Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Posted: 12:50 a.m.
By John R. Finger
CSNPhilly.com
Charlie Manuel took a look at the stats last week in Washington and was a bit surprised by what he saw. To be honest, the Phils manager said, he didnt realize his team had drawn so many walks.
The interesting part about that was the Phillies ranked last in the league in walks and entered Monday nights game against the Brewers at the Bank with just 37 bases on balls this season. Needless to say, that total explains a lot about the Phillies approach at the plate this season
Or does it?
Surprisingly, leadoff man turned No. 3-spot hitter, Jimmy Rollins, is seeing more pitches per plate appearance (3.94) than at any point of his career. Thats surprising because Rollins had to go from the top spot in the lineup in order to get a bit more patience at the plate.
But dont think for a second that Rollins slightly improved patience has infected the team. Strangely, it has been just the opposite with just Rollins, Ben Francisco and Carlos Ruiz seeing more than the league average of pitches per plate appearance while the rest of the regulars seemingly go up there hacking. Ryan Howard, the cleanup hitter who routinely was pitched around in the past, is on pace for a career-low in walks and seeing a lot fewer pitches, to boot.
MLB
Needless to say, Manuel is well aware of his teams inconsistencies at the plate.
More consistency would be better, but weve had some games where we had some really good at-bats. Then weve had some games where we havent, he said. Our hitting over the last three or four games has been kind of spaced out.
Manuel didnt mean that in the space-outairhead kind of way, but that hardly matters. Sometimes it seems as if the Phillies approach at the plate is all about getting the pitcher back to the mound so that he can get back to work. Considering the names on the starting rotation, thats not such a bad idea.
But is there really a huge cause for alarm? Certainly Manuel is concerned about his teams discipline and relative dearth of home run power, but is it an embarrassment of riches? After all, five of his regulars are batting .292 or better, Howard is second in the majors with 15 RBIs, while Placido Polanco is third in hits and fifth in batting average.
Thats pretty good.
Despite the 6-3 loss to the Brewers on Monday night, the Phillies lead the league in batting average and oddly are fourth in on-base percentage even though they are last in walks. Obviously the Phillies are getting their hits and making them count
Right?
Actually, they might not be as timely as Manuel would like. In Mondays loss, the Phillies batted 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position, but in another paradox, the team is batting .309 in those situations this year.
In other words, the Phillies are getting key hits, just not as often as they would like. The problem might be that Manuel isnt used to his Phillies not being the bona fide power threat they always were since he took over in 2005. With Jayson Werth gone and Chase Utley out indefinitely, the big hits havent been as loud as usual.
The Phillies got nine singles and no extra-base hits against the Brewers on Monday and just three extra-base hits out of 24 total hits in the last three games.
Right now, we don't have that kind of offense, Manuel said about the power outage. We could have that, but it's going to take some work and we have to improve on some areas and we need some players who have to live up to their career averages and their career performances.
At 10-5 and with a high batting average (.287), the issue isnt huge right now, but down the road the lack of punch could be an undercurrent of the season.
Is it a concern of mine? Yeah, Manuel asked and answered. The year we won the World Series, Pat Burrell hit fifth and Jayson Werth hit sixth. And (Geoff) Jenkins hit sixth when he played (until) Werth beat him out. We had (Chase) Utley, Burrell and Jayson Werth as high on-base percentage guys, but not only that, they were also sluggers and run producers. We don't have that right now. We had some of it last year, but right now we don't have that kind of offense.
But Manuel does have the pitching and it looks as if thats where the old hitting coach is going to have to hang his hat. So far the vaunted starting rotation has lived up to expectations, posting more than a strikeout per inning and 11 quality starts in 15 games.
Pitching is the name of the game.
I think our pitching is definitely going to keep us in a position where we have a chance to win at the end, Manuel said. But I think on offense we have to improve. The bottom line is we have to see where we can get those home runs from. Ryan Howard will definitely hit some.
Perhaps when hitting weather finally arrives the ball will land in the seats. But until then, the Phillies are going to have to get it done by manufacturing some runs for Manuel.
E-mail John R. Finger at jfinger@comcastsportsnet.com
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