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So just who on the Phillies did John Lannan plunk? A review.

July 26, 2007. Lannan faced the Phillies in his major league debut. The Phillies led 3-2 going into the bottom of the fifth. Victorino grounded to second for the first out in the frame before Lannan hit Utley in the hand, breaking it. He then hit Howard in the back and was ejected from the game. The Phillies took a 5-2 lead into the seventh inning, but the Nats scored two in the seventh and Jesus Flores hit a three-run homer off of Zagurski in the eighth. Nats won 7-6.

July 31, 2008. Lannan hit Shane Victorino, the second batter of the game for the Phillies, in the bottom of the first. The Phils went on to score eight runs charged to Lannan in 5 2/3 innings.

May 15, 2009. This game between the Nats and Phils featured five hit batters, including two by Lannan. Utley led off the top of the sixth with the Phillies down 4-1 and Lannan hit him with a pitch. Lannan got the next two before hitting Ibanez. Feliz followed with a single that scored Utley and knocked Lannan from the game. Down 6-4 in the bottom of the ninth, the Nats scored two runs off of Lidge to sent the game into extra-innings. The Phils scored four in the top of the twelfth and won 10-6.

August 1, 2010. Ryan Howard was the fourth batter of the game, coming to the plate in a scoreless tie with two down and Werth on second. Lannan drilled him on the right elbow. The elbow was x-rayed after the game and the x-rays came back negative. Howard injured his ankle running the bases and would not appear again for the Phillies until August 21.

September 27, 2010. The Phils were up 1-0 in the sixth with one down and Victorino on first when Lannan hit Utley. The Phils went on to score three runs in the frame and beat the Nats 8-0 as they clinched the NL East.

April 13, 2011. The Phillies led 2-0 in the fifth with two outs and the bases loaded. Lannan hit Howard on the right wrist, forcing in a run. Howard stayed in the game and x-rays after the game were negative. Halladay hit Nat Laynce Nix in the seventh and the Phillies won 3-2 behind a complete game, 123 pitch outing from Halladay.

May 5, 2011. Lannan hit Victorino, the second batter of the game for the Phillies in the bottom of the first inning of a scoreless tie.

June 1, 2011. Lannan hit Mayberry with one out in the top of the third and the bases empty. Mayberry is the only right-handed batter (not including the switch-hitter Victorino) to be hit by Lannan with the Phillies. Nix made a spectacular catch on a ball hit by Brown with the bases loaded to end the sixth inning in that game and the Nats went on to win 2-1.

September 26, 2012. Down 5-0, Howard led off the bottom of the second was hit by Lannan. The Nats pounded Kendrick in the game on their way to an 8-4 win.

And how did it work out for him? Not so great. It’s hard to tell if hitting batters is the cause or the symptom of problems, but, either way, his numbers overall in innings in which he has hit a Phillie batter aren’t so good. Here they are:

Ten earned runs over 7 2/3 innings is an 11.74 ERA. Notably, he’s walked just one hitter in the 7 2/3 innings (Polanco ahead of Utley on 9/27/10), so his control has been pretty good even in the innings when he’s plunking folks. 1.57 ratio for the 7 2/3 frames.

Even leaving the Phillies wasn’t enough to save Victorino. Lannan hit four batters in 2012 — Dan Uggla, Chipper Jones, Ryan Howard and Victorino when he was with the Dodgers.

Here are his career rates of hitting Phillies, non-Phillies and some of your favorite Phillies and non-Phillies:

There are four players that Lannan has hit three or more times in his career. Three of them are current or former Phils. He’s hit Howard four times and Utley, Victorino and Nate McLouth three times each.

The next update to Philliesflow will be around January 3.

There are several different ways to calculate WAR, but no matter which language you choose, the non-pitchers for the Phillies were cause for concern in 2012.

The table below shows the WAR by position for the Phillies over the past five seasons as calculated by FanGraphs. Next to each WAR is the NL Rank for the team that year at the position.

Please note: WAR as calculated by FanGraphs differs, often dramatically, from WAR as calculated by Baseball-Reference. The WAR values in the table below are from FanGraphs, but the WAR values discussed below the table come primarily from Baseball-Reference. Links to recent interesting articles on the differences between WAR as calculated by the two sites are at the bottom of the post.

So there were three of the eight positions at which the Phillies were better than tenth in the 16-team National League.

Four seasons ago, in 2009, the Phillies were in the top half of the league at every position other than third base.

First the good:

At catcher, the Buster Posey-led Giants are the only team to put up a better overall WAR than the Phillies in 2012. The Phillies have been in the top three at the position in three of the last four years. In 2011, Ruiz recorded his worst dWAR of the five seasons (as calculated by Baseball-Reference) at 0.8. It was also his worst offensive season of the past three as he slugged just .383. In 2008, Ruiz was terrible offensively, hitting .219 in his 373 plate appearances as the Phils were tenth in the league at WAR at the position.

The Phils were also second in the league at FanGraphs-calculated WAR at short in 2012, topped only by the Nationals. There’s really only been one bad year for the team at the position over the last five seasons. In 2010, Rollins got less than 400 plate appearances for the only time in the last 12 seasons. Wilson Valdez fared okay trying to pick up the slack, but Juan Castro was a lot less impressive as he on-based .250 in his 101 plate appearances as a shortstop for the year. FanGraphs calculated WAR for Rollins for 2012 is much higher than Baseball-Reference’s. FanGraphs has him at 4.9, which ties him for 27th among non-pitchers across both leagues. Baseball-Reference calculates his WAR at 2.3, which ties him for 106th. The chart above reflects the FanGraph numbers, which suggest he was an elite player in 2012. Again, this is one of the three positions at which the Phillies were non-terrible in 2012 and there is disagreement about how good their primary player at the position actually was.

At second base, the Phillies have been in the top four for each of the past five years. Utley’s WAR as calculated by Baseball-Reference topped out at 8.8 in 2008. He’s likely never going back up there again, but his work at the position has been enough to keep the Phils in the top quarter of the NL over the last several years. Also, as a side note — in 2008, Utley and his 8.8 WAR (second-best in baseball) finished 14th in NL MVP voting. Howard’s WAR that year was 1.5 and he finished second. Pujols won it, and should have, but Utley should have been a lot higher than 14th.

After catcher, second and short, things get real ugly, real fast.

Center field was the next best position for the Phils in 2012 and they were tenth in the league there. Victorino was a monster in 2011, putting up a (Baseball-Reference) overall WAR of 5.2 in the best year of his career. He was way off that pace in 2012, though, and Mayberry was pretty bad after he left. The Phillies seem to have no in-house solution to what is now a big problem in center field.

Eleventh in left. Tenth or worse for the third straight year. 2009 is the only year of the last five that the Phillies have been non-terrible overall at the position. In ’09, Ibanez put up the best WAR (Baseball-Reference) of his last six seasons at 2.7. It was the only year of the last six where his dWAR has been better than -1 (it was -0.8). In 2010 he was bad for the Phillies and in 2011 he was terrible — a dWAR of -3.1 and an oWAR of just 0.1. Juan Pierre was the guy who got most of the time in left in 2012, the first year after Ibanez left. His overall WAR for the year was 1.9, good enough for fourth-best on the team among the non-pitchers, but not enough to lead the Phils anywhere better than eleventh.

They were also eleventh at third base, the fourth year of the last five in which they have been tenth or worse. Polanco was very solid in 2010, putting up a (Baseball-Reference) WAR of 3.1. In 2011, his dWAR stayed about the same as 2010 (1.2 in ’11, 1.4 in ’10), but his oWAR dropped from 1.9 to 0.7 as he hit 277/335/339 with just 19 extra-base hits in 523 plate appearances. Polanco got significant time at third in ’12, putting up an oWAR of 0, a dWAR of 0.4 and losing significant time to Kevin Frandsen. Frandsen’s WAR of 1.5 (in just 210 plate appearances) was good enough for fifth-best among the team’s non-pitchers, but not good enough to get the Phillies any higher than eleventh relative to the rest of the NL for the season at the position. Feliz got most of the time at third in ’08 and ’09, with some help from Greg Dobbs. Neither did a whole lot and the Phillies were eleventh at the position both years, although Feliz had a good year defensively in ’09, putting up a dWAR of 1.2. Feliz on-based .306 over 1,088 plate appearances for the Phils between 2008 and ’09.

You don’t have to study the right field numbers too carefully to see that the Phillies have struggled to replace Jayson Werth. Led by Werth, the Phils topped the NL in WAR at the position in 2009 and were third in 2010. He signed with the Nationals for the 2011 season and the numbers took a dive. Francisco got the gig to start ’11 and bombed in spectacular fashion, putting up an oWAR of 0.0 and a dWAR of -1.3 and losing the job. Hunter Pence played part of ’11 with the Phils and part of ’12. He posted negative dWARs in both years with better luck offensively. 2.2 (oWAR)/-0.3 (dWAR) in 2011 and 1.2/-1.1 in 2012. Domonic Brown hasn’t inspired a lot of confidence yet he can get the job done in right, either. So far for his career he has an UZR/150 of -21.7 in 871 innings in right to go with his overall batting line of 236/315/388.

First base may be the single biggest problem for the Phillies, where they have committed an enormous amount of money to Ryan Howard. They were 16th of 16 in the NL in 2012 and FanGraphs has them no better than tenth over the last three seasons. Howard was hurt in 2012, but he got 644 plate appearances in 2011 and 620 in 2010 and the Phils didn’t do better than tenth in either year. He has always been terrible at defense, over the last seven seasons his dWARs have ranged from -1 to -2.8, and thanks largely to that he has put an overall WAR better than three just twice in his career. In 2006 he hit 58 home runs with a WAR of 5.0. In 2009 he hit 45 with a WAR of 3.5. In 2012, his oWAR joined his dWAR in negative territory at -0.6. Wigginton was also miserable trying to pick up the slack at the position with Howard missing much of the season, hitting just 235/314/375 for the year with a UZR/150 at first of -8.5 (which is 30th among the 36 players across both leagues who played at least 450 innings at first in 2012).

This article talks about differences in the calculation of WAR by Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs. More on that subject here, as Jimmy Rollins appears on a list of the players whose WAR as calculated by FanGraphs differs dramatically from their WAR as calculated by Baseball-Reference.

The Phillies dismantled the Mets last night behind fantastic pitching from Tyler Cloyd and a flood of offense. The Phils scored eight runs in the first inning on their way to a 16-1 win.

The Phillies had 21 hits in the game, only two of which went for extra-bases. Utley doubled in the sixth and Howard hit a grand slam, his second homer off of a lefty in two days, in the ninth.

Juan Pierre had a five-hit night, going 5-for-6 with five singles.

Cloyd had the best of his five starts in the majors. He needed just 88 pitches to throw eight innings, allowing one run on three hits and a pair of walks.

The Phillies are 76-74 on the year after beating the New York Mets 16-1 last night. The Phils sweep the three-game set and are in third place in the NL East, 15 1/2 games behind the first-place Nats. They remain four games out in the Wild Card chase with a 0.6% chance to make the post-season, according to the Baseball Prospectus Playoff Odds report.

Cloyd got the start for the Phillies and went eight innings, allowing a run on three hits and two walks. One of the hits went for extra-bases, a solo home run. He struck out six and dropped his ERA on the year to 3.86 after five starts.

He started the bottom of the first with an 8-0 lead and walked the leadoff man Fred Lewis. Daniel Murphy was next and Cloyd got him to ground into a double-play before David Wright singled to right. Cloyd got Ike Davis on a ground ball handled by Utley to end the inning.

You want to avoid walking the leadoff man when you’re up eight runs.

Cloyd walked Lucas Duda to start the second, but got the next three Mets to turn New York away. He struck Justin Turner out for the first out, got Mike Baxter on a fly ball to left for the second and Kelly Shoppach on a ground ball to third for the third.

Again, walking the leadoff man up eight runs is to be avoid, but again Cloyd works around it.

Cloyd threw a 1-2-3 third and a 1-2-3 fourth. He struck Duda out for the third out in the fourth.

With one out in the fifth, Baxter hit an 0-2 pitch out to right, getting the Mets on the board at 8-1. Cloyd struck Shoppach out for the second out. Jason Bay hit for the pitcher Jenrry Mejia and Cloyd struck him out as well to end the inning.

Baxter now has three home runs in 192 plate appearances for the year, all three of which have come against the Phillies. 4-for-21 against the Phils with three home runs for the season.

Lewis singled to start the sixth, but Cloyd got Murphy to ground into a double-play behind him to clear to bases. Wright grounded to third to end the inning.

Cloyd struck out Davis in a 1-2-3 seventh.

He struck out Baxter in a 1-2-3 eighth with the Phillies up 9-1.

Rosenberg started the ninth with a 16-1 lead and walked the leadoff man Lewis. Ronny Cedeno flew to right for the first out. Andres Torres grounded into a double-play to end the game.

You want to try to avoid walking the leadoff man with a 15-run lead.

Rosenberg was pitching for the first time since September 13. He has thrown five scoreless innings over his last five outings, allowing a hit and two walks while striking out five. He threw 20 pitches in the game.

The Phillies lineup against righty Jeremy Hefner went (1) Rollins (2) Pierre (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Mayberry (6) Brown (7) Frandsen (8) Kratz. Kratz catches. Pierre in left against the righty. Mayberry back hitting ahead of Brown after Brown goes 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in game two.

The first six Phillies singled in the top of the first. It left them up 3-0 with the bases loaded for Frandsen. Frandsen walked. 4-0. That was it for Hefner and righty Collin McHugh came in to pitch to Kratz. McHugh hit Kratz, forcing in another run. 5-0 with the bases still loaded for Cloyd. Cloyd grounded back to the mound and the Mets went home to first to get a double-play, leaving runners on second and third with two down for Rollins. Rollins singled again, scoring both runners. 7-0. Pierre moved Rollins up to second with another single before Utley singled as well. Rollins scored to make it 8-0 with men on first and second. Howard grounded to Turner to finally end the frame.

Nine hits for the Phillies in the frame, as well as a walk and a hit by pitch. All nine hits were singles.

The Phillies went in order in the second and again in the third.

Lefty Justin Hampson set the Phillies down in order in the fourth.

Righty Jenrry Mejia started the fifth. Brown and Frandsen singled back-to-back with one out, putting runners on first and second for Kratz. Kratz singled to left. Brown tried to score, but Duda threw him out at home on a close play at the plate for the second out. It brought Cloyd to the plate with runners on first and second. He flew to right to leave them there.

Not a great idea to get thrown out at the plate for the second out of the inning, but it took a pretty nice play from the Mets to get Brown.

The Phils led 8-1 when Robert Carson started the sixth for New York. Pierre singled with one out and moved to third when Utley followed with a double. Howard was next and hit a line drive, but Murphy made a nice play, jumping to snare the ball and throwing to second to double-off Utley.

Mayberry singled off of righty Manny Acosta to start the seventh. Brown fouled out to Wright for the first out and Frandsen hit into a double-play behind him.

Righty Elvin Ramirez walked Cloyd with one out in the eighth. Rollins popped to third for the first out before Pierre moved Cloyd up to second with a single to center. Utley was next and he singled to center as well, scoring Cloyd to make it 9-1 with two down and men on first and second. Howard flew to right for the third out.

Cloyd hits for himself in the eighth and starts the rally with a walk. Fourth hit of the day for Pierre. He raised his average for the year from .310 to .318 by going 5-for-6 with five singles.

Righty Jeurys Familia started the ninth for New York and struck the leadoff man Mayberry out for the first out. Brown followed with a single to left and was forced at second on a ground out by Frandsen for the second out. Kratz walked. Schierholtz hit for Cloyd and singled, loading the bases. Rollins walked. 10-1 with the bases still loaded. Pierre singled on a dribbler. 11-1 with the bases still loaded. Lefty Josh Edgin took over on the mound and hit Utley. 12-1, still loaded. Howard hit a 3-1 pitch out to left for a grand slam. 16-1. Mayberry flew to center to end the frame.

Utley and Howard have a whole lot more success against the lefty Edgin. For the second time in two days, Utley reaches against Edgin ahead of Howard and Howard homers.

Howard’s line against lefties for the year is up to 179/222/381.

Mayberry makes two of the three outs in the inning.

After three hitters in the frame, the Phillies had two outs and a man on first with no runs in. The next six hitters went walk, single, walk, single, hit by pitch, home run.

Rollins was 2-for-5 in the game with a walk. 4-for-11 with three walks and two home runs in the series. 254/317/436 for the year. 338/412/662 in 85 plate appearances in September.

Pierre 5-for-6 with an RBI. 5-for-9 in the series. 318/360/380 for the year. He also had five hits on October 2, 2005 and on May 8, 2005.

Utley 4-for-5 with a double and four RBI. 6-for-11 with a walk and a double in the series. 266/380/452 for the year. His line against lefties for the year isn’t exactly fantastic either — 216/330/361.

Howard 2-for-6 with a grand slam and five RBI. 3-for-14 with two home runs and seven RBI in the set. 228/303/426 for the year. 192/269/356 over his last 119 plate appearances.

Mayberry was 2-for-6 and the only starter without an RBI. 3-for-13 in the series. 259/314/420 for the year. 301/374/470 in 187 plate appearances since Victorino and Pence were traded.

Brown was 3-for-5 with an RBI. 5-for-12 with a triple and a home run in the series. 253/341/407 for the year. 302/400/605 over his last 50 plate appearances. 171/293/314 against lefties for the year.

Frandsen 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. 1-for-9 with three walks in the series. 329/386/388 for the year. 17-for-41 (.415) against lefties.

Kratz 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI in his only action of the series. 256/311/526 for the year. 3-for-his-last-25.

Kendrick (9-11, 3.95) faces righty Tommy Hanson (12-8, 4.33) tonight. Kendrick allowed four runs in five innings against the Astros in his most recent start, which was the only time in his last seven outings he’s been charged with more than two runs. Trouble getting lefties out has plagued Kendrick over his career — so far in 2012, lefties are hitting 253/336/400 against him compared to 262/305/430 for righties. Hanson has thrown to a 5.61 ERA over his last ten starts and hasn’t gone six innings in any of his last five.

It’s been a mostly miserable year for Ryan Howard, but he got one last night. Down 2-1 with two outs in the ninth, Howard connected for a two-run homer off of lefty Josh Edgin and the Phils topped the Mets 3-2.

The Phillies had just three hits in the game, one of which was a bloop into shallow right-center. Jimmy Rollins was the first batter of the game and lined a homer to right off of Met starter Matt Harvey. The Phils didn’t have another hit in the game until Mayberry blooped his way aboard in the eighth. Hamels pitched very well, allowing a run on a single, a stolen base and a bloop single in the third and another on a solo home run in the sixth. The Phils were down 2-1 with two outs and nobody on in the ninth when Utley drew a walk off of Edgin and Howard followed Utley with a two-run homer.

The home run upped Howard’s line against lefties for the year to 173/218/346.

The Phillies are 75-74 on the year after beating the New York Mets 3-2 last night. The Phils are in third place in the NL East, 15 1/2 games behind the first-place Nats. Baseball Prospectus’s Playoff Odds Report has them at 0.4%.

Hamels got the start for the Phillies and went six innings, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk. Two of the hits went for extra-bases, a double and a home run. He struck out ten.

He has a 2.50 ERA and a 1.04 ratio over his last eight starts and has struck out 55 in 57 2/3 innings. The Phillies are 7-1 in those games.

He started the bottom of the first up 1-0. Ruben Tejada led off with a single, but Hamels set the Mets down in order behind him.

He struck out Ike Davis and Lucas Duda in a 1-2-3 second.

He struck out Andres Torres and pitcher Matt Harvey to start the third before Tejada singled to left. Tejada stole second before Daniel Murphy blooped a ball into left that fell in front of Pierre. Pierre charged and threw home as Tejada tried to score — his throw was on line but weak. Ruiz took it in front of the plate and threw to second to try to get Murphy, but Murphy was safe there too and the game was tied at 1-1. Hamels struck David Wright out looking 0-2 to end the inning.

Really not a good throw from Pierre, who is not a good thrower.

Scott Hairston doubled to center to start the fourth. Davis was next and lined a ball off of Hamels’s glove for a single with Hairston holding second. Hamels struck Kelly Shoppach out for the first out and Duda for the second. Torres flew to center to leave the runners stranded.

You wind up scoring a lot when you leadoff with a double and the next batter singles, but Hamels keeps the Mets off the board in the frame with two big strikeouts for the first two outs.

Hamels struck out Harvey and Murphy in a 1-2-3 fifth.

Wright led off the sixth and hit a 1-0 pitch out to right-center, putting the Mets up 2-1. Hairston was next and Hamels drilled him in the back, up near the shoulders. Davis flew to center for the first out before Hairston stole second. Hamels struck Shoppach out again for the second out before Duda walked 3-2. Torres lined to second to leave the runners stranded.

Hairston gets drilled right after the Wright homer. Hamels got ahead of the lefty Duda 0-2 but wound up walking him.

Bastardo started the seventh. Righty Ronny Cedeno hit for the pitcher Harvey and Bastardo struck him out swinging for the first out. Tejada struck out swinging for the second out before Murphy drew a walk. De Fratus came in to pitch to the righty Wright and struck him out swinging 1-2 to end the inning with Murphy at first.

Bastardo faces three hitters, strikes the first two out and walks the other. He has 25 strikeouts in his last 11 2/3 innings over 15 appearances. He’s allowed one earned run in 9 1/3 innings over is last 12 outings (0.96 ERA, 0.75 ratio and 20 strikeouts).

De Fratus faces just one hitter, getting a big strikeout of Wright to end the inning a man on base. He’s allowed just two hit and three walks over six innings in his first seven appearances. The one run he’s allowed is unearned. Righties are 0-for-14 against him so far.

Aumont started the eighth. Hairston and Davis led off with back-to-back singles, putting runners on the corner for Shoppach. Aumont struck him out swinging 1-2, Shoppach’s third strikeout of the game. Horst came in to pitch to the lefty Duda and righty Justin Turner hit for Duda. Horst walked Turner on five pitches, loading the bases for Torres. Torres grounded a ball to Utley and the Phils turned two to set the Mets down.

No run for New York after putting runners on first and third with nobody out. Huge strikeout for Aumont to get Shoppach for the first out.

Aumont continues to be a cause for worry. He faces three hitters, allowing back-to-back singles before getting a huge strikeout of Shoppach. Over his last five appearances, he’s allowed four runs on five hits and five walks over three innings.

Horst faces two batters, walking the righty Turner before getting the switchy Torres to ground into a double-play. After walking seven in 19 2/3 over his first 20 appearances for the season, Horst has walked five in 5 4/3 innings over his last five.

Papelbon started the ninth with the Phils up 3-2. Lefty Jordany Valdespin hit for the pitcher Jon Rauch and Papelbon struck him out looking 1-2 for the first out. Valdespin didn’t care for the call and was ejected. Tejada was next and singled to center. It brought Murphy to the plate and Murphy lined a ball towards the corner in left, but a diving Brown took it in at the edge of the warning track for the second out. Wright grounded to Utley to end the game.

Strike three to Valdespin looked outside to me. Nice catch by Brown at a big time.

Papelbon faces four hitters, allowing one single and getting the other three. Wright hit his ball to Utley pretty well. Papelbon hasn’t allowed a run in his last seven appearances, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out ten over seven innings.

Overall the pen goes two scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks. Tuesday’s rainout means that nobody has thrown more than one day in a row. Bastardo threw 18 pitches last night, everyone else was at 11 or fewer.

The Phillies lineup against righty Matt Harvey went (1) Rollins (2) Pierre (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Ruiz (6) Brown (7) Mayberry (8) Frandsen. Pierre in left against the righty with Brown in right. The hottish Brown hits ahead of Mayberry.

Rollins was the first batter of the game and lined a 3-1 pitch out to right, putting the Phillies up 1-0. The Phils went in order behind him.

Ruiz walked to start the second. Brown struck out looking for the first out and Mayberry grounded into a double-play to set the Phillies down.

The Phillies went in order in the third.

The game was tied 1-1 when they went in order in the fourth.

They went in order again in the fifth. Brown struck out for the second time in the game for the second out.

Frandsen walked to start the sixth. Hamels tried to bunt him to second, but struck out for the first out. Rollins was next and walked, putting runners on first and second for Pierre. Pierre grounded into a double-play to end the frame.

Frandsen does his best to get things started with a walk, which is not really his thing. He has eight walks in 162 plate appearances for the year, which is 4.9%, which is very low. The team is walking in about 7.9% of their plate appearances for the season.

Hamels can’t get the bunt down, striking out for the first out.

The Phillies were down 2-1 when they went in order in the seventh. Howard and Ruiz both struck out.

Righty Bobby Parnell started the eighth. He struck Brown out looking for the first out (Brown’s third strikeout of the game). Mayberry followed with a single, but was forced out at second for the second out when Frandsen grounded to short. Nix hit for De Fratus and struck out swinging to leave Frandsen at first.

Lefty Josh Edgin started the ninth for New York. Rollins struck out swinging for the first out. Wigginton hit for Pierre and struck out swinging for the second. Utley had an eight-pitch at-bat that ended with a walk, putting a runner on for Howard. Howard hit an 0-1 pitch out to right for his eleventh homer of the year, which put the Phillies on top 3-2. Jon Rauch took over for Edgin and struck Ruiz out to set the Phillies down.

With two outs and nobody on, Utley draws a walk off of a lefty and then Howard hits one out against a lefty to put the Phillies on top.

Rollins was 1-for-3 with a walk and a home run in the game. He has hit 20 home runs in his last 411 plate appearances, posting a 257/326/500 line. That’s an isolated power of .243.

Pierre was 0-for-3. He’s hitting .412 so far in September. He grounded into a double-play last night, just his third for the year in 408 plate appearances.

Utley 0-for-3 with a huge walk against the lefty ahead of Howard’s homer in the ninth. He has 13 walks and an on-base percentage of .500 over his last 56 plate appearances (333/500/385). Four of the 13 walks have been intentional. We’ll see if Howard hitting the ball out to win the game against the lefty changes anything.

Howard 1-for-2 with two strikeouts and a huge two-run homer off of a lefty. 173/218/346 against lefties for the year with 38 strikeouts in 87 plate appearances.

Ruiz 0-for-3 with a walk and struck out twice. He’s 1-for-his-last-16.

Brown 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. Five strikeouts in his last seven at-bats. For the year he has struck out in 28 of 165 plate appearances — that’s about 17.0%, less than the team average of 17.9% and less than the NL average of 20.2%.

Mayberry 1-for-3. 3-for-his-last-14 with three singles.

Frandsen 0-for-2 with a walk. 9-for-36 with a double so far in September.

Cloyd (1-1, 4.95) faces righty Jeremy Hefner (2-6, 4.99) tonight. Cloyd has struggled in two straight starts, allowing seven runs on 12 hits over seven innings. Lefties are hitting 379/455/621 against him. Hefner has been in and out of the pen for the Mets this year. He has a 5.24 ERA in his ten starts and has allowed 70 hits in 55 innings.

The Phillies came crashing down from their recent high this weekend, losing three of four to the lowly Astros as Houston put an enormous dent in the already slender playoff hopes of the Phils.

Houston scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to win game one 6-4. Rollins and Brown hit two-run homers in game two as the Phils won 12-6 to even the series at a game apiece. Kendrick allowed four runs in five innings in game three and the Phillies didn’t score, falling 5-0. Yesterday the Phils took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth and were outscored 5-2 the rest of the way as Houston won 7-6.

The pitching had been outstanding coming into the series, but the Phils allowed 24 runs in the four-game set.

The starting pitching was bad, throwing to a 6.00 ERA and allowing 14 runs (13 earned) over 21 innings. Cloyd was awful in game one, going just three innings. Hamels had the best start of the series for the Phils in game two, allowing four runs (three earned) over seven innings. Kendrick and Halladay were both unimpressive in their starts, combining to allow seven runs in 12 innings.

The bullpen was worse, allowing ten runs in 12 innings, throwing to a 5.25 ERA with a 1.58 ratio and walking seven in 12 frames. Only seven of the ten runs the bullpen allowed were earned. Aumont and Diekman floundered in game one as the Astros scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth. The Phils won game two, but Horst and De Fratus still combined to allow two runs (both unearned) over two innings. Bastardo, Aumont and De Fratus combined to allow four runs (three earned) in two innings yesterday.

The Phillies are 73-74 on the year after losing to the Houston Astros 7-6 yesterday. The Astros take the series three games to one. The Phils are in third place in the NL East, 16 1/2 games behind the first place Nationals. They’re four games out in the Wild Card hunt and Baseball Prospectus has their playoff odds at 0.4%.

Halladay got the start for the Phillies and went six innings, allowing three runs on six hits and two walks. Four of the hits went for extra-bases, a double, a triple and two home runs. He struck out seven. His ERA for the year is up to 4.03. He’s thrown to a 4.80 ERA over his last five starts and opponents have hit .308 against him.

He started the bottom of the first up 1-0. Scott Moore singled to center with two outs, but Halladay struck out Justin Maxwell behind him for the third out.

JD Martinez tripled to center with two outs in the second. Halladay walked Tyler Greene behind him, putting two men on for the pitcher Jordan Lyles. Lyles grounded to short for the third out.

Jimmy Paredes reached on an infield single with one out in the third. Moore was next and hit a 1-2 pitch just out to left, putting the Astros up 2-1. Halladay struck Maxwell out again for the second out and got Matt Dominguez on a fly ball to left to end the inning.

Halladay struck out Carlos Corporan and Martinez in a 1-2-3 fourth.

He was up 4-2 when he started the fifth. He walked Paredes with two outs, but got Moore on a ground ball he handled himself to set Houston down.

Halladay got a pair of ground outs to start the sixth before Corporan hammered the first pitch he saw from Halladay out to right, cutting the lead to 4-3. Martinez followed that with a double to left, but Halladay struck Greene out looking to leave Martinez at second.

Second home run that Halladay had allowed in the game. Both had come against batters hitting left-handed.

Bastardo started the seventh with the Phils still up a run. Righty Matt Downs hit for the lefty Brian Bogusevic and Bastardo struck him out swinging for the first out. Altuve was next and hit a ball to third. Martinez handled it, but his throw to first was bad for an error. Altuve stole second before Bastardo walked the switch-hitter Paredes on five pitches, putting two men on for the lefty Moore. Righty Brandon Laird hit for Moore and Aumont came on to pitch to him. Laird walked on five pitches and the bases were loaded. Maxwell was next and he blooped a ball down the first base line, which dropped on the chalk for a double that scored Altuve and Paredes and sent Laird to third with the Astros up 5-4. Dominguez was next and he chopped a ball over the head of Martinez and into left for a single, scoring both runners. 7-4. De Fratus came in to pitch to Corporan. Dominguez took second on a passed ball before De Fratus got Corporan on a ground ball to Utley for the second out with Dominguez moving up to third. Lefty Jason Castro hit for the pitcher Wesley Wright and De Fratus walked him intentionally, putting runners on the corners with two down for Greene. Greene grounded to third to end the inning.

A little bit of less than fantastic luck for the Phillies in the inning as Maxwell’s bloop goes for a double and Dominguez bounces a single over Martinez’s head. That doesn’t get you to four runs, though. The throwing error by Martinez gets things started and is followed up by back-to-back walks issues by Bastardo and Aumont.

Bastardo faces three batters. He struck the first one out, the second reached on the Martinez error and the third walked. He’s charged with two runs in the game (one earned). It’s the first time he had been charged with a run since August 21.

Aumont comes in with one out and runners on first and second. He faces three batters and they go walk, double, single (although both hits were a little fluky). He came into the series with a 1.08 ERA and an 0.96 ratio in nine appearances for the season. He appeared twice in the set, allowing four runs in two-thirds of an inning on two hits and three walks.

De Fratus pitched the bottom of the eighth with the lead cut to 7-6, setting the Astros down in order.

Very nice day for De Fratus, going 1 2/3 scoreless innings in which he allows one walk, which was intentional. He still hasn’t been charged with an earned run this season over 5 2/3 innings in six appearances.

Overall the pen goes two innings in the game, allowing four runs (three earned) on two hits and three walks. The bullpen has walked 4.26 batters per nine over their last 160 2/3 innings and 4.91 per nine over their last 44 innings.

Bastardo and De Fratus each threw 18 pitches in the game. Aumont threw 14.

Papelbon did not appear in the series for the Phils as the bullpen collapsed. The Phillies put a ton of pressure on Aumont in the set, a 23-year-old rookie with five career appearances coming into the series.

The Phillies lineup against righty Jordan Lyles went (1) Rollins (2) Pierre (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Ruiz (6) Mayberry (7) Brown (8) Martinez. Ruiz catches with Pierre in left. Martinez plays third.

Rollins was the first batter of the game and hit a ball off the wall in center for a double. Pierre bunted him to third with the first out and Utley brought him home with a sac fly to right, putting the Phils up 1-0. Howard struck out swinging to end the frame.

Not a fan of bunting with Pierre when the other team’s pitcher has faced one batter in the game and that batter hit the ball of the wall for a double.

Brown walked with two outs in the second and moved up to second when Martinez followed with a single to left. Halladay struck out to leave both runners stranded.

Rollins walked to start the third and moved up to second when Pierre grounded out for the first out. Lyles got behind Utley 2-0 and then walked him intentionally, putting two men on for Howard. Howard grounded into a double-play to set the Phillies down.

I think walking Utley so a righty can pitch to Howard with a double-play in order is a pretty bad idea. Working out for the Astros that time, though.

Down 2-1, the Phillies went in order in the fourth.

Martinez and Halladay both struck out to start the fifth before Rollins drew a walk. Rollins stole second and moved up to third on a throwing error by the catcher Corporan. Pierre was next and doubled to left, scoring Rollins to tie the game at 2-2. Houston didn’t even start to pitch to Utley this time, walking him intentionally to put two men on for Howard. Howard pounded a ball off the wall in left, scoring both runners to make it 4-2. He was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple for the third out.

Putting extra men on so a righty can face Howard when there’s no double-play in order is an even worse idea. Howard delivers that time.

Righty Hector Ambriz struck out Ruiz and Mayberry in a 1-2-3 sixth.

The lead was cut to 4-3 when Martinez doubled off Ambriz to start the seventh. Orr hit for Halladay and lefty Wesley Wright came in to pitch to Orr. Ruf hit for Orr and grounded to third for the first out with Martinez holding. Rollins struck out swinging for the second out. Wigginton hit for Pierre with the lefty on the mound and was hit by an 0-1 pitch, putting runners on first and second for Utley. Utley blasted an 0-1 pitch to right, but Paredes made a jumping catch on the warning track as he fell to the ground to end the frame.

Nice catch at a big time for Paredes. Cost the Phillies two runs.

Ruf can’t move the runner up to third with the first out in career at-bat number two. No run for the Phils after the leadoff double.

The Phillies were down 7-4 when they hit in the eighth. Lefty Xavier Cedeno struck Howard out for the first out. Righty Mickey Storey came on to pitch to Ruiz and hit him with a pitch. Ruiz moved up to second when Mayberry followed with a single, putting two men on for Brown. Brown cleared the bases with a double to the gap in right-center, cutting the lead to 7-6. Nix hit for Martinez and righty Wilton Lopez came in to pitch to him. Nix struck out swinging 0-2 for the second out. Schierholtz, who had entered in the bottom of the seventh, grounded to second to leave Brown stranded.

Big hit for Brown, but the Phils can’t move him up from second as Nix and Schierholtz get set down back-to-back by the righty.

Rollins singled to center off of Lopez to start the ninth. Kratz hit for De Fratus and flew to deep right for the first out with Rollins tagging and moving up to second. Utley flew to left for the second out. Ruiz grounded to first to end the game.

Rollins was 3-for-4 with a walk and a double in the game. 6-for-17 with four walks, a double and a home run in the four-game set. 252/313/428 for the year. 333/394/619 so far in 71 plate appearances in September.

Pierre 1-for-2 with a double. 5-for-9 with a double and two walks in the series. 312/355/375 for the season. 452/500/516 in 37 plate appearances this month.

Utley 0-for-2 with two walks and an RBI. 3-for-12 with a double and six walks in the series. Two of the walks were intentional. 254/371/444 on the year.

Howard 1-for-4 with a double and two RBI. 4-for-16 with two walks and two doubles in the set. 229/308/413 for the season. 189/276/311 over his last 105 plate appearances.

Ruiz 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. 1-for-10 with a walk in the series. 332/401/549 for the year.

Mayberry 1-for-4 and struck out twice. 6-for-16 with two walks and a double in the series. 260/316/426 on the year. 307/385/490 in 174 plate appearances since Victorino and Pence were traded.

Brown 1-for-3 with a walk and a two-run double. 2-for-13 with five walks, a double and a home run in the series. 239/335/370 for the season. 258/395/516 over his last 38 plate appearances.

Martinez 2-for-3 with a double in his only action of the series. Made a throwing error in the bottom of the seventh to get the Houston rally started. 172/212/263 for the year.

Lee (5-7, 3.36) faces righty RA Dickey (18-5, 2.68) tonight. The Phillies have won four straight games that Lee has started. He’s thrown to an 0.99 ERA with an 0.95 ratio in those four outings. Since the start of August he has walked three batters in 56 2/3 innings. Dickey has a 1.72 ERA over his last five starts. Righties are on-basing .250 against him for the year.

Possible exception: Bruce homering every day. Things went well other than that.

Roy Halladay mowed the Reds down yesterday afternoon as the Phils topped the Reds 6-2 to take the series two games to one.

The Phillies pounded Cincinnati starter Mike Leake for the second time since mid-August in the game, scoring six runs and knocking him out of the contest in the top of the third. In his last two starts against the Phils, Leake has been charged with 13 runs in 6 2/3 innings.

Kratz hit a three-run homer as part of a four run top of the second to give the Phillies an early lead. Utley hit a two-run homer off of Leake in the top of the third to extend the lead to 6-0. Halladay allowed a run on two hits and a walk in the fourth. Bruce delivered his daily homer in the ninth, which came against Papelbon this time.

Bruce was 7-for-11 with a walk, two doubles and three home runs in the three-game set and drove in all six runs the Reds scored. He has homered four straight games. Mercifully, that’s someone else’s problem now (best of luck, Houston).

The Phillies are now 21-14 since trading away Victorino and Pence. They have lost just one of the last eight series they have played, going 16-10 in those games. Of the eight series, they’ve won five, lost one (the Mets) and split two four-game sets. They’ve been playing good teams, too, going 11-5 in that stretch against the Reds, Braves, Nats and Cardinals.

The Phillies are 66-71 on the year after beating the Cincinnati Reds 6-2 yesterday afternoon. The Phils take the series two games to one.

Halladay got the start for the Phillies and went 7 1/3 innings, allowing a run on eight hits and a walk. Three of the hits went for extra-bases, all doubles. He struck out five.

Joey Votto singled with two outs in the bottom of the first. Halladay got Ryan Ludwick to pop to Utley to end the inning.

The Phillies led 4-0 when Halladay set the Reds down in order in the second.

It was 6-0 when Halladay threw a 1-2-3 third.

Chris Heisey singled to left to start the fourth and Halladay walked Votto behind him. Ludwick was next and grounded into a double-play that left Heisey at third with two down for Jay Bruce. Halladay really wanted a close 2-2 pitch that was called a ball and probably wanted it more after Bruce doubled to right 3-2, scoring Heisey to make it 6-1. It brought Todd Frazier to the plate and Frazier flew to Mayberry to end the inning.

Bruce is a monster. 4-for-7 in the series with a walk and two homers coming into the game and 435/480/957 in 25 plate appearances against the Phillies for the year.

Dioner Navarro started the bottom of the fifth and reached on a ground-rule double to right-center. Didi Gregorius, a 22-year-old, left-handed hitting shortstop from the Netherlands appearing in his first big league game, was next and moved Navarro up to third with a ground out to Utley. Infielder Henry Rodriguez, a switch-hitter, hit for the pitcher Alfredo Simon and Halladay struck him out for the second out. Brandon Phillips flew to center to leave Navarro at third.

Halladay pitches around the leadoff double. Rodriguez can’t bring the runner home from third with one out as Halladay gets the big strikeout.

Names don’t get a lot better than Didi Gregorius, do they?

Votto singled to center with one out in the sixth. Halladay struck Ludwick out swinging 0-2 for the second out before Bruce doubled again, sending Votto to third. Frazier was next and Martinez made a very nice play at third, fielding the ball and then throwing to first. Howard made a nice play to handle the throw, retiring the side and ending the inning.

Martinez and Howard make a pair of nice plays to get Halladay an out that probably saves two runs.

Navarro singled to right to start the seventh. Halladay got Gregorius on a fly ball to center for the first out and lefty Xavier Paul hit for the pitcher Sam LeCure. Paul grounded into a double-play to set the Reds down.

Halladay started the eighth having thrown 93 pitches and struck Phillips out swinging 0-2 for the first out. Heisey was next and singled softly to center on the eighth pitch of his at-bat. Bastardo came on to face the lefty Votto and struck Votto out looking for the second out. Ludwick was next and Bastardo got the righty on a fly ball to right-center to end the inning.

The eighth inning and Bastardo have been miserable this year, but he came through against two good hitters that time including the righty Ludwick.

Over his last six appearances, Bastardo has thrown 5 2/3 scoreless innings in which he has struck out 12.

Papelbon started the ninth with a five-run lead, pitching for the first time since Sunday’s disaster in Atlanta. Bruce led off and hit an 0-2 pitch out to left. 6-2. Frazier followed that with a single to left. Papelbon struck Navarro out for the first out. Gregorius followed and grounded to second with Frazier forced at second for the second out. Righty Denis Phipps hit for the pitcher Pedro Villareal. Gregorius took second without a throw before Papelbon struck Phipps out to end the game.

Second straight bad outing in a row for Papelbon, although this one wasn’t nearly as bad as Sunday. In his last two appearances he has been charged with four runs on four hits (including two home runs) and a walk over 1 1/3 innings.

Overall the pen goes 1 2/3 innings in the game, allowing a run on two hits. Papelbon threw 18 pitches and Bastardo 15.

The Phillies lineup against righty Mike Leake went (1) Rollins (2) Pierre (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Mayberry (6) Brown (7) Kratz (8) Martinez. Kratz catches the day game after catching the night game. Frandsen on the bench with Martinez playing third. Pierre in left with Brown in right and Schierholtz on the bench. Nix on the bench, too — not clear to me why Pierre gets to play so often against righties with Nix on the bench. Pierre can’t hit enough singles to make him a good offensive corner outfielder.

The Phillies went in order in the top of the first.

Howard and Mayberry singled back-to-back to start the second, putting runners on first and second for Brown. Brown singled into center, scoring Howard (1-0) and moving Mayberry up to second. Kratz was next and hit a 2-2 pitch out to left for a three-run homer, putting the Phillies up 4-0. Martinez, Halladay and Rollins went in order behind Kratz.

Home run number nine on the year for Kratz. He came into the game 8-for-his-last-35 (.229) with no walks.

Pierre led off the third with a walk and Utley followed him with a home run to center. 6-0. Howard struck out for the first out before Mayberry doubled high off the wall in left. That was it for Leake and righty Alfredo Simon came in to pitch to Brown. Brown was hit by a pitch, putting two men on again for Kratz. Kratz fouled out to Votto for the second out with the runners holding. Martinez grounded to first to end the frame.

Utley came into the game hitting .236 over his last 105 plate appearances with one home run. Home run number ten on the season for Utley.

Halladay started the fourth with a single to right, but Rollins hit into a double-play behind him and Pierre lined to short for the third out.

The lead was cut to 6-1 when Utley struck out to start the fifth. Howard was next and hit the ball well to left, but Ludwick took it for the second out. Mayberry flew to right to end the frame.

Righty Sam LeCure set the Phillies down in order in the sixth and again in the seventh. Halladay hit for himself and struck out to start the seventh having thrown 82 pitches.

Sean Marshall struck out Utley and Mayberry in a 1-2-3 eighth.

Righty Pedro Villareal started the ninth for the Reds and struck Brown out swinging for the first out. Kratz flew to right for the second out and Martinez to left for the third.

Rollins was 0-for-4 in the game and 2-for-12 with a double and a home run in the series. 246/305/417 for the year. He’s shown remarkable power since a rough start to the season. Through May 28 he was hitting 224/282/276 with eight extra-base hits (seven doubles) in 211 plate appearances. Since May 28 he’s hitting 258/317/493 in 385 plate appearances with 46 extra-base hits, including 16 home runs. His isolated power in those 385 plate appearances is .235. There are eight NL players with 425 or more plate appearances for the season and an isolated power that’s better than .235 (Rollins’s isolated power for the whole year is .171).

Pierre 0-for-3 with a walk. 2-for-7 in the series with a walk in the series. 299/342/360 for the season. His numbers for the year took a tumble in August when he hit 241/302/293 in 68 plate appearances. He’s 6-for-his-last-33 with six singles.

Utley 1-for-4 with a two-run homer and struck out twice.

Howard 1-for-4. 2-for-11 with two singles in the series. 239/324/446 for the year. 7-for-his-last-40 (.175). 200/254/369 against lefties for the year with 33 strikeouts in 71 plate appearances.

Mayberry 2-for-4 with a double. 3-for-10 with a double, two walks and a home run in the series. 256/301/430. Yesterday was the first time he has ended the day with an on-base percentage better than .300 for the year since he went 2-for-4 with a double on opening day. 308/364/521 in 129 plate appearances since Victorino and Pence were traded.

Brown 1-for-3 with a hit by pitch. 1-for-9 with a walk in the series. 240/319/337 for the year in 116 plate appearances. 1-for-his-last-20.

Kratz 1-for-4 with a three-run homer. 2-for-7 with a home run in the series. 287/333/611 for the year. There are 429 players across both leagues with at least 100 plate appearances for the season. Of those, his isolated power of .324 for the year is the best.

Martinez 0-for-4 in his only action of the series to drop his average on the year to .115. He made a nice defensive play at a big time to end the sixth. He’s 0-for-his-last-19 with a walk and hitting 115/169/192 for the season.

The Phillies are off today and face the Rockies at home tomorrow.