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Mackanin frustrated by Phillies' lack of offense

A major reason for the Phillies winning record (26-25) is their ability to win one-run games. The Phillies are 14-5 in such games, but manager Pete Mackanin thinks the Phillies are playing with fire.

A common theme during Mackanin's post-game press conference surfaced again following Monday's 4-3 loss to the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park

The Phillies lack of consistent offense has their manager frustrated and for good reason. They are second to last in the National League with 163 runs, averaging 3.2 per game.

"Somebody asked me a while ago, can we sustain winning all of these one-run games," Mackanin said. "It is difficult."

The Phillies managed just six hits against three Washington pitchers. Mackanin was candid when asked if he is worried about the offensive struggles snowballing.

"Sure," he said.

He then expanded.

"The bottom line is we are starving for offense," he said."We have to string three to four hits together and we're not doing it. That helps you win a lot of games."

Before the game, Mackanin was asked if he considered sliding slumping first baseman Ryan Howard down in the order. Howard hit cleanup and was 1 for 4 with an RBI double and two strikeouts on Monday.

This season in the 39 games he has started, Howard has batted cleanup 32 times and fifth seven times.

In answering the question about sliding Howard down, Mackanin's frustration was obvious.

"If I had better options I would slide him down, I would do that just to move him back a little bit," Mackanin said. "I look at my options and I don't have any, at least in my opinion."

Howard is batting .157 and Mackanin says when he is in the lineup, he's the best cleanup option.

That explains his frustration with the Phillies offense.