Wither Runners In Scoring Position?

The increasingly ugly truth is the Phillies have stopped hitting. Going back a few weeks now they've been mired in a collective slump save the occasional long-ball assault led largely by Ryan Howard.Chief among the fallen is Raul Ibanez, who looks terrible at the plate. Since returning from the DL in the Summer, his average has dropped more than fifty points and is now in real danger of falling below .270. How much longer can Charlie Manuel run him out there instead of the far better fielder and certainly no lighter hitter than Ben Fancisco?J.A. Happ took last night's loss, his second straight in which he pitched well until suddenly self-destructing and serving up long balls. No doubt it would help to know he was getting some support, but he has only himself to blame for serving up fat pitches. Commentary by Gary Matthews correctly suggests part of the problem is pitch selection. When he had Juan Uribe down 1-2 in the count it was no time to throw him a fastball up in ...