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Phillies' offense has been more slumber than lumber

It wasn't so much an explosion as a tiny pop. The three decisive runs the Phillies scored in San Francisco during Game 5's third inning Thursday were the result of two singles, a hit batsman, a bunt that traveled a few inches sideways, a misplay at third, and an error on a ground ball to first.

Ryan Howard has yet to record an RBI and has 14 strikeouts while hitting .286 in the 2010 postseason. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
Ryan Howard has yet to record an RBI and has 14 strikeouts while hitting .286 in the 2010 postseason. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)Read more

It wasn't so much an explosion as a tiny pop.

The three decisive runs the Phillies scored in San Francisco during Game 5's third inning Thursday were the result of two singles, a hit batsman, a bunt that traveled a few inches sideways, a misplay at third, and an error on a ground ball to first.

The inning happened to include a third but inconsequential single.

More '62 New York Mets than '27 New York Yankees.

As it has been for much of the 2010 regular season, the Phils' lineup has been inconsistent offensively in the postseason.

That they have advanced as far as Saturday's Game 6 of their NL Championship Series with San Francisco is as much a testament to their pitching, resilience, and the Giants' own anemic offense as to the hitting that long had been the Phillies' trademark.

Through five games of an NLCS they trail, three games to two, the Phillies are hitting .209, have struck out nearly 10 times a game (49), and have scored more than a single run in just four of 45 innings.

Ryan Howard, who has been among the lineup's most consistent hitters, has struck out in more than half his at-bats and has yet to collect an RBI. Neither has Chase Utley, who is batting .158. Leadoff hitter Shane Victorino is at .150, Raul Ibanez at .133.

It would be easy to blame those numbers on San Francisco's superior pitching, if such slumps hadn't been commonplace, especially in mid-summer.

Does anyone remember June and July, when the Phillies' bats were as still as the humid air?

Charlie Manuel, a hitting proponent to his countrified core, continues to suggest the bats will awaken. He has done only minor tinkering, swapping Placido Polanco and Utley in the lineup for two games and supplanting Ibanez with Ben Francisco in Game 4.

"I think we've got guys in our lineup who are very dangerous," Manuel said on Thursday. "And I think somebody's going to - we're going to put together some hits somewhere along the line.

"That's kind of a history that we've had this year. I've talked about our offense, how it's been down. But at the same time I've also noticed a lot of games that we win, you can get us down, and we've been down five and six runs, and we can come and get you. And that's the kind of attitude we've got."

The Phils have hit just three NLCS homers, two by Jayson Werth and one by Carlos Ruiz. While those two have produced, it's difficult to score in bunches when the two players who typically hit third and fourth, Utley and Howard, have yet to homer or even knock in a run.

Howard, who struck out three more times Thursday, now has fanned nine times in 17 at-bats.

"I think when we get guys on base, I think he's definitely trying too hard," Manuel said Friday. "I think that he wants to do something. I think that he wants to like feel like he's part of something.

"I think if you notice sometimes when there's no one on base, he'll get some hits, and he'll hit the ball. I think when he gets somebody on, I think that he realizes that he wants to be a part of it, and he has to knock runs in. I think that he needs to slow down and, there again, just hit a couple of balls good, and things will happen for him."

Roy Oswalt will start Game 6, despite having pitched an inning of relief and earning a loss in Game 4. He said he thought Thursday's victory might relax the lineup, which will face lefty Jonathan Sanchez for a second time.

"I think the whole thing is momentum," Oswalt said Friday. "You get momentum on your side, and sometimes you can ride it for five or six games in a row and win five or six in a row. Hitting's contagious. You start hitting, everyone starts hitting.

"With what happened in San Francisco in the third inning there when we scored three runs, everybody started hitting the ball, and it got contagious. The dugout came alive, and it changed the whole mood of the team."

Imagine how the mood might have shifted if the inning had included an extra-base hit or two.