Saturday, June 20, 2009

Phils lose to O's, fourth straight

The Phillies still can't win at home, losing their last four and six of seven on this home stand. Something needs to happen to shake this team up, just a little bit. They are losing games in ways that you'd expect the Mets to lose, but not the Phils.

Ryan Madson has started blowing games late in Brad Lidge's absence, the bullpen has struggled in general, Pedro Feliz is making late inning errors in clutch situations and they are uncharacteristically falling asleep in the field.

Marco Scutaro going to second on a walk, and Scott Rolen taking second on a single because the defense wasn't paying attention cost the team a win. Lately, there have been so too many situations and scenarios in which this team is blowing it and not getting the job done. Yes, last season the Phillies struggled in June during Interleague Play as well. But this doesn't quite feel like the same thing. The team has been unable to win at home just about all season. There are problems in the rotation and in the bullpen, especially in the back-end.

Charlie Manuel needs to think of something to get this team fired up again, and it needs to happen soon. He's tried tinkering with the lineup, which hasn't worked. Pedro Feliz and Jayson Werth have been the best hitters in the lineup lately. While it's great that those two are contributing regularly, the team needs Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard to start hitting regularly again. Something needs to happen before the lead in the NL East, which is down to two games, disappears.

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