Slumps happen all the time. It's a part of baseball, any self-respecting player, manager, reporter or fan will tell you that. But this is just ridiculous. The Phillies haven't scored in 27 straight innings, three full friggin' games, AND were swept by the absolutely hated Mets. No matter how you look at it, this team isn't very good right now.Obviously it isn't time to hit full panic mode yet. Remember, this team was 39-37 last year in late June before they finally turned it on and ran away with the division. The same could happen this year, especially when you consider we now have Roy Halladay, a better Cole Hamels and J.A. Happ set to return in a few weeks. But the fact remains this team has been shutout in four of the their last five, all against non-ace type pitchers (although, admittingly, Pelfrey is pitching that way this year). If it wasn't for a three run ninth inning on Sunday, we'd be staring at five consecutive shutouts. Yuck.
Listen, this team will hit. They'll probably lead the NL in runs scored again too. But the NL East is stronger this year, with every team at .500 or better. The Nationals, who are in last place, are only three games back of the Phillies. Even the staunchest of Phillies fans have to realize this year won't be as easy as 2009 was. It would certainly be in the Phillies best interest to have a strong showing this weekend in Miami. This losing streak has to stop now. With that said, onto the matchups:
Friday: Kendrick (2-2, 5.66 ERA) vs. Volstad (3-5, 4.31 ERA)
Saturday: Halladay (6-3, 2.22 ERA) vs. Johnson (5-1, 2.43 ERA)
Sunday: Moyer (5-4, 4.55 ERA) vs. Sanchez (4-2, 3.23 ERA)
It isn't going to get any easier for the Phillies to score this weekend. Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez have both pitched excellent recently, Johnson especially. To understand how dominate Josh Johnson has been, consider this: in his past 57 starts he's allow more than three ER only eight times. Eight. That's really good. Thankfully, the Phils will send out Halladay to match him. Coming off his worst start of the year (by far) Halladay is looking to rebound. Knowing the type of pitcher he is, I'm sure he will. The Phillies just need to score. Especially with Kendrick and Moyer taking the hill in this series too.
Looking at how this series could play out, the Phillies really need to rock Volstad on Friday night and send a message that their offense is fine. If they don't, they face two pitchers on Saturday and Sunday that are hot and it could get ugly fast. Taking two of three this weekend is imperative, they have to stop the bleeding.
Go Phils!
