It looked as if the Phillies road trip wouldn’t be all that successful as the Phillies were down by two runs late in the game in Arizona on Sunday afternoon. All of that changed though as Chase Utley electrified the Phillies offense in the ninth inning and sparked a rally that saw the team come back and win in the 10th inning.
Ryan Howard had a terrible road trip in Arizona, he was zero for 16 at the plate, and then on his 17th at-bat in the series he got the game-winning hit to lead the Phillies to victory on Mother’s Day. It was the first hit that Howard had all in all four games against the Diamondbacks. That always makes the long trip back home to Philadelphia extra nice when the Phillies win.
The Phillies offense has mirrored Howard’s efforts so far, the Phillies offense is near the bottom of the entire league in every offensive category that there is on batting. The team is 25th overall in Runs at 134, 26th in On Base Percentage, and 23rd in Batting Average.
The Phillies aren’t the only team in the major leagues that aren’t doing too well with a high payroll, throw the Anaheim Angels in and the Toronto Blue Jays into the same category as the Phillies when it comes to payroll and how good their teams are doing in each division.
The Phillies are 5-5 in their last 10 games, and the road trip in San Francisco and then Arizona, had them with a 4-3 record for the road trip. It was important for them to somehow leave Arizona with a victory and they did.
The Phillies have an off day on Monday, and then take on the Cleveland Indians for a brief two-game series in Philadelphia. Then the Cincinnati Reds arrive in Philly on Friday for a weekend series which includes a Saturday afternoon Fox TV appearance on the 18th of May at 4:05 PM.
After next weekend, the Phillies depart on another road trip that spans eight games and leads them into the Memorial Day weekend, when they will be finishing up a weekend series with Washington on Sunday and then playing in Boston on Monday, Memorial Day 2013.