Phillies (29-34) at Minnesota Twins (25-35)
8:10 p.m. on CSN
We wrote that runs wouldnt be hard to come by for the Phillies Tuesday night, and they werent. Unfortunately, it was even easier for the Twins to score in an 11-7 Phillies loss.
It was the Phils ninth loss in the last 10 games and drops them to 9 games out of first place in the NL East. That is a massive, massive hole no matter the date. The Phils are also 5 games out of the top Wildcard spot, behind seven teams. With each day, the questions of whether or not the returns of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Roy Halladay will be meaningful grow louder.
The Phillies have had June swoons in recent years, but nothing like this. In 2009 they went 11-15 in June. In 2008 they were 12-14. In both years they had a six-game losing streak in June.
Those skids were brought on by slumping offenses. But this June, the Phillies have averaged 4.27 runs per game, which is actually more than their season average of 4.25.
A combination of bad luck, bad situational baseball, bad pitching and errors are to blame. The Phils are 0-5 this month in one-run games and have a 5.02 team ERA.
Starting pitchers
The Phillies have lost two straight Cole Hamels starts after winning nine in a row with him on the hill. Hamels, 8-2 with a 2.93 ERA, blew 3-0 leads against both the Marlins and Dodgers and has allowed nine runs (eight earned) in his last 12 23 innings.
He hasnt necessarily pitched poorly, though. The strikeouts are still there, the swings-and-misses are still there. Hamels was simply hurt by the home run ball against Miami and by two-out hitting against LA.
MLB
The Phillies face Twins righty P.J. Walters, who is 2-1 with a 4.42 ERA in six starts.
Walters, 27, signed with the Twins in December. He was part of the seven-player trade between the Cardinals and Blue Jays last July that sent he, Colby Rasmus and Brian Tallet to Toronto for Edwin Jackson, Octavio Dotel, Mark Rzepczynski and Corey Patterson.
Walters isnt overpoweringhis fastball averages 88 miles per hour. He also throws a two-seam fastball, a slider, curveball and changeup. Walters first pitch has been a fastball to 69 percent of batters hes faced this season.
The sliders been his best pitch this year, as opponents are hitting .048 against it. His changeup, used primarily against lefties, has been his worst pitch, generating a .367 opponents batting average.
Only three Phillies have ever seen WaltersPlacido Polanco, Hunter Pence and Mike Fontenot are a combined 2 for 7.
Key matchup(s)
Pence vs. Walters
Walters favorite secondary pitch to righthanded batters is his slider, and Pence is hitting .294 this season on sliders. Expect to see Walters go low-and-away on Pence. Walters has thrown more than twice as many pitches (25 percent) low-and-away to righties as he has any other location. And Pence has chased 24 balls that are low and outside off the plate, according to Inside Edge.
Hamels vs. Josh Willingham
Current Twins have 52 at-bats off Hamels and Willingham has 28 of them. The former Marlin and National is 8 for 28 (.286) off Hamels with two homers and two doubles, but 12 of his 20 outs have been strikeouts.
Hamels vs. Joe Mauer
Mauer is just a good hitterpatient, high-contact rate, gap-power. Hes been exceptional this season against same-handed pitching, batting .358 off lefties with a .485 on-base percentage. Hes 0 for 3 lifetime off Hamels.
Note of interest
A Twins win on Wednesday would hand the Phillies their 11th series loss of the season. The Phils didnt lose their 11th series last season until Sept. 12-14 in Houston.
Sound off
CoolStandings.com, which projects each teams playoff odds, gives the Phillies a 9.8 percent chance of making the postseason. Do you think that is too low, too high, or accurate?
E-mail Corey Seidman at cseidman@comcastsportsnet.com