IT'S OFFICIALLY an off year for the Phillies offense. No matter what happens from here on. Charlie Manuel declared it such the other day, before the Houston Astros came in here and put a notary's stamp on it with a four-game sweep, the first ever for an opponent in Citizens Bank Park.
Jimmy Rollins is hitting .228 since coming off the disabled list in June, .242 overall. Ryan Howard has struck out 10 times over his last three starts and said after another 0-fer in yesterday's 5-1 loss to the Astros: "It's definitely tough when you're on the DL and you get out of that rhythm. It's kind of nfl jerseys
like going back to spring training again."
Chase Utley hit the ball hard three times yesterday, knocked in the Phillies' only run with a sixth-inning double. Shane Victorino was so miserable after another unproductive day that when a team aide told him he had 3 minutes to make it to the airport bus, he jokingly suggested they would be better off without him.
At least I think he was joking.
The Phillies scored seven runs in four games against the Astros.
"This shouldn't happen," Rollins said. "But it does. There's a lot of things that happen in this game that shouldn't happen."
Including, maybe, the silver lining in all of this. After a 4-6 homestand, the Phillies are still only three games behind the first-place Braves in the National League East. They are just a half-game behind the Giants in the wild-card race. They have all their key personnel on the field again, and with the addition of Roy Oswalt, might be a stronger postseason contender than they were at the season's onset.
But that's assuming they perform the way they have over the long term rather than the short term. That's assuming Rollins, who was hitting .341 before he got hurt and the lineup started falling apart on May 21 has, in Manuel's words, "one more burst in him."
Rollins had been on such a burst until about a week ago. Last Wednesday, after three hits, including a home run, sparked an 8-2 rout of the Giants, he even declared, "The plate is starting to feel like it actually is where it is, as opposed to the plate feeling like it's in the other batter's box."
Yesterday, after he failed to hit the ball out of the infield in four trips, it would seem that the plate had moved to the on-deck circle. But Rollins said no.
"I'm still feeling pretty good," he said. "Right now, I get into a three- or Chicago Bears jersey
four-game stretch where my swing is going back to front, then all of a sudden my bat starts going around the ball. Just a matter of getting my mind going straight."
Ah, yes, the mind going straight.
The Astros' sweep was not accomplished without considerable help from the Phillies. To the naked eye, and there were 44,958 pairs watching yesterday, it seems at times this team lacks focus, or even intensity. But the samples cited are really proof of the reverse, proof of dulled senses due to frustration, proof of desperation, not indifference.
"I was just talking to Domonic Brown about pinch-hitting," Rollins said. "You go out there and you want to hit that fastball, you won't hit it. But if you settle in and you let it come to you, you'll find a way to put the bat on the ball and get a good result.
"That's with everything. You go out there and try too hard, it looks like you're giving up."
A great example of that, to me, was when Jayson Werth was thrown out yesterday trying to tag up from third with one out in the fifth inning. The throw beat Werth by several yards. He tried to run around the tag rather than slide past it. If he does it, it's a great play. Because he was tagged out, some saw it as another bad baserunning play or, worse, a soon-to-be free agent more concerned with his own health than the team's.
And what of that baserunning? Wasn't Rollins trying to do too much when he initiated that unsuccessful double steal in the seventh inning Tuesday night with one out? Wasn't the origin of Ben Francisco's pickoff at third Wednesday a matter of overenthusiasm on a ball blocked in the dirt?
Would Sam Perlozzo have even sent Werth if this team were hitting the way it is supposed to?
September is less than a week away. A big road trip, against the NL-best Padres and the dysfunctional Dodgers, begins tonight. Nothing that happens in the final month can reverse a season of statistical underachievement. But a few bursts, a big final surge, and that becomes just a footnote, New Orleans Saints jersey
not their epitaph.
"Maybe a change of scenery will be good for us," Utley said.
"It's a tough game," Rollins said. "You hate to say it, but sometimes getting away - your kids, your family - out there it's just about playing baseball. Just brings up a little energy. We've always gotten off the airplane with smiles when we get to the West Coast." *
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