The Waiting is the Hardest Part

The Phillies are 13 games into the season and in last place for the first time since 2007. That is the least of their worries. They are 6-7 and only 3.5 games back of the upstart Washington Nationals for first place. After losing a handful of series for the entire season last year, the Phillies are 1-3 in their first 4 series this year (they took 2 out of 3 from the Marlins at home), and they can’t seem to find any rhythm in the early going.

To put it bluntly, they can’t hit the goddamn ball. The season has gone pretty much how most people have expected it to so far, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with as a fan. Take a look at the breakdown for their runs scored so far this season. In their losses they have scored: 1, 4, 2, 2, 0, 2, and 0. Shut out twice in the first 13 games, and they have won games with run totals of: 1, 3, and 2. They have managed to score 5 or more 3 times and they are 3-0 in those games.

It only gets uglier as you climb deeper into the stats. Mind you, it is early but man it’s been ugly when the Phils are at the plate. They are 15th out of 16 National League teams with 37 runs. Sorry Pirates fans, it must be rough having your team score only 26 through their first 12 games. I know it’s been rough to watch the Phillies (not) hit the ball, so you must want to cry watching Andrew McCutcheon flailing away as your only valid hitter. Okay, brace yourself. The Phillies are also 15th out of 16 teams in the National League in home runs with 6! 6!!! Curtis Granderson hit 3 in his first 3 at bats last night! Matt Kemp has 6! (Somehow the Cubs only have 5, the wind must be blowing in at Wrigley.) Remember when the Phillies had power in spades? I do. In 2009 they had 4 guys in the top 13 in home runs; Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, and Chase Utley all had over 30 that year. This year they’ll be lucky to get one guy to 30 or in the top 13. I’d take either at this point. They are also 15th in slugging percentage and 14th in on base percentage. Their best offensive category is batting average, where they are hitting a collective .243 and are 10th in the National League. But of course, they are a singles hitting team at this point so even the batting average is weak.

Let’s take Wednesday night’s game as an example of why it’s discouraging to be a Phillies fan right now. First of all, we have been spoiled to the likes of which we’ve never been accustomed to as baseball fans for the last 5 years. In the beginning of our run, it was our juggernaut offense that drove us to the postseason. Since the addition of Roy Halladay the team has been much more reliant on pitching to win ballgames. You see a lot more 3-1 wins than you do 9-7 wins. Whatever, a win is a win. So when Cliff Lee came back into the fold in 2011 we became even more of a pitching oriented team.

When Cliff goes out on the mound you pretty much expect him to dominate, and that is exactly what he did Wednesday night. Unfortunately, this was a west coast game and I fell asleep right at the beginning of the game and did not wake up until 1245 AM to see that the game was no longer on my TV. A game ending in just over 2 hours has been nothing out of the norm this season, so I grabbed my iPhone and brought up the Sportacular Ap and saw that the Phillies lost 1-0 in 11 innings. My heart sank. I flipped over to the stats section to see what Cliff did. THE DUDE PITCHED 10 SCORELESS INNINGS AND GOT A NO-DECISION!! 10 scoreless! 10! Not only did he pitch 10, but he only needed 102 pitches (81 for strikes!!) to get that done. What must that feel like for Cliff Lee? I hope he can handle that kind of frustration because I’m not sure if I can and I’m only a fan. Antonio Bastardo came in in the 11th (not Jonathan Papelbon?) and quickly gave up the losing run.

Like I said, I did not see any of this game but I caught the highlights in the morning. The Phils had a man on 3rd with one-out in the 11th and Charlie Manuel pinch-hit Jim Thome. Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy countered by bringing in a lefty to face the amiable galoot that is Jim Thome. Not wanting to disrespect the future Hall-of-Fame slugger, Charlie left him in to go down swinging against Giants reliever Javier Lopez (not to be confused with former Braves catcher). I can’t say I agree with this move by Charlie. It’s not like this was a 6-6 ball game in the 11th and the Phils had been hitting. That run was basically the Phils’ only chance to win the game. Pull Thome and pinch-hit a righty there. Get that run in. Win the ball game.

So, the next night Vance Worley goes out on the bump in San Diego and once again dominates the competition. The Phils squeaked one across in the first inning, and it turned out to be all that Vance and the bullpen would need. They added one more for good measure and won the ballgame 2-0. This is how most of the Phillies games are going to go this season, so be ready for it.

This season, we as fans, are going to have to do a lot of waiting. Waiting in all aspects. Each night I watch the game I sit around waiting for somebody to come through with an important hit. I’m waiting for Hunter Pence to go on a tear. I’m waiting for Jimmy Rollins to hit his first home run of the season. I’m waiting for Juan Pierre to ignite a rally. I’m waiting for Jim Thome to put the ball in play. I’m waiting for somebody to hit a home run in back-to-back games. I’m waiting for John Mayberry to hit the ball the way he did at the end of last season, rather than pop everything up the way he has been. But most of all, I’m waiting for Ryan Howard and Chase Utley to get back in this lineup so the Earth can spin on its axis properly again.

Werth Watch:

Well, I have to start out the Werth watch by saying that the Washington Nationals have been playing great baseball. They lost last night, but are still in first place at 10-4. The Bearded One has been showing signs of life in the early going this season, after submitting load of crap last year under the pressure of his gigantic contract. Werth is hitting .327 and his 8 walks are in the top 10 in the NL. He has yet to hit a home run, but he has 3 doubles, a triple, and 2 stolen bases after two weeks.


I leave with you with some brilliant advice from one of my favorite baseball movies...