Zero for Four

Ryan Howard's bat finally hit something late Thursday afternoon as he hurriedly exited the Phillies' clubhouse in an effort to catch the team bus to Philadelphia International Airport.

Unfortunately for the struggling first baseman, the contact came when he reached for a bat in his locker and it slipped out of his hands, leaving him to deal with a glancing blow to the head.

"I'm going to be back on the disabled list," a smiling Howard said.

It's always important to keep your sense of humor in turbulent times, and right now Howard and his Phillies teammates have encountered another wobbly stretch in the schedule that resembles the one in mid-May, when they struggled to score runs for nearly a month.

After the Houston Astros' 5-1 win on Thursday made them the first visiting team to pull off a four-game sweep of the Phillies in the seven-year history of Citizens Bank Park, Howard conceded for a second straight day that things just haven't felt right since he returned from an ankle injury Saturday against Washington.

"If you watch the game, it's like right now I'm not comfortable in the box," he said. "The timing is off, and I'm trying to find a way to get it back. You have to be able to get a good pitch to hit and go from there."

You don't have to be a scout to recognize Howard's problems. He is hitting .125 (3 for 24) and has struck out 12 times in his seven games since returning from the disabled list.

"It's definitely tough when you're on the DL and you kind of get out of that rhythm," Howard said. "You kind of go back to spring training all over again, where you're trying to find that rhythm again."

Howard recognizes this isn't late March "because now everything counts."

The Phillies' fourth straight loss pushed them to three games behind the idle first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East and also cost them a share of the wild-card lead as they slipped a half-game behind the San Francisco Giants, who also had the day off.

Although Howard's bat is the most frigid, he is by no means alone in his struggle.

Since Chase Utley returned from his extended stay on the disabled list, he has hit .235 (8 for 34) with two doubles and two RBIs, and the Phillies have gone 3-6 in the nine games he has played.

"The only thing I can say is we have some guys in the lineup - Utley and Howard - they need to get their timing down," manager Charlie Manuel said. "When we're clicking that's a big part of our offense. But at the same time they need to get their swings in and their timing down. The only way they're going to be able to do that is by playing."

Utley refused to blame his problems on his thumb, his timing, or anything else.

"There are no excuses here, and we'll continue to grind it out," Utley said. "My timing is getting better, and we're working in the right direction."

Howard and Utley may be trying to recover from long absences, but that's not the case for all of the Phillies' struggling hitters.

The team has scored two runs or fewer in seven of its last eight games, batting .206 in the process. Jimmy Rollins, after going hitless in four at-bats Thursday, is batting .167 (6 for 36) over that eight-game stretch.

Placido Polanco, since taking over the National League lead in hitting Aug. 18, has batted .182 (6 for 33) in his last nine games. Jayson Werth is batting .233 (7 for 30) in the last eight games, and Shane Victorino is hitting .212 (7 for 33) in his last nine games.

"We've been inconsistent all year, and right now we're having trouble generating any runs," Manuel said.

To make matters worse, the Phillies also played poorly in other ways during the four straight losses to the Astros.

The manager made it clear that there were a lot of things he saw from his team that he did not like during the four-game sweep. Asked if he thought his team was too lackadaisical, he said, "I saw a hell of a lot of it."

How disappointing was this week's series against the Astros? Consider:

This was the first time the Phillies were swept by an opponent in a four-game series at Citizens Bank Park, which opened in 2004.

This was the first time the Phillies were swept in a four-game home series since Sept. 6-9, 2002, against the Mets at Veterans Stadium.

This was the first time the Phillies were swept at home in a four-game series by the Astros since Sept. 6-9, 1999.

The Phillies hit .217 and scored seven runs in the four losses.

Source: Phillies

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