Phillies veteran Jamie Moyer cruised through the first three innings retiring 9 of the first 10 Dodger hitters before the roof fell in the fourth and fifth innings and Moyer was pounded for 7 runs.  The Phils offense was again stymied, this time by former teammate Randy Wolf as the Dodgers dominated the Phillies by a 9-2 score on Wednesday.

With the Mets and Florida both losing, the Phillies remained 1 game behind the NL East lead with the division race tightening to where the top 4 teams are all within 1 1/2 games of each other.

This game was an ugly one.  Moyer has been an absolute disaster in his last 3 starts giving up 19 runs, including 6 homers in his last 12 1/3 innings of work and carries an asronomic 8.15 ERA for the season.  Considering this data, as well as the fact that Moyer has had only 1 truly solid start in 7 outings, one has to wonder if the clock is ticking toward his being dropped from the rotation and perhaps more.  In Tuesday’s loss, he was chased after 4 1/3 innings having given up 7 runs on 8 hits while walking 1 and striking out 1 and giving up 1st baseman James Loney’s 3 run homer amidst the Dodgers’ 5 run fourth inning. 

But as disastrous as Moyer has been thus far, the Phillies offense has been downright brutal.  Since the Phils’ 3 game winning streak, which was halted by the Mets 2 game sweep, the Phils have gone 2-5 over the last 7 games.  They have scored by 21 runs in the 7 games, a paltry 9 in their last 3 games.  In their 2 wins, they capitalized on the wildness and defensive ineptness of their opponents.  They’ve parleyed nonchalant catcher-to-pitcher return tosses into runs. 

But the power offense which wins the Phillies clumps of ballgames, clumps of comeback wins, has been lacking over this stretch.  The season is still young and we may consider ourselves fortunate that the Phillies, a renowned 2nd half team, are where they are approaching mid-May.  However, it seems pause for concern when shortstop Jimmy Rollins, 2nd baseman Chase Utley and centerfielder Shane Victorino are mired in a combined 7-for-64 funk with Rollins hitting at or about the .200 level.  It seems long ago, although only a few games ago that the Flyin’ Hawaiian was riding the crest of a 16 game hitting streak.

Lest we forget, with all of the talk of ‘Big Papi’ David Ortiz’s now long-term power outage, the Phillies are experiencing a mini-power-shortage from  1st baseman Ryan Howard.  The big slugger has hit but 6 homers in 31 games while being on a strike out pace to match last season’s 199.  He had 7 homers and 45 strike outs at this stage last season and heated up from the 2nd half of May onwards.  Howard’s batting average is higher this season than in the previous 2 seasons and the hope is that he will, as in previous seasons, heat up and go on a homer tare as the summer heat sets in.

The above players, particularly Rollins, Utley and Victorino have to shake their slumps and get in tandem with rightfielder Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez, who with 10 homers and a .328 BA has supplanted Pat Burrell in leftfield and who is doing nearly everything right.   When these first 6 guys in the order are all making things happen offensively, watch the Phils soar. But in the meantime, the Phils are a frustrating team to watch.

Wolf totally stiffled the Phillies 6 innings allowing only 1 run, Rollins’ 2nd inning solo shot, spreading 3 hits while walking 3 and striking out 8. Neither Wolf nor the Dodger bullpen were in any serious jams.   The Phils never had more than 1 man on base in any one inning.

Young lefthander J.A. Happ, who will get his first start of the season in a day-night doubleheader with the Washington Nationals on Saturday replaced Moyer to get the final 2 outs of the fifth inning.  Lefthanded reliever Jack Taschner then pitched 2 scoreless innings.  Normally reliable Clay Condrey pitched the ninth inning and gave up a 2 run homer to 3rd baseman Casey Blake in what amounted to “garbage time.”   Ibanez chased reliever Will Ohman with a nineth inning lead-off homer on a 2-0.   But then relievers James McDonald and lefthander Brent Leach shut the door on the Phillies to end the game.

For all of the results of Wednesday’s games, click here.

The Phillies hope to salvage 2 of 3 from L.A with a win in Thursday’s series wind-up game as ace lefthander Cole Hamels looks to duplicate his effectiveness in his previous outing.  He is opposed by Chad Billingsley with at 5-1 record and 2.45 ERA.

For all of Thursday’s games, click here.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 5:31 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary
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