It started off promising. The Phillies won the first two games verse the Athletics and then came from behind to the beat the Mets. They were sitting at 3-1. Now after 4 straight losses things do not seem as bright. The Phillies went over the luxury tax to acquire big name hitters. The problem is those big-name hitters have yet to deliver consistently. In 3 of their 4 losses the Phillies have scored 1, 0 and 1 run.
Which leads us to the question. Is it time to start worrying about the Phillies or Not? We will provide a reason why to worry and a reason not to worry.
One reason to worry is the lineup may be too power oriented. There is a lot of pop in the Phillies lineup but if they are not hitting home runs they are not scoring any runs at all. There does not seem to be enough players in the lineup that can slap a base hit, steal a base and have someone move them over to manufacture a run. It is possible living and dying by the long ball can become a recipe for disaster.
A reason not to worry is it is still early. Due to the lockout some of these players did not have the proper spring training to get ready. Also, players seem to hit better as the temps rise. It is possible it is just taking some time for the players to find their swings.
Only time will tell if we should be concerned about the Phillies offense or not. One thing we do know however, is a 3-5 start was not what the team was expecting.