Hope Is Not A Strategy

We are 33 games into the regular season and the Phillies (15-18, 3rd place - 5 games back of the Braves) have been stuck in second gear for what seems like all 33 games. Every one keeps waiting for them to go on a tear that has yet to happen. There is plenty of time for it to happen but this season is starting to feel way too similar to last. It is constantly two steps forward and two steps back. Sweep the Mets in Queens. Lose 20-2 to the Indians over two games. Handle the triple-A Marlins squad for the first two games of a four game set, and then look helpless getting demolished in the second two games. We keep hoping these Phillies will turn it on, but sadly hope is not a strategy.

In my last post, I stated that “I did not want to jinx it” but Roy Halladay seemed to be regaining his mojo. Consider it jinxed. Halladay’s three decent starts in a row that had followed two horrid starts were a mirage.  On April 30^th in Cleveland he went 3 2/3 and got continuously ROCKED for 2 run home runs. I watched this start. Even the outs he got were hit hard. On Sunday against the Marlins any chance of Roy Halladay ever being Roy Halladay again basically left the building. Against the anemic hitting-challenged Marlins he gave up a whopping 9 runs and was only able to get 7 outs. His command and velocity are just not what they used to be and hitters are making him pay by socking home run after home run. With the score 5-0 and the bases loaded in the third, he gave up an opposite field grand slam home run to Adeiny Hechavarria, Adeiny is hitting .194. Out came Charlie and down went Doc. Today he was placed on the 15 day disabled list with “shoulder soreness.”  Every one hoped that his subpar performance last year was injury related and that Doc would be Doc again this year. But hope is not a strategy.

While the absence of a stellar Roy Halladay is a big issue the Phillies face, it certainly is not the only one. Aside from Ruben Amaro assembling one of the most dismal outfields you will ever come across the Phillies’ problems are kind of hard to put your finger on. They are certainly not a bad team, but they certainly aren't a good one at this point either. There seems to be a general malaise over every one on the team. There are no catalysts. There are no lightning rods. This collection of extravagant millionaires, young-ish guys trying to make it, and middle of the road players all seem to be going through the motions to me. I don’t see hunger or fire when I watch them play. I hate to say it, but there is no Jayson Werth or Shane Victorino out there challenging every pitch and every play with the intensity I saw from those guys. Chase Utley does this every one is probably thinking, but maybe his shtick has gotten old because I don’t see it enough from the others. These guys are professionals and they’re acting like it. I want to see them play with more youthful enthusiasm, you know like they are making $37,000 an at bat to play A GAME for a living.

It seems to me that they struggle to play baseball “the right way.” That is to say they don’t take an extra base. They don't advance runners or make "productive" outs. They constantly ground into double plays. They rarely manufacture runs. They show a serious lack of patience at the plate, as well as a general lack of understanding of situational counts. I swear if I see one more guy swing before he sees a strike when down 1 after the 7^th inning I’m going to lose it. Same goes for any one who swings before he sees a strike after a 4 pitch walk. I just don’t understand the mentality and thinking (maybe lack thereof) that occurs when one run means the difference in a game and a walk is just as good as a single in plenty of circumstances.

One of the biggest issues the Phillies face is a serious dip in production with runners in scoring position. I’m always hearing Wheels reel off some god-awful stat like the one I heard after they lost 3 of 4 in Pittsburgh (including the last 3 straight): The Phillies went 6 for 41 with runners in scoring position during that series. Are you kidding me?!? Gross! 41 chances to score a run with a base-hit in 4 games means they do get men on base but they have not come through when it counts nearly enough to be more than a mediocre baseball team.

At the beginning of the season I chronicled all the different storylines and the gigantic “ifs” that it seemed like every one on the team was facing. We hoped that the Phillies would change their strategy (as a whole) and be more patient at the plate. We hoped Chase Utley’s knees would cooperate. We hoped Ryan Howard still had it. We hoped Charlie Manuel would take the dent out of the back of his hat. We hoped it would stop being $9 beer night at the ball park. We hoped Roy Halladay could bounce back. We hoped Dom Brown was a Major Leaguer.  We hoped Tom McCarthy could stop rivaling Wheels on the annoying scale. We hoped Chooch could lay off the ADD meds. We hoped the Nats would falter. We hoped Ruben Amaro knew what he was doing. We hoped Kyle Kendrick would turn out to be the staff ace.

Okay, so some of the stuff we hoped for is or may be happening. Some of that stuff, maybe we didn’t even hope for but I needed to see if you were paying attention or just going through the motions reading this thing. 

Unfortunately for us Phillies fans, hope is not a strategy.

*Props to Mike Rumbaugh for coining this term. It fits for this squad better than I’d like it to. 

As addendum to keep away from all the negativity I will say the following players I am happy with thus far this season, in order.

Kyle Kendrick

Chase Utley

Mike Young

Ryan Howard

Dom Brown

Cliff Lee

Jonathan Papelbon

Jonathan Pettibone

Antonio Bastardo

All these guys are playing decent to great baseball and need to keep it up. If you don't see some one on here you think should be let me know in the comments.