Get Used To This

Last night in Philly, the defending champions lost to the restocked Braves, as Derek Lowe was sharp and Brett Myers continued his unfortunate first-inning home run pattern by giving up three shots that were so vicious, they might have been directed at his spouse. (It's funny because it refers to actual real life abuse!)

These things happen, even on national television and on a night that was so nice, it hardly seemed possible that it was early April, and I've got no further point about that. But let's look at the ninth inning, where Bobby Cox brought in Mike Gonzales to protect a 4-run lead.

- E. Bruntlett doubled to deep left
- J. Rollins flied out to deep right, E. Bruntlett to third
- J. Werth singled to left, E. Bruntlett scored
- C. Utley walked, J. Werth to second

At this point, three out of four men have reached base, about as good a start to an inning as you could hope for, especially when Eric Bruntlett and his career .315 OBA leads off with a double.

But then, well, this happens.

- R. Howard struck out looking
- R. Ibanez struck out swinging

Because, well, Ryan Howard has a career .314 OBA against left handers (compared to .412 against right-handers) and strikes out (gulp) over 40% of the time he sees them. Ibanez has a .323 OBA, but at least puts the ball in play, albeit without power (.734 OPS to .849 for right handers). And that's your ball game.

On Saturday in an exhibition game, the Rays beat the Phillies when a right-handed power hitting outfielder, some guy by the name of Pat Burrell, went yard. Mr. Burrell, who oddly enough seems to have a highly involved history of playing for the Phillies, has a career OPS of .950 against left-handers, and really would have been a better fit in the lineup last night, rather than have, well, three lefties in a row.

Perhaps new Phillies GM Ruben Amaro can give manager Charlie Manuel another right-handed bat to help balance this situation. Because, well, it really looks like in the current lineup, you'd have to be a complete idiot to not throw every lefty you have against the Fightin's. Especially in the late innings. I mean, I'm just the guy who writes for a remarkably unpopular sports blog, and I can see how really stupid it is to have that much of a platoon shift...