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Posted 06/26/2009 at 05:05 PM
A few weeks ago, I mentioned in one of my articles that the law of averages would catch up to the Philadelphia Phillies. They were winning nearly 70 percent of their road games while under .500 at home.
And that law of averages has in fact caught up to the reigning world champions, but not so much concerning their home/road splits.
Entering Friday’s action, the Phillies still lead the NL East, as they have for weeks, but that cushion is down to just a half-game over the injury-riddled Mets (it was four games less than two weeks ago), one game over the surging Marlins and four games over the Braves.
That’s because the Phillies have lost 10 of 12 games and were recently swept at home by both Toronto and Baltimore (Baltimore?). The Phils haven’t won a series since taking two of three over the Mets from June 9-11. Oh, sure, Philadelphia still has an MLB-best 24-11 road record, but only the Diamondbacks and Nationals have more home losses than Philly’s 22.
The champs’ problems are three-fold:
*-The pitching is in desperate need of another starter or two. The team has been patching holes ever since Brett Myers went down with a likely season-ending injury. One of those patches was rookie Antonio Bastardo, who had been solid before leaving Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay in the fourth inning because of a sprained pitching shoulder. Bastardo had allowed six runs in the first two innings to blow a 4-0 lead.
It’s very possible the young lefty misses his next start, which causes even more problems. And it’s not like the team can count on a win when ace Cole Hamels is on the mound, as the Phils have dropped his past two starts after winning his previous five. Aces aren’t supposed to be 4-3 with a 4.24 ERA as Hamels is.
*-Jimmy Rollins has not been able to shake his season-long slump. The 2007 NL MVP is batting just .211 with a .254 on-base percentage. Rollins has been moved out of the leadoff spot twice this season and then put back there, with no results. In fact, Rollins is hitting just.125 (7-for-56) in the 13 games since manager Charlie Manuel dropped Rollins to sixth in the lineup for two games earlier in June.
Manuel benched Rollins for Thursday’s game and will for at least Friday’s game as well, to help “clear his head.” Yet the manager insists that Rollins will remain his leadoff hitter. But if Rollins doesn’t start hitting, this lineup loses a ton.
*-The injury to outfielder Raul Ibanez has been a killer. The club put him on the 15-day on June 18 with a strained left groin. At the time, Ibanez ranked third in the majors in home runs (22) and RBIs in addition to batting .312. He was easily the leading NL MVP candidate so far, and the Phillies haven’t won a single game since then.
It’s not even certain that Ibanez will be able to return when he is eligible to come off the DL on July 3 because groin injuries tend to linger.
Philadelphia really blew a chance to put the Mets away while all of New York’s stars are injured. And now frustration is mounting on the Phillies.
"It's building up," said Manuel. "One of these days, the dam bursts, and we'll get it all [out]."
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