Nobody was concerned about the Phillies pitching and everybody was concerned about 
the Phillies hitting. If games were played on paper, nobody would have been shocked if the Phillies won 130 games on pitching alone, winning games 1-0. Without Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, the line-up would be even more anemic they said.
Well, as sad as it is, if these two games are any indication of things to come, the nay-sayers and skeptics may be right, as the Phillies have shown nothing but dominant pitching and dormant bats. In their first two games, a win and a loss, the Phillies have scored one run, giving up two runs, neither of which are surprising. Game two even took extra innings to complete, both teams only able to score one run in nine innings (whether it was because of the Phillies’ pitching brilliance or the Pirates’ hitting incompetence, the world may never know). Continue reading
favorite, not afraid to say what’s on his mind, even if it isn’t exactly “appropriate” to say on television. But quite frankly, the past two years he’s been nothing but average.
every Phillies fan. It of course, is the image of Ryan Howard painfully crumbling to the ground after losing the 2011 NLDS, in what seemed to be a microcosm of the Phillies’ season. But now, as the 2012 season quickly approaches, the Phillies and all of their fans are forced to deal with the repercussions of the play– not only going all winter without a parade down Broad Street–but also losing Ryan Howard to a torn Achilles heel, sidelining him until at least May, and leaving a very big gap at first base. 
