Phillies offense
hitting the big times

In the Batter’s Box
By Matt Godfrey

Thirty-six runs would be a good amount for a team to score in eight or so games throughout the season.
Most teams would be happy to get that kind of production over a week.
The Phillies, however, fell one shy of that number in just two games last weekend.
And mind you, these were consecutive games on back-to-back days, with game one played in Houston and game two played here in Philadelphia.
This just showcases the ridiculous firepower that this team’s offense is capable of producing.
The scores: 15-6 and 20-5.
Two scores that sound more like the outcomes of Eagles games than Phillies games.
In both games, the Phils trailed early before turning on the jets and basically humiliating two opposing pitching staffs.
In Sunday’s game, the Houston Astros should have been the beneficiaries of a rare bad game by Phils ace Cole Hamels.
They tagged Hamels for six runs in only four innings of work for the young lefty.
The score was 6-4 at the time, the Astros in the lead.
Then the bats came alive and the Phils ended the game with 15 runs total; the Astros failed to muster any additional offense.
Hamels even added to the hit parade with two hits and one RBI before leaving game.
Fast-forward to Monday and Jamie Moyer gives up a three-run homer to Colorado Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs to start the game in the top of the first inning.
Bottom of the first comes around and Chase Utley evens the score with a three-run shot off Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa, after Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino got on base to start the inning.
The Phils later exploded for six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
And six more in the bottom of the sixth inning.
And four more in the bottom of the eighth inning.
That ridiculous production from Sunday continued on Monday.
While the offense was showcasing the Phillies’ muscle, all those hits made it easy to overlook a glaring problem with the team right now, and it’s a significant one.
The offense is clicking — even Ryan Howard is waking up from his slumber — and the bullpen is doing a fantastic job whenever it’s summoned for duty.
The bench players are contributing. The injuries from just a few weeks ago are now healed.
But the starting pitching . . . that has become a worrisome problem.
Hamels isn’t a worry; that game pretty much was his only bad outing of the season.
Moyer and Kyle Kendrick are middle-of-the-road guys, and that’s what you expected from them since day one.
Which leaves Adam Eaton and Brett Myers. That’s the problem.
A team needs two to three strong, consistent starters to be a championship team.
Eaton started the season pretty well, putting together a handful of quality starts (six innings, three or fewer runs allowed) before reverting to the shaky starter who frustrated the fans so much last year.
Myers, the Opening Day starter, has shown little on the mound thus far to have made him worthy of that distinction.
He has been hot and cold from start to start, even going so far as to say he has been nervous and timid in games he has pitched.
Maybe he is not what everyone has thought he’d be.
Maybe he is destined to be, at best, the third- or fourth-best pitcher on a team with dreams of a championship.
If so, this team needs to do some things to keep those dreams alive.
Things like a trade or a minor-league call-up.
Granted, the Phils are not in dire need of wins right now, but the offense won’t score 15 runs every night. Good pitching will be just as important. ••