When will the Phillies offense return?

by Eric Schwartz

Tuesday June 8, 2010 

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There are slumps and then there is what the Phillies offense is going through right now.

Things got no better yesterday when the Phillies wasted a great start by Cole Hamels in a 3-1 loss to the Padres. Hamels took a no-hitter into the seventh, but allowed a pair of solo home runs and the Phillies offense had no answer. It was a continuation of what has been a putrid three weeks that has seen the team relinquish first place.

Here are a few of the scary numbers:

The Phillies, figured to be among the top home run hitting teams this season, have belted just 53, good enough for 12th overall. That’s not terrible but not nearly good enough for a team that relies on the longball so much.

• Philadelphia has been held to two runs or less in eight of its last 15 games, including being shutout five times.

• Their .258 team batting average is 16th in baseball. Who knows where they would be without Polanco’s .320 average.

• Chase Utley average has dipped to .260, the lowest it has been since the 2004 season.

• Raul Ibanez is hitting .230 with just three home runs. Dominic Brown’s footsteps get closer every day.

• Joe Blanton has the third best average of the team. He is hitting 308. We will overlook Nelson Figueroa’s .500 average in two at-bats.

• Jayson Werth is hitting .143 so far this month with six hits in 21 at-bats. Over that time he has as many strikeouts (7) as he does hits.

It has been bad, to be sure. Yet here the team sits, still in second place just two games behind Atlanta. The hope is that the worst has already arrived and that the team will straighten itself out and get back on top in the East.

But the question is when? When does the team find the offense that made them the most exciting ticket in town the last three years?

Filed Under Phillies

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