Major League Baseball

Bob Ford: Phillies could use extra dose of offense

Published Oct. 8, 2010 10:52 a.m. ET

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The Phillies obviously hope they don't miss having Roy Halladay on the mound when their National League division series against the Reds resumes Friday night at Citizens Bank Park.

What they really hope is they don't miss him at the plate, too.

Happily overlooked in Wednesday's opening win behind Halladay's historic postseason no-hitter is the fact the Phils had just five hits in the game, all bunched in the first three innings, and including one very big one by Halladay.

"It was one of those things," said Jayson Werth, who was hitless in four at-bats. "We got off hot, we got ahead, and it was all Roy after that. I think it was just probably more of the flow of the game than anything else."

The Phillies' hitters could be excused, perhaps, for being content to watch Halladay work, but that approach isn't going to succeed forever in the playoffs.

"Going forward . . . it would be nice if we start hitting the ball more consistent," manager Charlie Manuel said. "Putting up more runs on the board, of course."

In their fourth straight trip to the postseason, the Phils have better overall pitching than in any of the previous years. But for a team that made its name with a robust, explosive offense, the 2010 season has been a slight change in course.

"We still have the same guys. We still can do the same things. Will it happen? I don't know," shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. "We have a lot better pitching than we've ever had. You don't necessarily have to go out and score nine runs to win a ball game. Does that change the mentality? I don't know. We've got more wins this year, so things have changed, but for the better, I think."

This season, while the Phillies hit for a slightly higher average than did the teams that went to the World Series in 2008 and 2009, their power numbers were way down. Compared with an average of 219 home runs in those seasons, they hit 166 this year. Their slugging percentage went from an average of .443 in 2008 and 2009 to .413 this year, and their regular-season run production, a total of 772 runs, reflected the power shortage.

Some of the downturn could be blamed on the injuries that limited Rollins and Chase Utley, and on a lack of power production from Raul Ibanez, whose slugging percentage went from .552 to .444. The Phillies are healthier and more potent now, but there is still the concern that the only thing that might derail a long postseason run is a scoring slump for a week or so.

"We've got the talent to be an offensive team, which we've been for the last four or five years," Manuel said. "This definitely has been a down year, and the numbers kind of speak for it. But at the same time, we're very capable in games of busting games open and putting up more offense. I expect us to score more runs."

In the opener of this series, three of their five hits came in the second inning, when they scored three of their four runs. After a two-out walk to Carlos Ruiz and a bleeding infield single up the middle by Wilson Valdez that was bobbled by Cincinnati shortstop Orlando Cabrera, Halladay came through with an RBI single to left that kept the inning alive. Two batters later, Shane Victorino drove in two more runs with a base hit into center. That was more than Halladay would need, which was fortunate because, aside from an Ibanez double in the third, that was all the hits the Phillies would get.

"Who doesn't want to get 10 or 15 hits a game, and put up a lot more runs, but it's about the timeliness of the hits," Victorino said. "It's not about how many, but about when."

As long as it isn't about if they hit - which was the problem for the Reds against Halladay - then the pitching might indeed carry them along. That's not something you want to depend on, however.

"Roy [Oswalt] made a joke when we were eating after the game that we better go out and get 25 hits and eight or nine runs for him," Rollins said. "It was basically, 'Y'all better get me a whole lot of runs.' "

At least, they hope it was a joke, because the Phillies haven't been the same team that scored runs by the bushel in previous seasons. Against Cincinnati starter Bronson Arroyo, who has an impressive array of pitches but often fails to locate them for strikes, the Phils plan to be patient on Friday night and get Arroyo's pitch count up in the early innings.

"We've got to make Arroyo throw some pitches and see if that will work for us," Manuel said.

Because getting five hits in a game worked for them in the opener, but that's not the way to play October baseball. At least not for very long.

Contact columnist Bob Ford

at 215-854-5842 or bford@phillynews.com.

Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/bobford.

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