Phils Fall to Marlins in 11; Drop Weekend Series

The Phillies first series following the All-Star break can be summed up in one word.  Frustrating.  The offense continues to lack fundamental execution with runners in scoring position — especially with less than two outs.  It seems as if they are all trying to hit home runs instead of moving runners by hitting the ball the other way.  If the Phillies hope to win the NL East for the second straight year, this is an issue that needs to be resolved, and it needs to be resolved now.

Yesterday, the Phillies wasted an excellent outing by their ace, Cole Hamels.  Hamels pitched eight strong innings, allowing just two runs on four hits — including two solo home runs — and striking out seven.  When your starter pitches a game like that, you need to win the game.  But with the way this offense has been going of late, it wasn’t enough.

For weeks now, I’ve been thinking that the Phillies offense would come around and start bunching together hits and executing better.  It’s too early to push the panic button, but that time is drawing near.  Charlie Manuel took a few  shots at his struggling offense following yesterday’s game.  Last year, a similar tongue-lashing helped turn things around for the Phils.  Hopefully the same will hold true this year.  They have a huge opportunity to turn things around starting Tuesday, when they open a three-game series against the New York Mets.  With the Phils tied with the Mets atop the NL East, and the Marlins just 1/2 game back, the time to break out of this offensive funk is now.