Believe it or not… Phils a top NL offense

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So... the Phillies offense is actually pretty good.

Thought to be a weakness through the first month of the season, the Phils rank toward the top of the National League in a host of important offensive categories.

Theyre fifth in the league in runs per game, averaging 4.4.

They lead the NL and are second in baseball only to the high-powered Texas Rangers, with 616 hits.

The Phils have a .269 team batting average, bested in the NL only by the Cardinals.

And, while it may seem like they havent hit situationally, the Phils are fourth in the NL in batting average with runners in scoring position, and second with RISP and two outs.

They also have 21 fewer strikeouts than any team in the National League.

So what has caused the seemingly annual June swoon? Starting pitching, naturally.

Since The Day Doc Went Down, Phillies starting pitchers are 5-7 with a 5.51 ERA. In 16 games, they have five quality starts. Joe Blanton finally broke his own personal string of futility Thursday night with his second complete game of the season. But prior to that, his struggles defined a unit that has vastly underperformed through the seasons first 65 games.

This is actually a positive, if you can believe it. Natural regression to the mean would have the Phillies starting pitching improving. Roy Halladay will be back at some point this summer. Cliff Lee will, theoretically, receive run support at some juncture. And once Blantons home run numbers normalize, his strikeout (68) and walk (12) numbers indicate that hell have a strong second half.

The offense is doing its job, its now just up to the Phillies biggest strength to live up to its true talent level.

If you want a reason to be positive about a 31-34 team that is nine games out of first place, there it is.

E-mail Corey Seidman at cseidman@comcastsportsnet.com

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