Waiting is the Hardest Part

Games 97 through 99 - Phillies

Phils 4, Marlins 2
Marlins 9, Phils 5
Marlins 3, Phils 2 (11 inn.)

Record 53 wins, 46 losses, tied for first with NYM

Well, it finally happened. Someone in the Phillies organization has finally acknowledged what I believe is the glaringly obvious reason this team can't make the necessary push to separate themselves from the very ordinary pack that is the NL Least. From today's Philly.com:

Sitting behind a desk in the visiting manager's office at Dolphin Stadium,
Manuel flicked a few jabs at his team's offense, then delivered a haymaker.
"Our situational hitting is absolutely terrible," he said. "Absolutely off the chart, really."A double absolute. That's how bad these last two days in Florida were. The Phils went 3 for 13 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine in Saturday's 9-5 loss. Yesterday, they went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base.

"It's going to be hard for us to win" if situational hitting does not improve, Manuel said. "[On Saturday], we hit all those balls down to third base in one inning - absolutely bad hitting. I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feelings, but if I do, if I'm
talking about you, that's good. I mean to be talking about you. "We hit enough. We talk enough [about situational hitting]. We've got to get it done. A lot of it is me. It's up to me to make us try to get it done. "Accountability is fine, but if you don't execute, something's wrong."

Well Charlie, you get no argument from me. Perhaps maybe, just maybe the front office can pull of the whopper trade of the summer and get Matt Holiday from the Rocks. Then, and perhaps only then, will this team be able to press for consistent scoring night after night instead of the monotonous pattern of feast or famine (lately, only the latter.)