Roy Halladay’s Perfect Game Tarnished By Poor Offense

Roy Halladay’s perfect game against the Florida Marlins Saturday night was only the 20th in the MLB’s extensive history, and only the second in Phillies history. Halladay looked spectacular in every facet of his game and his defense picked him up during the rare occasions he needed them.

However, even after such a great performance defensively, there are still plenty of reasons to be worried about this team.

For instance, they’ve scored only four runs over the past five games. They were shut out three times against the Mets, scored three runs on the Marlins for a win, and most recently scored only one run to ensure Halladay’s efforts didn’t drag him into extra innings.

But for a team that has lived and died on its ability to score runs, it’s a bit unsettling to see them struggle so mightily for such a long stretch.

The Phils’ offense has been anemic, to say the least.

Halladay can’t pitch every day, and there are certain pitchers in this rotation that will need the offense to score a lot of runs if they want to win.

(Here’s looking at you, Jamie Moyer.)

Without that offense, this is a slightly above-average team because of the outstanding defensive play and, for the most part, very good pitching. Above-average might still sound like a good thing, but slightly above-average teams don’t win the World Series—they get knocked out of the first round in five games.

And what’s troubling about Halladay’s perfect game is that the Phillies couldn’t even score on a base hit, sac fly, or something to that effect. Instead, they have to rely on a boneheaded play by Cameron Maybin to bring Wilson Valdez across the play on an error.

Needless to say, you’re not going to win many playoff series by scoring four runs in five games.

Of course, they have been working without Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Ruiz has been banged up, and most recently Placido Polanco has been forced to miss a couple games with a shoulder injury. But if they want to repeat what they accomplished in 2008, they’re going to have to do it while fighting through some injuries.

It’s time for Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Jayson Werth to step up and start playing the way we’ve seen they can. They’re going to be the guys who put the runs on the board. If they don’t take it upon themselves to get the offense moving in the right direction, it’s going to remain in neutral all season long.

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