Phils shut out by Rangers
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Phils shut out by Rangers
Daily News staff
Jimmy Rollins reacts after missing a tag on Elvis Anders during the Phillies' 2-0 loss to the Rangers. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)
With Chase Utley looming, the Phillies lost to the Texas Rangers, 2-0, on Sunday at Citizens Bank Park.
Utley, the injured second baseman who hasn’t played a game this season because of a knee injury, will be activated off the disabled list on Monday and could play against the Reds.
The Rangers’ Matt Harrison (4-4) took a five-hitter into the ninth inning, striking out three and walking three.
Harrison fanned Ryan Howard to open the ninth, but was lifted after he walked Ben Francisco. The lefty was just the latest pitcher to shut down the slumping Phillies. Neftali Feliz got the final two outs for his ninth save.
Mitch Moreland had an RBI double off Phillies starter Roy Oswalt (3-2) and Craig Gentry added a suicide squeeze. Oswalt allowed six hits.
Also, the Phillies will also place Joe Blanton on the disabled list and will recall Vance Worley, who is expcted to start Tuesday against the Reds.
The Phils also optioned infielder Pete Orr to Triple A Lehigh Valley.
Blanton, 30, is 1-2 with a 5.50 ERA in six starts this season. He was a late scratch in his last scheduled start, May 19 against the Colorado Rockies, with soreness in his throwing elbow.
Worley went 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA in four games with the Phillies in 2011.
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Comments (48)
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Missing Baseball players who can hit in Philadelphia. If you can find them please notify Philadelphia Phillies Baseball Team. A nice Reward will be awarded.— btsucceed- what many here continue to miss (some are just plain dumb)is this team has LONG team slumps since 2009 it is not 1 player morons it is ALL OF THEM, their team slump will be over soon they will get hot and then will another LONG slump return? I don't want to hear the age B.S. b. abreu a former phillie is almost hitting .290 he is older other than ibanez any other starter, phillies can now be considered as the team that freezes for long stretches any time of the year.— only 9
- They are 10-11 against teams with winning records and in those 21 games they have scored a measly 56 runs and in 1 of those 21 games they scored 10 runs (against the Braves). Therefore, in the other 20 games against teams with winning records they have scored 46 runs or 2.3 runs per game and we haven't even faced the most dangerous pitching staff yet: San Francisco. (1)They need to get Utley and Victorino back (2) They need to bunt more, steal bases and take chances - it made no sense to me that they didn't wave Sardinha home on Valdez's single (3) They need to move Rollins down to the bottom of the lineup, as he has no clue how to hit the ball on the ground (4) They need to make a deal to get a top notch leftfielder or rightfielder by trying to move (in some instances give the guy away) one or more of the following players: Brown, Lidge, Blanton, Kendrick, Worley, Francisco, Ibanez, Martinez, Romero, Baez, Herndon— joeyc444
- play the younger pitchers and fielders playing. JR got to go at the end of the year. Go get a farm time ss.— phillyfan19335
- I thought Charlie was a hitting coach. Rag tag bunch and the vets will NOT change bad habits, Rollins has to go.— kenkapkk
- It's MAY! MAY!
I see the problems too, but we are so silly to get all worked up about it. Don't forget that in 2008 it took a MIRACLE run, and a titanic meltdown by the Mets for the Phillies to even make the playoffs, which they did on the last day of the season.
And most importantly, this team always does much better after the all star break.— jerzyshore - Plus, they just won a series against a first place team that just happened to be on the World Series last year.— jerzyshore
- What can the Phillies do to fix the offense? 1) Acquire Hunter Pence from the Astros for Kyle Kendrick, and 2) Acquire Jose Reyes from the Mets for Jimmy Rollins. The Phils need both a power hitting right handed batter and a premier base stealer who can also hit and play multiple infield positions. Reyes can play short and second. The Phils may need to sweeten the pot with a few current roster players who are about to become expendable and/or a few minor leaguers.
Bottom line, as difficult as it is to watch, the Phillies will win the NL East because of defense and pitching. Maybe the bats will come alive down the stretch, maybe not. No use getting worked up about it now. I've already seen enough of D. Brown to know he's not going to contribute squat. Mayberry needs to play RF when Vic comes back with a platoon in LF.— Sam Crow- Huh? So four at bats, in his first and ONLY start on a pathetic offense constitutes a failure??? The guy hit over 350 in the minors and you don't even want to give him a chance?
His uniform is not even dirty yet and after one stinking day in the line up people are critical? In view of the fact their offense is in a coma, using Brown EVERY day for a month cannot possibly be any worse then what they are producing with Ibanez, Mayberry and Francisco. Brown could be the future of the franchise but if Phillies management and fans (like you) think if he doesn't perform with Micky Mantle stats in the first month he should be dumped, then nobody could possibly meet those standards. By your standard of judgment, Mays, Mantle and Schmidt, who all struggled in their rookie years, would have been traded or sent down and it would have certainly changed the history of baseball. So much for patience:-)
— daystrum - Yes the phils will win the NL East because the East sucks but can they win the World Series???? This is why these slumps are concerning when they get into the playoffs and you are not facing slop pitchers and teams this is why the records vs winning teams is concerning but hey you fake fans who were never around when the team wasnt in the playoffs continue to blindly root for this team instead of being objectively critical— DSU
- Forget Chase as the second coming, forget gettin rid of Jimmy. Where is Charlie Manuel and his hitting coach expertise. I repeat: Take one down the middle, take one on the outside corner and corkscrew yourself into the ground on a change up. Did every player forget how to hit????????????????— billtfla
- The offense will continue to struggle as long as they have that "swing at anything approach" mentality. The Phils didn't start working the count until the 8th & 9th innings.
I see every hitter in their lineup continually swing at pitches "out of the strike zone"
This team needs an OPTOMETRIST more than a useless hitting coach in Greg Gross.
I heard that the Phils just signed to a minor league contract - Scott Posednik for depth. He is someone who will work the count. Hopefully, he'll be brought up to the Phils soon and then send Domonic Brown back to the minors for more seasoning - which is Ruben's plan - I think.— johnpaulcpa - Checked out that line-up at game time figured they'd get shut out unless somebody ran into a pitch and lucked into a HR. Somebody needs to alert Polanco that he is batting 3rd and not 8th. He's up there with men on 2nd & 3rd with two outs, clean up on deck (he probably would have whiffed but that's beside the point), 2-0 count, and he's lunging for pitches in the dirt. Weak hitting and slumping is one thing, approaching at bats and situations like clueless idiots is another. I think Chooch (maybe Gload?) is the only non-pitcher on this squad who has a head on his shoulders. The rest of them are donkeys. At least Utley will return. His skills have been declining rapidly the last 3 years but at least he has a clue at the plate.— jtj06
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