Phillies Drop to Second Place

As seen on Phillies Nation.

With the Phillies 9-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves, the Phillies dropped to second place in the National League East. While the Phillies offensive struggles have been frustrating, it's not time to press the panic button -- yet.

Part of this loss can be blamed on defensive mistakes by Ross Gload and Ryan Howard. Gload, who played in place of Jayson Werth, dropped a fly ball. However, the most costly error was by Howard, who completely missed a ground ball that potentially could have been two outs. The miscues led to two unearned runs, and if not made, the outcome could have been much different.

The Phillies were held scoreless until the seventh inning. Tommy Hanson cruised along, allowing just three hits. He was lifted in the seventh inning after allowing a two-out double to Raul Ibanez. Pete Moylan came in relief and gave up three straight doubles as the Phillies were able to cut the lead in half. Unfortunately, Troy Glaus broke the game wide open at the bottom half of the inning. Glaus' three-run home run off Chad Durbin put the game in the books.

There were some positives though. Brad Lidge returned from the disabled list (Nelson Figueroa was designated for assignment) and tossed a 1-2-3 inning. His slider was impressive, as he struck out one batter. The other positive? They weren't shut out.

Today, the offensive struggles carried over defensively. There is no question that the Phillies need to snap out of this slump, but it is still very early in the season. In previous seasons, the Phillies have gone through similar woes. This series with Atlanta is key, however, and they must win if they want to get back into first place.

Blog of Note: We Should Be GM's has a few song parodies about the Phillies' offensive struggles.

Phillies Open Series in Atlanta

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Philadelphia Phillies (28-21) at Atlanta Braves (28-22).
Joe Blanton (1-3, 5.63) vs. Tommy Hanson (4-3, 4.06)

This is a big series. Due to the Phillies' offensive hiatus and the Braves' five game win streak, the Braves find themselves a half game behind the Phillies. If the Phillies want to stay in first, they need to find their bats.

The Phillies certaintly can not count on breaking out of their slump against Tommy Hanson. The young righty has proved that his rookie year was no fluke, and that he is the real deal.

The Phillies pitching has been great of late. Joe Blanton has been one of the few that has struggled, however. In addition, his numbers against the Atlanta Braves are not pretty. Regardless, no matter how well Blanton pitches, the Phillies need to score.

Rookie of the Year Candidates

As seen on Phillies Nation.

Tomorrow, the 2009 National League Rookie of the Year will be announced. Here are some of the top candidates for the award:

J.A Happ (PHI): 12-4, 166 IP, 2.93 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 119 SO, .244 AVG

There is no clear cut favorite. However, Happ has the numbers to make him a top Rookie of the Year choice.

Tommy Hanson (ATL): 11-4, 127.2 IP, 2.83 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 116 SO, .225 AVG

Happ's advantage in innings may give him the edge over Hanson.

Randy Wells (CHC): 12-10, 165.1 IP, 3.05 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 104 SO, .261 AVG

The Cubs didn't give Wells much run support this year. In some cases, the voters take a team's performance in account, and the Cubs aren't helping Wells' campaign.

Chris Coghlan (FLA): 128 G, .321 AVG, 9 HR, .850 OPS

Phillies fans know enough about this guy. The question is whether his offensive numbers compete with the pitchers' stats

Garrett Jones (PIT): 82 G, .293 AVG, 21 HR, .938 OPS

Jones did not play in many games, so that may hurt his campaign. However, the 28-year old has showed his power in his limited major league experience.

Andrew McCutchen (PIT): 108 G, .286 AVG, 22 SB, .836 OPS

He's the future of the Pittsburgh Pirates. But he is in the same boat as Jones. Does he have enough playing time to get enough votes?

Colby Rasmus (STL): 147 G, .251 AVG, 16 HR, .717 OPS

Rasmus doesn't matchup with the other candidates. His batting average and on-base plus slugging percentage are mediocre at best.

Casey McGehee (MIL): 116 G, .301 AVG, 16 HR, .859 OPS

McGehee has put up some solid offensive numbers, but his defense may factor in. He spent the majority at third base, where he had a .916 fielding percentage.

Ryan Howard was the last Phillie to win the Rookie of the Year award. Will Happ follow his footsteps?

Phils/Braves Meet for Final Time in '09

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Philadelphia Phillies (86-61) at Atlanta Braves (79-69)
Cliff Lee (14-11, 3.00) vs. Tommy Hanson (10-3, 2.65)

The Phillies and Braves face each other for the final time of the 2009 season. The Braves won the season series, but the Phillies would like to add one more win with their ace on the mound. The Phillies are 7-10 against their division rivals.

Cliff Lee rebounded from a few shaky outings, throwing a complete game shutout against the Washington Nationals. Lee would like to carry over his success, however one of his poor outings was against the Braves. In five innings, Lee allowed six earned runs on ten hits.

Lee will be opposed by the rookie phenom, Tommy Hanson. Hanson can help his Rookie of the Year campaign, especially since his main competitor, J.A Happ, missed a couple starts. Hanson has allowed only two runs in the last 24 innings he has pitched. Hanson was tacked with the loss in his rain-shortened start against the Phillies in August. Ryan Howard homered off him.

Braves/Phillies Open Series

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Atlanta Braves (67-60) at Philadelphia Phillies (73-52)
Tommy Hanson (9-2, 3.12 ERA) vs. Pedro Martinez (2-0, 5.14 ERA)

Coming off a terrible series against the Pirates, the Phillies look to rebound against the Atlanta Braves, who sit seven games behind the Phillies in the National League East. Tonight is 70's night at The Bank and the Phillies would like to get a win, something they did 101 times during the 1977 regular season.

Pedro Martinez will start against the rookie phenom, Tommy Hanson. Martinez is coming off a win in which he allowed four runs in six innings. Martinez started off slowly, but improved as the game went on. Hanson will be one of J.A Happ's competitors for the 2009 Rookie of the Year campaign. He is 9-2 with a 3.12 ERA and 1.29 WHIP. Opponents are hitting .239 against him. He has allowed only 8 home runs, but he does average more air outs than ground outs. It will be interesting to see how he fares at Citizens Bank Park.

The offense is struggling for the Phillies, and it won't be easy to turn it around against the tough pitchers they will be facing during the series. Maybe a homecoming is exactly what they need to get the offense back on track.

Call of the Day: Jimmy Rollins extends his hitting streak.

"Ground ball, base hit. Jimmy Rollins has hit safely in 32 consecutive
games. An all time Phillies record."