Our worst nightmare is coming true. Outstanding pitching performances are being wasted by a dreadful offense; and none was more egregious than last night.
Cliff Lee pitched ten scoreless innings, scattering seven hits and seven strikeouts with no walks. His opponent, Matt Cain pitched nine shutout innings, allowing just two hits and one walk with four strikeouts. After Lee's dominant outing and no decision, the bullpen lasted just 1/3 of an inning before allowing the Giants a walk-off victory. Antonio Bastardo took his first loss of the season.
According to Todd Zolecki, Lee became the first pitcher to toss ten innings in a game since Roy Halladay and Aaron Harang in 2007, the first to pitch ten scoreless innings since Mark Mulder in 2005 and the first Phillies pitcher to go ten since Terry Mulholland in 1993. He certainly deserved a win.
The Phils have sole possession of last place in the NL East at 5-7. They're four games behind the first place Nationals and a game and a half behind fourth place Miami.
The team actually has some decent averages, with Hunter Pence, Carlos Ruiz, Juan Piere, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino all batting .277 or better. And Freddy Galvis is batting .346 since he started the season 0-for-12. But, if they can't string together single after single, they aren't going to score runs.
They have just six home runs as a team, tied for second to last in all of baseball. Their 35 runs scored is second to last as is their 34 RBI. They have just 16 doubles, tied for second to last in MLB and are one of three teams with no triples. They're tied for last with just 20 walks.
The offensive numbers are horrible. Aside from their middle of the pack batting average, they're close to last in almost every category. Fans have to worry that not only will it have a negative impact on this season, but could sway Cole Hamels' decision to leave.
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