the “Paulman’s 23 Game Stretch to decide the 2012 Season.. They have dropped to 7-14 versus Teams with a .500 Overall Record and better and 6-11 versus the NL EAst Competitors.. This Team will be Sellars come trade time and will be fortunate to 82-85 games.. I am not a hater, but this Team is just not very good as I have been saying since Febuary, yes they have some injuries, but so do many teams like the NAts,Dodgers,CArdinals,Braves,Mets, and about every other team in MLB.. They are a basement Team and I see that it will be very difficult to move up more than 1-2 spots by the end of the Season… It’s May 22nd, and Paulman declares their post-season chances between slim & none and Slim just went out on a date.. It is, what it is.. and what the fans will be stuck with is an aging team that goes thru th emotions and plays unispired, unfundamentally sound baseball.. The Truth hurts but I will continue to call them as I see them but this Season is lost…
Paulman, don’t be too gleeful there, and the season is barely a third into it, much can change, remember the cardinals fortunes going into postseason, barely making it, in sports today it’s about the hot team going into the playoffs, phillies mailed it in last season from day one as best team in baseball, yet went cold late in season going into playoffs, in 2008 it was a dogfight, phils got hot at right time, championship, for anyone to conclude right now that the phils are finished is foolishness, or face it you are just not a fan, looking forward to an interesting season, lots of ups and downs, but ultimately we hope the phils will turn it around
Anything is possible Jake but a few very important factors to consider in 2012
#1) the NL East Competition is much better and deeper that 2008 & 2009..
#2) too many of the Phils Regulars have lost their fire and passion for the game and are sleep-walking/going thru the motions… (Rollins in particular)
#3) Phils Offense was able to overcome some of MAnuels questionable call and moves during a game for they had that late inning powere and potential 2-3 Run Homer from the middle of their old line-up that they don’t have any longer…
This Team, it’s energery level,talent level is not on par with the past few seasons,, Core player who were making names for themselves and had a lot to prove and are on the downside of the carrers and too comfortable wit their big contracts and the Phils Vaunted Pitching Staff led by Halladay & Lee are no longer Elite, they are still good, but not dominating.. If it wasn’t for Hamels and Ruiz, this could be the worst Team in the NL this Season…
Here is where I will get labelled a hater by Schill and told to RELAX by Birdo. I agree 100% with Pman. The competition in the NL East is much higher than it has been. There is no reason why the Nats should fold this year with their pitching staff. The only thing that would slow them would be capped innings for Strassburg. I am not saying that they are gonna run away with the division, but they are gonna be right there. The Braves are a solid team as long as Hanson stays healthy and if Beachy continues to pitch as well as he has. The Marlins also have a strong staff and they have a dynamic offense as well.
Overall though, the Phils aren’t showing much to hang my hat on here. They are not playing smart baseball, and they can’t drive runners in. Too many times, including last night, where they get zero runs when they have guys on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. The problem with a lot of the players is that they never change their approach at the plate for the situation that they are in. And honestly, we are all hoping that Utley and Howard come back to contribute, but will they be able to? Kendry Morales of the Angels had basically the same injury as Howard and it is still bothering him 1 1/2 years later.
So I know that we are only 1/4- 1/3 of the way through the season, but there are legit concerns for this team and I didn’t even mention Worley.
paulman, make sure you notify the phils of your “strecth” to decide if phils make playoffs so they know whether to hang it up in 18 games
Keep dreaming and living in the past Jake,
Do you even follow the teams around the NL.. How you can say the Phils are the one of most Talented Teams in the NL shows your ignorance..
They are one of the highest paid teams in the MLB (2bsd Overall at $176 Million) but as far as Talent with actual upside for 2012 and beyond is just not there ..They are down the list in the middle of the pack and even lower when you look at the Phils Positional Players on the Roster who are aging and or history with Injuries are in their twilights of their Careers (Rollins,POlanco, Utley,Pierre,Nix,Whittington,Schneider, etc etc)
The Nats,Braves,Cardinals,Dodgers,Reds,Brewers every-day Line-ups of the Line-up anyday over this Phils Roster..
Isn’t it ironic, that 4 out of the 5 highest paid teams in the league, are in last place, & the teams playing the best, are home grown teams.
Well, one thing I can say here that will probably sting some fans…you wanted to see how the Phillies looked without Ryan Howard, you think he’s overpaid, you think the Phils could do better without him…Well, HERE YA GO.
Butch- I think people figured that you would have some sort of replacement. Not just no clean-up hitter, but I definitely see your point.
This is going to be interesting this year. They could be in the race and be buying or could be 10 games out and be selling. Victo, Pence and Hamels futures are uncertain and I don’t think that anyone is untouchable including the good Dr if things start to go bad. Now, to be clear, I am not saying that I want Amaro to trade Halladay, I am just saying that I don’t think that I would be surprised depending on the deal.