Bob Ford: What a difference a few runs can make

And in the fifth game, they scored runs.

And - hopefully - they saw that it was good.

In any case, it beat the heck out of flailing at the ball and hoping the Phillies starter pitches a shutout every night. It also beat the heck out of the Miami Marlins, who must have gone into glide mode on Wednesday night after scoring a single run in the second inning to take an imposing early lead.

Yes, the Phils scored some runs of their own for a change, beating Miami, 7-1, and making the Marlins look so disorganized in the process that by the end of the game protesters were marching through Little Havana holding signs that said, "Bring back Ozzie."

Well, maybe not, but it is amazing how a few runs for one side can change the appearance of things for the other. The Marlins didn't field well, didn't run the bases well, and, eventually, they ran into the more familiar issue of not being able to hit Roy Halladay very well, either.

"The offense was taking some heat, and it's good to show you can score some runs," Halladay said. "Hopefully, there will be less questions to answer for a while."

Miami's acting manager, Joey Cora, subbing while Ozzie Guillen serves a five-game suspension for aggravated stupidity, did all the logical things, such as walking Carlos Ruiz with a base open to pitch to Freddy Galvis. He got only illogical results, however, such as Galvis' coming through with a two-out double to become the team's RBI leader.

"When they walked him, it was like, 'All right. Throw the ball. Let's see what happens,' " Galvis said.

The Galvis at-bat was quite a scene, the culmination of a very strange third inning in which the Phils put together four consecutive singles, some of which actually left the infield, were the recipients of two gift bases from the Miami defense, and batted around for the first time this season. (Admit it. In the when-will-the-Phillies-bat-around pool, you had July 23.)

Very near the end, Galvis came up with the bases loaded - thanks to the intentional walk to Ruiz - and worked Miami starter Josh Johnson to a 2-and-2 count. The crowd, giddy from having seen three runs already, chanted, "Freddy, Freddy," for the rookie. It was a bit surreal, considering that the scouting report on Galvis lists his hitting weaknesses as "pitched balls."

Not as surreal as the handle-hit double he pulled down the right-field line, his second two-RBI double in as many games. That made it 5-1, and suddenly the baseball season didn't seem quite as long as it did before.

"We were able to string together hits, and that's the first time this season we've been able to do that," manager Charlie Manuel said. "If that's the blueprint, then I hope we keep it."

It will have to be the blueprint, station-to-station baseball and bunches of singles in the place of an occasional home run blast.

"I just want to see us get some good at-bats and hit some balls hard," Manuel said. "We haven't hit the ball hard enough. We have to score the runs we're supposed to score."

Even a poor major-league offense is still supposed to be a major-league offense. Having batted .198 and having scored just eight runs in the first four games, the Phillies weren't even holding to that standard.

The least surprising aspect of the offense is that it doesn't have much power. Without Ryan Howard, that will be the case. So far, the Phils have hit only two home runs in their five games - including a Ruiz shot in the seventh inning Wednesday night - and 33 of their 40 hits have been singles.

"How teams pitch us is no secret," Manuel said. "They change up on us, throw us hooks, and we get out on our front foot, and we're history."

Johnson tried that strategy but couldn't throw his off-speed stuff for strikes on this night, and the Phillies were able to sit on his fastball. It still wasn't as if they cuffed him around, but their bleeders and bloops found holes, and with a couple of well-hit balls mixed in, it was enough to give the Phils their first laugher of the year. The question is whether they can create enough of them with strings of little hits to offset the big hits that are missing.

"You've just got to play," Manuel said. "You can't start worrying and pressing and fighting it. That's not how we play."

For one night, for one game, the Phillies didn't have to think about all the runs they haven't been scoring. They could look at the scoreboard and see something other than the reminders of which teammates aren't on the field.

For one night, it looked like this could work, after all. Now the trick is to make it work for more than just one night.

and recent columns at www.philly.com/bobford.