For Phillies' Revere, it's no walk in the park

NEW YORK - Ben Revere managed to work the count full in all four of his plate appearances yesterday.

"Working the pitcher, work his pitch count up," he said afterward. "If you can do that, that's good. I didn't use to do that, but I think you get more mature, older . . . Last year watching Bobby Abreu and how he does it, that helped me out."

But all Revere could do when his fourth and final lengthy at-bat against the Mets came to an end yesterday afternoon in Citi Field was stare out in disbelief.

With two runners on and two outs in the top of the seventh, Revere was caught looking at an 88-mph cutter high and outside. Home plate umpire Tom Hallion called the pitch a strike and the Phillies were well on their way to a 2-0 defeat in the Mets' home opener.

It was the second time the Phillies have been shut out in seven games.

"It was terrible - it was high," Revere said, critiquing the home plate umpire. "It was one of those 'Showtime' deals. I'm trying to get my walks up and he takes it away from me. It was definitely high, nothing you can do."

The Phillies (3-4) wasted an effective start from Aaron Harang (six innings, four hits, one earned run) en route to their second straight loss. They outhit the Mets, 7-6, but five of those seven hits came from the seven and eight hitters in the lineup, Cody Asche (2-for-4) and Freddy Galvis (3-for-3).

Revere was the beneficiary of the bottom of the lineup production, but went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, leaving five runners on base. He's hitting .143 (4-for-28) with one walk a week into the season.

He has plenty of company among his fellow veterans, most notably from the two most accomplished players who have been slotted in the batting order for the better part of the last decade.

Through the first seven games, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are 6-for-43 (.1395) with no home runs and four RBI.

"It sucks," Howard said of their coinciding slumps. "Yeah, it sucks. Obviously, we want to get off to a better start. We're what, six or seven games in? It's definitely going to turn around. Nobody plans on trying to get off to a slow start."

Utley is 2-for-22 (.091) with six strikeouts, two walks and no extra-base hits in seven games. Howard is 4-for-24 (.167) with three doubles, eight strikeouts and no walks in six games.

Individually, it's the worst start of any season for Utley, and the second slowest start for Howard. Howard was only worse 2 years ago, when he was 4-for-27 with 10 strikeouts and no extra-base hits in seven games in 2013.

"The only thing we can do is keep grinding and keep swinging, try to put together good at-bats," Howard said. "We've had opportunities, you just have to come through in other situations."

Utley wasn't available for comment following yesterday's game, when he went 0-for-3 with a walk and committed an error when a Daniel Murphy hard shot in the eighth inning went between his legs. It led to the Mets' second run.

"How many times do you see a ball go through Chase Utley's legs, like, never?" Mets manager Terry Collins said afterward.

After hitting four home runs in the final week of spring training, Utley is also back in the midst of the longest home run drought of his career. His last home run came on Aug. 10, 2014 - he hasn't homered in 175 at-bats or in his last 49 games.

"It's just a matter of time with Chase," manager Ryne Sandberg said. "I have no worries there. He gets quality at-bats. And no worries there. Chase will be fine. We just need to create some opportunities with men on base for those guys in the middle of the lineup."

Yesterday, the two players hitting in front of Howard and Utley, Revere and Odubel Herrera, were 1-for-8. Herrera (.222) had the highest average among the lineup's first four hitters; fellow outfielder Grady Sizemore was hitting .133 at game's end, with three total bases a week into the season.

At the conclusion of yesterday's game, the Phillies had a .554 team OPS (29th in baseball) and had scored a grand total of 16 runs in seven games (only the Twins have scored fewer). The Phillies have just 10 extra-base hits, (only the Twins and Mets have fewer), including two home runs.

Sandberg has mixed and matched with his lineup already, using three different hitters in the second spot. But it's worth wondering if he'd consider more drastic alterations, including moving Utley and Howard from their longtime, customary spots.

"I'm not thinking in those terms right now," Sandberg said. "I'm thinking - offense is a whole lineup. Guys at the top of the lineup getting on base. Middle guys getting key hits . . . It's eight or nine guys in a lineup. So we need more production up and down the lineup."

Mets righthander and reigning NL Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom improved to 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA against the Phillies. Next up? Righthander Matt Harvey, who is 4-0 with a 1.08 ERA in five career games vs. the Phillies.

Blog: ph.ly/HighCheese