BALTIMORE -- So much attention this season has focused on when Ryan Howard and Chase Utley will return from the disabled list.
A couple of thoughts on that:
If the Phillies keep racking up losses -- Sundays 5-4 defeat to the Baltimore Orioles was their 10th in the last 14 games -- it isnt going to matter when Howard and Utley return.
As much as the focus is on when Howard and Utley will return, maybe it should be on when Placido Polanco will return.
Polanco has a small tear in his left wrist and has not started five games in a row. Ty Wigginton has played third base in Polancos absence and to say it has not gone well would be a gross understatement.
Wigginton made a costly error that put Adam Jones on base with the eventual winning run in Sundays 10-inning loss to the Orioles. Jones scored one batter later when Matt Wieters smacked a ball -- probably catchable -- off the right-field wall.
Its a terrible feeling, Wigginton said of the error.
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Wigginton has made four errors in the last four games. It will be interesting to see what manager Charlie Manuel does at third base when the Phils return to the field Tuesday night in Minneapolis. One thing is clear: It wont be Polanco. He had a cortisone injection Friday and will be checked by doctors Monday in Philadelphia. Manuel said Polanco is still three or four days away from being ready to return.
Wiggintons error came with one out in the bottom of the 10th. If he makes the play, reliever Joe Savery might have been able to afford a ball off the right-field wall. As it turned out, Wieters hit was a killer.
Wieters hit an 0-2 pitch. It clanged off the wall just above Hunter Pences glove. The ball appeared catchable, but Pence ran into the wall before he could time his jump.
Defense has been a huge problem for the Phils as they have tumbled eight games back in the NL East for the first time since June 2007. The Phils have made nine errors in the last five games, four, as mentioned, by Wigginton.
Hes been making some mistakes, manager Charlie Manuel said. But for right now hes the guy we have to play over there.
Defense wasnt the only reason the Phillies lost this game. Far from it. Cliff Lee, still winless, could not hold a three-run lead, and the offense once againcue broken recordstruggled with runners on base. The Phils were 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position. They were 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position in Saturday nights extra-inning loss to the Orioles.
The Phils scored three times in the second inning, but left the bases loaded in the inning. They also left the bases loaded in the first inning and got nothing to show for it. Carlos Ruiz had a difficult day, leaving eight men on base. In the top of the 10th, the Phils had two chances to get the go-ahead run home from second, but couldnt get it done. Pinch-hitter Mike Fontenot put a charge in a line drive to right, but the ball was caught.
Again they got the big hit and made the big play, Manuel said. We had a chance to score runs early and we couldnt get a two-out hit. We had chances early. If we got another hit or two early we could have put the game away. We could have scored more if we could have gotten a two-out hit.
Things are going so badly for the Phils that even their vaunted starting pitching has been shaky lately. Cole Hamels has failed to protect a three-run lead in his last two starts, losing both. Sunday, Lee followed the pattern in a disturbing way: He allowed a two-out walk in the fourth, a double to .222-hitting No. 7 hitter Steve Pearce and a three-run homer to No. 8 hitter Steve Tolleson, who entered the game with just two career homers. Lee tried to get Tolleson with a 1-2 cutter and Tolleson turned on it to tie the game at 4-4.
I felt like it was a decent pitch, Lee said afterward. But I did walk a guy before that with two outs. I cant walk the guy right there with two outs.
E-mail Jim Salisbury at jsalisbury@comcastsportsnet.com