Getting To the Game and the Slumping Philadelphia Phillies' Bats

Well, I went to the Phillies Rockies game last night. The only good thing about that was the fact that I did not have to listen to Chris Wheeler drone on about Jason Giambi turning back the clock and pulverizing the ball like it was May 2001 not May 2011. At least it's May.

For those of you who have yet to get to a ball game this year, it is not exactly the easiest thing to do these days on a school night. Most people do not get out of work until 5 PM and then you have to get back to your house, get on your favorite jersey (I wore Howard last night), maybe fill up a cooler if that is the way you want to do things before the game, and then it’s decision time if you live north of the city. Do you take SEPTA regional rail to suburban station and then hop on the orange line subway and get off at Pattison, oops I mean AT&T station (I wonder how much that deal cost AT&T, it was only the most iconic subway stop in Philadelphia and they just renamed the thing), because you do not have to deal with traffic? The only positive with SEPTA is that you will not be caught in traffic but it is a time consuming process and if you plan on tailgating you do not exactly have a vehicle to set up a home base from. So, if you are not going to take public transportation your next decision is also a big one. Do you take the Schuylkill (76 East) or the Blue Route (476 South)? Well, the Schuylkill was designed with good intentions but that is where the good stops with that road. It could be 2 PM on a Saturday and you need to get into the city and you turn on traffic and transit on the twos and some traffic guy comes on, “Whoa! Looks like slow-going on the Schuylkill if you’re trying to make it into the city this afternoon. It’s jammed up from the Conshohocken curve all the way to South Street.” Obviously, we (We is my friend Laurie, superb job driving, and my roommate Chris who is a season ticket holder) opted out of taking the Schuylkill down to the game. We left my house in Conshohocken at about 5:30 PM. If there is no traffic either way you go, it will take about half hour to get to the game. After struggling just to make it out of the Consh, and meandering in stop-and-go traffic on the blue route we made it to the K lot between Lincoln Financial Field and Citizen’s Bank park a little bit after 6:30 PM.

Have you been to the K lot lately? That sh*t is crazy. It has the atmosphere of a college football game tailgate (Maybe not Penn State, but some other smaller schools that party). This was a rainy Thursday night in May and the drinks, games, and co-eds were indulging. We struggled to find a parking spot and made a bad decision with the spot we picked. A group of early 20s “dudes” were blasting Katie Perry and playing beer pong with a pink ball and Four Loko. About 10 dudes, seemingly not interested in heading into the game, playing beer pong with Four Loko, jamming out to sweet tunes that were so loud you did not hear much else, I just wanted to reiterate all that. It was quite the scene we all thought. Have you ever seen a pink ping pong ball? The girls were taking a cue from Eddie Murphy as Buddy Love in The Nutty Professor for their wardrobes (skip to 54 seconds into this video). I have never seen so much red and so much spandex in my life. I’m not complaining.

Since we did not make it down until just before game time we decided to have a beverage or two instead of rushing into the game where these same beverages would run you at least $7.50. I was getting text messages from several people that Kyle Kenrick would be making an emergency start for Joe Blanton. My roommate Chris has now seen both games Kyle Kendrick has started this season. Our other four starters are all-stars. Ouch. Just before we started to head into the game I get a few more texts. Old graybeard, that chubby, bloated, former MVP slugger, Jason Giambi had just rocketed a three run blast in the 1st inning. If you have been following the Phillies lately, a three run deficit in the first inning essentially means the game is over. It turned out to be the case. The Phils never challenged in this game and Giambi provided more than enough offense. In his second at bat he sent another blast into the seats. This time a 2 run bomb. It was 5-0 Rockies and the Phillies offense looked and felt stagnant. Giambi added a third jack in his third at bat for good measure to make the score 7-1. The Phillies offense is not even worth mentioning. Giambi did have two shots at hitting a fourth home run, but he struck out both times. It does not seem to matter who is pitching these days, the Phils are good for 1-2 runs and that is about it.

Let’s break down this awful slump the entire team is going through right now though. First of all, the guys who are in the lineup that are everyday players are not pulling their weight. That is where this thing starts. Shane Victorino was the only Phillie getting clutch hits and he was pulled out of Sunday’s game before his last at bat with a hamstring injury. This snapped his 15 game hitting streak. Originally, it was the thought that Shane would miss a game, maybe two. Four games later he is getting an MRI. He has yet to land on the DL so hopefully he can remain day-to-day and be back soon. Ryan Howard is Oh for his last 20 with 9 strikeouts. His average has dipped to .240. He seemingly always falls behind in the count, and there has not been much hope for him to get any kind of contact unless he is ahead three balls and one strike (hitter’s count!). When he does make contact, take one guess where that ball is going? Yup, right at one of the three fielders on the right side of second base that every team has employed when ever The Big Piece strides to the plate. Placido Polanco has been banged up a bit, and his average has dropped from .370 to .330. Hitting .330 is obviously still very good, but when your average drops .40 points in a week or so, not much is being done at the plate. Jimmy Rollins, Raul Ibanez, and Carlos Ruiz are not doing much either. The non-regulars in last night’s lineup included Michael Martinez in centerfield, Ross Gload in right field, and Pete Orr at second base. Martinez is hitting .194, Orr is at .230, and Gload is hitting .313 but has significantly less at bats than the other two. If the regulars are struggling, it is a lot to expect these guys to get the job done for you night in and night out. With the exception of last night, the Phillies have been in every game for the last two weeks despite their decrepit offense. Their pitching is still the best in Major League Baseball. They cannot hit the ball to save their lives right now. Their best player (Chase Utley) has yet to play an inning this season. Ryan Howard could not hit water if he fell out of a boat. Jimmy Rollins has not been consistent for ten years, should we expect him to start now? (I am not taking anything away from Jimmy. That is just the player he is.) The bottom line is that the Phillies are a second half team and I expect them to burn through the National League like Sherman burned through the South in August and September. The bats will turn it around and the pitching will continue to be lights out. Hey, you have to lose 57 games to win 105.

Werth Watch:

Werth is continuing to scuffle just down 95. His average has been hovering in the .230s almost all season. His on base percentage is almost 100 points higher than his average at .330. He is doing a good job of drawing walks, but his RBIs are still rather low at 14 to go along with six home runs. The Nationals themselves are treading water, having gone 5-5 in their last 10 games. They won both games Werth homered in this past week.