What a Difference a Month Makes

With 2 wins in a row against the Yankees and real runs scored in both of them, it might seem like the Phils are on their way out of their recent slump. Although the series was very backwards (Halladay losing, Moyer and Kendrick winning), it was great to get back to winning ways. We're coming up on another tough series against the Twins. Blanton has been very off this season, but Hamels and Halladay pitch the other two games and will hopefully help to bring home a second straight series win since May 3-9 against the Cardinals and Braves just before this extended skid began.

As of tonight's game on June 17th, the Phillies are 34-30 and in 3rd place in the NL East. Let us rewind one month to May 17th, the night on which the Phillies beat the Pirates 12-2.

The Phillies were 24-13 and in first place - 5 games ahead of the Marlins and Nationals, 6 ahead of the Mets, and 6.5 ahead of the now first place Braves. For those who don't want to do the math, we are just 10-17 since then.

Our pitching has managed to stay pretty consistent during this time for the most part, but the offense has taken a serious hit. Let's look at how things have changed:

-Shane Victorino was hitting .275 on May 17. He's now hitting .255
-Placido Polanco was hitting .316. He has since dropped slightly down to .310.
-Chase Utley was hitting .304 with a .421 on-base percentage. In the past month, he has gotten 17 hits in 91 at-bats to drop his average to an unbelievably low .257. His OBP has also dropped to .377.
-Ryan Howard was up at .299 on May 17. He's now batting .282 and has hit only 4 home runs in the past month.
-Jayson Werth was on track for an MVP and a huge contract while batting .336 and leading the league with 20 doubles. He has only hit 4 two-baggers since then and dropped his average to .281.
-Carlos Ruiz was batting an astounding .341 on May 17, but he has dropped that average to .275 with the help of a recent 0 for 24 slump.

The last game before the All-Star Break is July 11. That gives us a little less than a month to get back on track for good heading into the second half of the season. With Jimmy possibly coming back as early as Saturday, things should hopefully continue to look up for the Phils' offense.