Don't get me wrong, Chase Utley and Shane Victorino are great players. They know how to play the game and will never be accused of not hustling and playing all out every day, But did anyone see the first inning of today's game? Carlos Villanueva started off the game by throwing 8 consecutive balls putting Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco on. Utley comes up and swings at three straight balls to strike out swinging. I cant possibly imagine what he was thinking, I just hope Charlie Manuel said something to him either during or after the game.
Next up is Ryan Howard who singles to drive in Rollins. Then comes Victorino, who again swings at the first pitch and flies out to shallow center. Now I know its easy to second guess an out, and hindsight is 20-20, but come on. If a pitcher hasn't even thrown a strike yet why would you go up and swing at three straight balls, and if a guy clearly cant find the strike zone why would you go up swinging? Even if you are looking for a certain pitch to hit and assuming he will throw a strike to try and get ahead, odds are at that point he cant throw a strike, so whether you guess right or not it wont be in the strike zone and you wont get good wood on it, hence a shallow fly out.
The Phillies are playing great this year, but the hitting has not been there alot, and little things like these are the reasons why.