Sunday, May 22, 2011
Posted: 4:02 p.m.Updated: 6:33 p.m.
By John R. FingerCSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
In 1968, major league teams averaged just 3.4 runs per game while pitcher Denny McLain won 31 games and Bob Gibson posted an ERA of 1.12. Carl Yastrzemski won the batting title in the American League by hitting .301 and was just one of six men (four not named Alou), to post an average better than .300.
So with runs so tough to come by, Major League Baseball decided to lower the pitching mound and make the strike zone smaller. By 1973, the American League had introduced the designated hitter all with the aim to increase offense and add some excitement to the game.
Of course, they say history often repeats itself. So, we very well could be heading into another era where pitching dominates. No, the stats arent as extreme as they were in 1968. After all, the league-wide scoring average is a little more than four runs per game, though it is down significantly from last season (4.38 to 4.1 runs per game).
Of course, how that relates to the pitching-rich Phillies is significant, too. Thats especially the case when one considers that the Phillies took two out of three from the defending American League champion Texas Rangers this weekend, despite scoring just five runs in three games, culminating with Sunday afternoons 2-0 defeat.
In all, the Rangers and Phillies got together to score nine total runs in a display of scintillating offense that could have been mistaken as a scientific cure for insomnia.
MLB
What gives? How come runs and hits are so tough to come by in baseball these days? Is there an obvious answer or is it something deeper?
I dont get caught up in that, said Raul Ibanez, one of the few Phillies players that actually came into the clubhouse to talk about baseball after Sundays defeat. We have a job to do -- get a good pitch and hit it hard. Thats where you leave it.
If thats where the Phillies leave it, manager Charlie Manuel will take it. After some point an anomaly becomes a trend and then a trend just becomes the way things are.
Are the Phillies doomed to be the team that sweats it out for nine innings in order to scratch out a run or two in a one-run decision? It certainly appears that way through the seasons first two months, where they are 13-9 in games decided by two runs or fewer, but are 11-16 in games where they score less than three runs.
Yes, it helps that the Phillies have the pitching, but sprinkling in some runs here and there might help, too. It seemed that slugger Ryan Howard, whose 10 homers and 36 RBIs rank amongst the leaders in the National League, reasoned that getting on base was so difficult that he attempted a bunt in a two-run game in the ninth inning.
Ryan Howard tried to bunt?
I was thinking that he was thinking that we were down by two runs and he has to get one base, Manuel said. That might be a good way of getting on.
Texas scored both of its runs late, with one coming on a one-out double by Mitch Moreland in the sixth inning and the other in the eighth on a suicide squeeze bunt by Craig Gentry. To use of the word suicide seems apt since the Phillies would kill for some runs at this point. They managed just five hits off Texas pitcher Matt Harrison and went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position.
Meanwhile, the Phillies posted three runs or fewer for the ninth game in a row, just two games shy of the franchise worst set last season when they went 12 straight games with three or fewer from May 22 to June 4.
In other words, the Phillies are not scoring runs at an epic rate. Perhaps a small victory could be taken with the fact that actually had six at-bats with the two runners they put in scoring position.
Still, just because hitting and scoring are down across baseball, it doesnt mean that Manuel is OK with it.
I look at us and there are veteran players and we might be trying too hard, Manuel said. The guys that are getting a chance to play now, they definitely know whats going on and they might be trying too hard. What happens is we have to keep going. Our pitching has been outstanding, and were going to hit
Or, were going to hit better. Were going to bottom out one of these days and hopefully it was today.
Either way, the Phillies wasted a decent outing from Roy Oswalt, who held the Rangers to one run and eight hits through seven innings. In just his second outing back from the disabled list, Oswalt says he didnt have his complete arm strength, but hes getting close.
As for the dearth of runs being scored by his teammates, Oswalt just shrugged it off. What else could he do?
My job is to keep the other offense off the board and I was going pretty well until I left a ball out over the plate to Moreland, he said. I really dont focus on what theyre doing. I try to focus on getting those guys out.
Thats the baseball. You never know whats going to happen until you start playing. In the next 10 games we could score 10 runs a game, so
Ten runs in a game? Is that one of the signs of the apocalypse?
As long as we win thats the important thing, Ibanez said.
Despite the run production, the Phillies have been doing that. At 28-18, the Phillies have the best record in the National League and are one win behind Cleveland for the most in baseball. They lead Florida by 1 games in the NL East. Yes, the Phillies are 12th in runs scored, but have the best ERA in the league.
Something is working.
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