Phils' Bats Cost Hamels In Loss

It didn't look good for the Phillies. They trailed 3-1, with two outs in the ninth inning, of their Thursday afternoon battle with the Dodgers. With Raul Ibanez on second, and Greg Dobbs on first, Carlos Ruiz stood at the plate. Entering that at bat, Ruiz had accumulated a grand total of zero (0) RBIs in 2009. The weight of a 9.3 WE% hung on his weary shoulders, shoulders fatigued from nine innings behind the plate. Dodgers' closer Jonathan Broxton, who had allowed but a single run in the young season, threw his powerful right arm forward, in a motion not unlike a bear thrusting his arm at his unsuspecting, underwater prey. Ruiz' bat connected with the blurry white object, sending a game-tying double into right field. With the WE grown in an instant to a healthy 60.9%, pinch-hitter Eric Bruntlett ... struck out swinging. Phils' reliever Chad Durbin allowed two runs in the top of the tenth, and the Phillies fell to Los Angeles, 5-3.

The Phillies had the game-winning run on second, in the bottom of the ninth, and their best pinch-hitting option was .130-hitting Eric Bruntlett. Eric Bruntlett could be a successful hitter, if a few "tweaks" were made to the Rules of Baseball. An underground pitcher's mound, and extending fair territory to the Ballpark Proper, might be sufficient. (Note: In order for Miguel Cairo to be a successful hitter, "tweaks" to the Science of Mathematics would be required.) While the slumping Phillies' bats could have avoided this ninth-inning situation, with a better performance in the first eight innings, poor roster construction has to shoulder a considerable portion of the blame. The Phils' offense won't be slumping forever, and could very well spring to life this weekend against the woeful Washington Nationals. But the Phillies' weak bench will continue to cost them ballgames, until some personnel adjustments are made.

Ace starter Cole Hamels did everything that could have been asked of him. Seven innings of seven-hit, one-run ball. He struck out nine, and only walked one, in throwing seventy-three of one hundred and ten pitches for strikes. His WPA for the game was an impressive .115. His balky ankle did not seem to be a concern in his best outing of the season.

The Phillies start a four-games series in Washington tonight, as Joe Blanton opposes the Nats' John Lannan. The Phils have fallen to two games out of first place, and need to fatten up their win column at the expense of the cellar-dwelling Nationals. But, first, the Phillies will celebrate their 2008 Championship (WFC!) at The White House. Barack Obama is expected to be there, but it is unclear whether Kumar will be in attendance. Hopefully, the visit to The White House will be Miguel Cairo's last appearance as a Phillie. On Thursday night, AAA pitcher/40-Man Roster Member Drew Carpenter was pulled from his start, for no disclosed reason. Roster moves may be coming, and adding Carpenter to the bullpen, in advance of reliever J.A. Happ's Saturday start, at the expense of the rarely-used Cairo, is a very viable possibility. (Or perhaps Carpenter will be part of a trade for Arizona starter Doug Davis? Maybe struggling veteran starter Jamie Moyer will retire on top, in an announcement during the WFC celebration? The possibilities are as limitless as Cairo's limits.)