We'll take a series win any way it comes, but Sunday's 2-0 loss to the Texas Rangers to prevent the sweep sure did end the Phillies weekend with a thud. The offense kept its slumber streak intact, failing to register a single run against Rangers starter Matt Harrison, who pitched into the ninth inning. Roy Oswalt had a solid outing as well, allowing just one run over seven innings.
The loss was RoyO's first ever at Citizens Bank Park, ending a 10-0 run. Of course, the score alone should tell you this wasn't on Oswalt.
The bats managed just five hits off Harrison and marked the ninth straight game they've scored three runs or less. On the postage show, John Clark pointed out that they ran through a stretch of 12 straight games with three or fewer this time last season, starting on May 22. It really hasn't been pretty lately, but these slumps do happen and have to be kept in context. After the game, Charlie Manuel hoped this marked the bottoming out point of the offense. It'd certainly be hard to look worse than they did today.
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I guess we can also look on the bright side and say they won two out of three against a good team (one that was also hindered by key injuries), and the pitching has been great overall, and the offense did manage to hit three homers in the first two games. Other than Oswalt's performance on Sunday though, there wasn't much to hang your hat on.
But hey… Chase Utley is expected to be activated from the DL tomorrow…
Photo: Howard Smith-US Presswire