Video: Can the Phillies cure their offensive woes?
Video: Are the injuries to Ryan Howard and Chase Utley entirely to blame for the Phillies' early offensive ineptitude? Bob Brookover of the Inquirer discusses the Phillies' struggles.
Video: Can the Phillies cure their offensive woes?
Philly.com Staff
Video: The returns of Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are a long way off. Can the Phillies solve their offensive problems in the meantime? Bob Brookover of the Inquirer discusses the Phillies' struggles.
Comments (47)
No. The Mets are running away with the division.— sonnybuoy01- sonny, I know you were kidding and that was funny as heck— The K Man
- Well, it should start setting the line up instead of playing musical chairs. Somebody has to tell Charlie Spring Training was over about a week and an half ago for starters.— EL Zorro
- Here's my solutions: 1)Domonic Brown every day in left field, Nix to AAA, 2) Diekman as the Loogy, Savery to AAA, 3) Contreras off the DL, Herndon to AAA. Brown has driven in three runs to win Saturday's and Monday's IronPigs games. Diekman came in last night and struck out the side in the ninth to pick up a save in a 1-0 game. Contreras has just struck out four of the last six batters he has faced in his last two outings in his Clearwater rehab assignment.— Dull
- Amaro and Manuel are clueless, and can't seem to see the obvious......bring back Dom Brown - at least he was HITTING THE BALL before he got injured in spring training. So what if he "might" make an error in left field, big friggin deal when you have an offense that can't score one run in 9 innings, there is no other choice. If they are so worried about errors, then why do they apply a double standard in allowing Tome or even Wigginton to play first, neither of who are stellar gold glovers? Their excuses for not using Brown are bogus horse cocky, and until they realize that Mayberry cannot do the job, they must bring up Brown and do it soon before they are behind the Mets in the standings and end up in the division sewer. Of course if you want to be even more cynical, knowing how moronic and self destructive management is, they will probably end up unloading Brown for some dismal, over the hill, Geritol ready player that Cholly will love, just like he adores all the senior citizens of Baseball and of course his inept pitching pet, D. Herndon. What a shame.— daystrum
- TEAM CAN NOT, WILL NOT, SHALL NOT LEARN HOW TO HIT OFF SPEED PITCHES/ATTACK EARLY IN THE COUNT FASTBALLS
1. there is no reason why a player the size of a dustin pedoria can square up an off-speed pitch(hands back), attack a fastball early in the count and spoil pitches with late movement, sometimes all in the same ab at times, and not have guys in are lineup do the same.
2. no way a lineup should consistently go entire games w/o hitting a baseball hard in the alleys/down the line or almost over the fence.
3. everything is feeble outs because they are not balanced/prepared/confident at the plate. injuries or not, this team is hitting like worn out .......s!
-and this cancer is in the farm and has infected free agents. poly is old, but he's gotten worse as a hitter since coming here. - Amazing what this lousy playing is doing--we are actually wanting Dom Brown on the field and Ryan Howard is sorely missed.— Barneyboy
- I've never seen a franchise that values prospects and farm depth the way the phillies do just to ignore them when they need them in favor of washed up older players. For the love of God I would rather lose games with guys like Philipee Amount, Jake Diekman and Justin De Fratus ( I know he is hurt) in the bullpen and Dom Brown manning left field knowing that at least when we lose were moving forward in a that loss with youth. Having guys like David Herdon in the pen during close games is pointless and is just a slap in the face to people who pay to come see these games. I mean you traded CLIFF LEE for Aumont USE HIM.— JonnyBallGame
- It's obvious some of the Posters did not see the games. Mayberry's catch in the first game would sailed over Dom Brown's head.... Phils have swung FB first-pitch against Sanchez. Result was a 4-pitch, 3-out inning. Chill-out fans, 2008 WS Phils started out 2-4. April is a cold month, especially starting in Pittsburgh. Charlie's looking for chemistry....— LuckyNucky
- First of all, this article acts like the return of Utley and Howard is magically inevitable. It's entirely possible that one or both of them will miss the whole season. Let's be real here. And even if they return, it's not like they will immediately hit .330; it will certainly take time for them to get back in rhythm. If the Phillies adapt a "stay above water" attitude hoping for them to come back, they are sunk. Some people on the team right now really need to step up the hitting. Polanco and JMJ, I'm looking in your direction.— kilo_005
- Clone Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski. Slide Polly to 2b until Chase is back. Problem solved.— Bobby G
- All Charlie does about hitting is talk, talk, talk. He has never DONE anything about it. They fired Milt Thompson 2y ago and replaced him with Greg Gross as hitting coach. GG hasn't done squat. Same story, different year. It's obvious Manuel doesn't know how to coach hitting, yet everyone calls him a hitting coach because he was one once. Was he any good at coaching hitting? I seriously doubt it. I don't think he knows what to liik for anymore, plus his lights seem to be flickering now given some of his managerial decisions. It's way past time to promote Sandberg; let Charlie manage AAA. We need new blood with new ideas.— Xyzzyx
- Would like to see Mayberry penciled in and left alone in 5 hole. Polly looks like Pete Rose circa 1984 with no ability to drive the ball at all. The revolving lineup benefits no one. I cannot believe we are reduced to hoping Ty Wigginton catches fire. And Charlie and Ruben HAVE a clue or else those 5 division, 2 NL pennants, and 1 WS title on their watch were a mirage.— tommazza
- you do realize that there is a diff between swinging at a fb, attacking a fb and driving it in the gap or at least hitting it hard in fair territory. never seen a contending team, healthy or not, allow a pitcher to get away with fbs. see carpenter/edwin jackson.
-there is also a diff in doing it for a game or two and doing it all the time. and if you can't hit the off speed pitch it won't matter anyway. brown ain't ready(see jason heyward). i don't care about the record. i'm concerned about their approach at the plate.
- Are we really counting on Howard and Utley to rescue this team?— scootch
About this blog
The Phillies Zone is the place for up-to-the-minute Phillies coverage from the Inquirer.
Matt Gelb
Inquirer Staff Writer
Bob Brookover
Inquirer Baseball Columnist
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