The Pirates?

Every once in awhile I like to justify to myself why I keep my own Phillies statistics by actually using them to talk about something. Today is one of those glorious days.

In 4 games against the Pirates this season, Phillies starters have pitched 30 innings. They have a 2.40 ERA and a .211 batting average against.

The Phillies' bullpen has pitched 4 perfect innings.

Ryan Howard is batting .500 against the Pirates with 6 RBI.

We have scored 15 runs in those 4 games. The Pirates have scored 9.

All of these numbers add up to a record of 1-3. How does that make any sense at all?

The simple explanation would be: it doesn't. As the guest blogger from the last series against them pointed out, the Pirates are simply better in close games. I must admit, I haven't followed the Pirates all that closely since that last series, but I do know that the Phillies certainly haven't gotten much better in general since then, much less in close games.

Close or not close, the Phillies need to score some runs in order to win games. That now gives us 3 runs in 3 losses to the Pirates. Things aren't looking up with tomorrow's game against Paul Maholm, who has historically dominated us (0.78 ERA in his last 3 starts against us).

This was supposed to be our "easy" series leading up to the All-Star Break. Utley being out until September and 29 of our other 24 regular players being on the DL surely doesn't help our 5-game deficit in the NL East. Since the start of the 2008 season, I'm not sure that I've ever been worried about the Phillies chances, whether it be in a game, a series, or the season. I'm not saying I'm worried now, but I totally am.

And with the help we need right now, I already miss Domonic Brown.