By: Andrew Mackenzie

Surely a split with the lowly Marlins wasn’t what Charlie Manuel’s crew had in mind going in to the four game series. Nevertheless, that’s what the end result was and with it came a whole slew of problems.

Doc:

The news from Roy Halladay that he has been pitching hurt is unacceptable. I know he’s a great Hall of Fame caliber pitcher but suddenly I’m not so sure he’s worth keeping around. Does this seem like an overreaction? Well let’s put this in perspective. Instead of informing the Phillies about discomfort he felt in his shoulder after the Pittsburgh game on April 24, Halladay decided to make two more starts. In those two starts he gave up a combined 17 earned runs. In other words, Doc was more than happy to get shelled in two straight starts while trying to pitch through pain. Talk about putting yourself ahead of the team. That kind of selfish play isn’t going to get this team back into the playoffs and now I’m not so sure Doc can either.

Dubee:

Earlier this week, Mitch Williams ripped pitching coach Rich Dubee and said he believed it was time for a change. Well, it’s hard to argue with him when a team that is supposedly built around pitching is ranked 24th in the majors in ERA. Despite some good performances, especially from Kyle Kendrick, the staff has struggled. Hamels has an ERA over 4.00, although he has improved in recent weeks, Halladay has been brutal, and the middle relief has looked dreadful. And when you here Mitch say that Dubee wouldn’t even let him talk to the pitchers, it looks like there may be a bit of an ego problem going on. Dubee has produced results in the past but he didn’t do a great job last year and this season isn’t off to a fast start. Doc quickly came to Dubee’s defense but it’s a little hard to put trust in Roy nowadays.

The Bats:

Another horrific week for the hitters is in the books. With the exception of Thursday’s 7-2 win, the scoring was at a minimum. It’s sad to see the way the offense has performed under Manuel this year. Aside from Michael Young and Chase Utley, there doesn’t seem to be one consistent hitter in the lineup. Ryan Howard may be getting close to his old form but I’m not ready to group him in with Young and Utley just yet. Other than them the hitting has been abysmal. Ben Revere has been dreadful, Jimmy Rollins seems to be an overpaid and washed up shell of the player he was (although this isn’t exactly new), the outfield as a whole is just a complete train wreck, and the team seems to have no way of turning it around. Clearly, the pitching is not good enough to win this team low scoring games anymore. Conversely, the hitting isn’t strong enough to allow the pitching an off day. I’m no baseball genius but that seems to be a very bad combination.