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What is Wrong with the Phillies' hitting?
by Scott Butler 8/7/08
The Phillies problem is their hitting, not their pitching. There, I said it. If you followed today's game you had to be frustrated with the Phils consistently inconsistent hitting. For the Phils this year it is all or nothing and it's getting a bit tiring.
Let's look at the numbers first:
The Phils are second in the league in runs yet they have been shutout 7 times this year! For a team this talented that is an absolute disgrace. I can't put it any other way!
The Phillies are 8-35 when scoring three or fewer runs in a game: that's a nauseating .186 winning percentage...better than last year's .087 mark but still hard on the eyes.
The discrepancy between wins and losses is very revealing: In their wins: they score 6.79 runs per game....in their losses: 2.73 runs per game.
So what does this all mean?
What worries me the most is the impact this can have in the postseason. We've all heard the phrase "pitching wins championships" since the time we could walk but it does seem to hold true in the playoffs. What we've seen from this Phillies team is the inability to manufacture runs and hit good pitching. When the Phils struggle they really struggle.
What scares me is the fact that we can't seem to hit good pitching, which is exactly what you run into in the playoffs and that's exactly what we saw first hand against Colorado last year. With only one dominat pitcher of our own we need to rely on our hitting to win and a game like today is an indication that we don't have what it takes. But the bright side is that they are a great hitting club and if they get hot...who knows?
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