Pierre Gives View On Offensive Struggles
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Pierre Gives View On Offensive Struggles
Marc Narducci
Juan Pierre is used to seeing the Phillies from an opposite dugout, and a much different perspective. Pierre has been one of the offensive standouts in a list that isn’t very long for the 10-12 Phillies.
He leads the team with a .318 average, although we’d like to see a little better decision making on the base paths.
Either way, Pierre, who turns 35 in August, should see plenty of time in the lineup. When he played against the Phillies, he was used to seeing a drastically different offensive team.
“It’s tough especially with the makeup in the past for the Phillies,” Pierre said following Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs. “Being an opposing guy you always had that thunder in the middle of the lineup and now you have to create runs.”
Like all the Phillies in the clubhouse, Pierre feels that the team will eventually emerge from its offensive struggles.
After the game Laynce Nix suggested that the players are now putting too much pressure on themselves and not playing relaxed. Pierre doesn’t disagree, but he feels it should be the opposite.
“With this staff if you score some runs you have a pretty good chance of winnign and you can’t say that with a lot of teams,” Pierre said. “It should be less pressure for the offense.”
But it’s not at the moment.
Players seem to be pressing and much to their chagrin, they will continue to be asked about it until showing even the semblance of offensive consistency. Pierre understands that the questions come with the territory.
“Me personally, I go through this every year, when you don’t hit the ball and get these questions,” he said. “I know it’s Philly and you can imagine it will be hyped even more.”
As all the Phillies have said, the only thing to do is keep grinding it out, realizing that there are 140 more games.
Yet the Phillies can’t keep using this excuse much longer and they also can’t wait for Ryan Howard and Chase Utley to return. Who knows when that will be and how effective the two will be after such a long layoff?
There doesn’t seem to be any panic in the clubhouse but in taking the collective temperature, one could surmise there is at least some concern.
And right now, that concern is clearly justified.
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Maybe Pierre can sit Rollins down and explain to him how important it is to get on base versus swinging for the fences all the time. How maybe if he took some 2-0 pitches it might lead to a walk, how if he laid down a bunt every now and then it might result in letting some ground balls get by a drawn in third baseman. In other words how to be a team player and top of the order guy. Charlie clearly doesn't have the guts to force him to do it, maybe another player can. Oh well, going to be a waste of a great staff.— lazyboy- Pierre is the closest thing to a leadoff man the Phils have had in years. As we speak, he is one of the few Phils who have been hitting with any consistency. Ergo, Pierre should be leading off for the Phils every game, regardless of who the opposing pitcher is or what hand the pitcher uses to throw the ball. Rollins is hitting in the low .200s. In fact, he has the same batting average as Schneider who hit 7th today. Rollins should be hitting 7th - not leadoff or 3rd, but 7th. What's important to understand is that most of the players in the current Phils lineup will get their share of hits against weak to mediocre pitching. Pierre has gotten his hits against better pitching - the same pitching that has most of the Phils hitting just north of the Mendoza line. There is absolutely no reason to not be playing Pierre every game or to not have him leading off. Leo Durocher used Willie Mays as his leadoff man. Asked why, Durocher answered that he wanted his best hitter to bat the most times in each game. Pete Rose was a leadoff man. The fact that he had more hits than any other player in baseball history and the fact that he played on many champiosnhip teams clearly demonstrates the efficacy of having an above average hitter who knows how to work pitchers as a leadoff man. Pierre is not the runner he once was but he is trying to make things happen for the Phils. Rollins is too cool for school and better at bringing in runs than getting on base. He had his chance to lead off for more seasons than most managers would have allowed. Let him bat 7th where most players hitting in the low .200s bat, and let Pierre hit where he will do most good. Figures don't lie and liars don't figure. Whe Rollins's batting average starts to approximate Pierre's, then we can start debating who should be leading off for the Phils. In the meantime, the Phils should just let Pierre do his job and be grateful to have him.— onthebucks
- The Flyers are up 1-0 against the Devils in the playoffs. The Phils have 140 or so games left— jamarder
- Why worry? We've got J-Loaf's leadership on the diamond and in the clubhouse. Who could ask for anything more?— Sam Crow
- Just play .500 in the first half. We're a second half team this year.— Grazman
- @lazy and bucks.....You are VERY correct! Glad to see someone else finally getting on board with me regarding Pierre. Everybody ripped him, the Phils and me before spring training, Fact of the matter is he has ALWAYS been a better leadoff hitter than JNoRoll. And the fact that Pierre had 178 hits in 2011, which was 26 more than any other Phillie hitter in 2011, means he should be the Phils leadoff hitter even if he gets 178 bunt basehits this year.....that's still gonna be more hits than any other Phils hitter again this year. It's the rest of the lineup that's bad and dysfunctional. Every single one of them are having their warts exposed this season. Won't be long before there's a mutiny somewhere....unless, Utley and Howard can ride in and save the day. Knowing their injuries, I'd say Chase is at best 50-50 and Howard the K at 30-70. If they come back and really can't contribute that will really seal the psychological fate of this dysfunctional squad. Pencil Pierre in everyday, leave him alone and find 7 other guys who can play up to him.— Mark1npt
- I think your odds are way off there but you're the doc. :-)
With Howard starting rehab in Clearwater I think his odds are way better than 30%. Chase is feeling a lot like last year: 80-90% chance he comes back but playing at 85-90% of the old Chase Utley. Howard feels like a July return to me.— s - With the injuries we definitely have to be thinking like Grazman: Stay in it and make moves to make a second half run. I've been thinking that ever since Howard went down. It's also worth noting that Ruiz, Nix and Wigginton are all hitting around .300 so it's not just Pierre. To me it feels like a Frankenstein lineup that has some pieces but what they have isn't fitting together so well. I put a lot of that on Charlie. There's a lot to be said for settling into a lineup and also for letting guys you're going to need later like Mayberry get their reps.— s
- @s.....you are right about the lineup(Frankenstein)....that's why I used the term dysfunctional......8 different hitters in 8 different orders every game and none of them meshing with the other or their place in the lineup for that game. It is painful to sit there and watch the ineptitude. On the surface they are good players, but it looks like they are all marching to the beat of a different drummer.— Mark1npt
- Juan, please stop trying to steal; you're not 24 any more and it's getting embarassing!— JBinPA
- Are you kidding me? Juan Pierre (I had an OK -- not a great -- April) is dealing about hitting and offense? Juan Pierre? What, they couldn't have Eric Bruntlett offer some insight? Or, power-stroke tips from Brian Schneider? Maybe John Mayberry Jr. can be interviewed next about how to hit breaking balls.— eman
- See, I knew someone else besides me missed Bruntlett. I'll probably die and never see an unassisted triple play again.
Abe Nunez is coming back to give a talk on power hitting.— s 
Just in case somebody wanted real facts around here.
2012 - Pierre sees 3.78 pitches per at bat ... Rollins 3.71
For their career - Pierre 3.10 ... Rollins 3.31
And with all due respect to the people that just want to vent and boo and cuss and kick ... Juan Pierre cannot and never could hold Jimmy Rollins' jock as a leadoff hitter or anything else related to baseball for that matter.— zubzub- Pierre was asked a question, which is why he was "dealing" about the offense. Pretty simple. As for the struggles, why can't the current roster pick up the offense themselves? Why do they have to wait for Howard and/or Utley to come back? Unless they know they are not capable of creating offense themselves? In which case, why are they getting paid so much money to play baseball? Stop with every excuse in the book and just hit the ball, take a walk, run the bases...as you all are paid to do. If you cannot do it, then let someone else try. But enough excuses already, by everyone associated with the Phillies.— MrPhillie
- Ruiz is the backbone of the Phils. If he hits .280 or .300 is not as important as what he does in clutch situations when it really matters. He's not only capable of coming up with the game changing hits, but he's also the best fastball hitter on the team. What's more, just like Pierre, he'll hit good pitching. Wigginton and Nix are hitting in the .300 vicinity but the odds are against them continuing such averages when the Phils start to face better pitching. Wigginton has had a nice run and deserves credit for his numbers. Nix has had too few plate appearances to make his .300 average a reliable predictor of things to come. What's more, he can only hit right-handed pitching, so he is limited in what he can contribute to the Phils offense. It's hard watching Thome struggle and even harder to predict if and when his struggles at the plate will be over. He needs 4 homers to become one of only a handful of players who have hit 100 or more homers for three different teams. The way he's been playing, 4 home runs seems like a lot between now and the end of the season. Howard and Utley could return before the All-Star break but how long it will take them to start making a difference for the Phils is another question. I watched Utley hitting on TV the other day, and he looked very good, so hope eternal springs. In the meantime, the Phils need to make a few creative trades. Wigginton and Nix could be of interest to another team, as could Blanton and Rollins. The Phils need some new blood.— onthebucks
