Phils and Reds Waste Everyone’s Time; Scoreless Suspended Game Resumes Wednesday

Apr 16, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Ben Revere (2) walks from home plate after striking out to Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman during the ninth inning at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

If you stayed with last night’s Phillies-Reds game through the 80-minute rain delay, through the nine scoreless innings of pathetic Phils offense, through a second rain delay, all the way up to the announcement that last night’s 0-0 tie would be suspended before the bottom of the ninth inning, you have my respect and pity.

Sure, baseball purists like scoreless ties. So do I. Good pitching and good defense are usually pretty entertaining, and the drama of a scoreless game means every pitch could be the difference in the ballgame.

Still, last night’s 0-0 suspended game in Cincinnati, which will be resumed tonight at 5:30pm ET before the start of Wednesday’s scheduled 7:10 start, was difficult to watch.

Both teams managed just two hits and no runs in eight and a half innings, with Reds starter Homer Bailey and Phils hurler Kyle Kendrick, shutting down the opposing offenses.

It was an encouraging performance from Kendrick, who struck out four and lowered his ERA to 3.38, his second quality start in a row. But the bigger story was an offense that is having all kinds of trouble scoring runs or, heck, even generating an extra-base hit.

Bailey had not had much success against the Phillies going into last night’s game, compiling an 0-3 record with an ERA of 5.29. But the Phils looked lost at the plate, seemingly stepping into the batter’s box with no gameplan whatsoever. Bailey struck out 10 Phils on only 89 pitches in eight innings. It’s really hard to strike out 10 guys and throw that few pitches in eight innings of work.

The Phillies are overachievers.

This has been a brutal road trip for the offense, now 34 for its last 164 for a batting average of .207 (Corey Seidman with that stat). And while Charlie Manuel doesn’t have a lot of answers for his team’s offensive funk, he sure does think it’s stinky.

"“When you cut right to the chase and through the BS, we have to hit,” he said.“It didn’t work out. We haven’t hit on this road trip. We scored six runs in three games in Miami, two last night, and right now we’re hanging on a zero.” – quote per CSNPhilly’s Jim Salisbury"

Right now, there are two hitters hitting worth a darn, Chase Utley and Michael Young. Everyone else in the lineup simply isn’t getting the job done, and it makes for some pretty miserable baseball-watching.

Up and down the lineup, the numbers are gross. Revere is hitting .207, Rollins is at .226 and 0 for 15 on the road trip, Howard is at .241 with just one lousy home run, Brown is hitting .235, Nix is hitting .250 and Quintero is batting .182.

When action resumes tonight, Phillippe Aumont will take the mound for the bottom of the ninth and is scheduled to face Zack Cosart, Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips. Hopefully it won’t take another eight innings for someone to score a run.

Hopefully, that someone will be a Phillie.

But don’t hold your breath.