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Chase Utley isn’t the only left-handed Phillie who has seen his power drop off significantly over the past two seasons. Utley and Ryan Howard will forever be linked in the minds of fans and Howard’s power is down since the start of 2010 as well.

The left-right splits on the power drop aren’t as dramatic for Howard as it was for Utley, but Howard has also seen his power against righties drop more than it has against lefties over the past two seasons.

Howard arrived in Philly during the 2004 season, getting his first plate appearance on September 1, pinch-hitting for Vicente Padilla with one out in the fifth, Marlon Byrd on first and the Phils down 5-2. Atlanta’s Jaret Wright struck him out looking. Howard got just 42 plate appearances in 2004, but was off and running in 2005. In ’05 he hit .288 with 22 homers in just 348 plate appearances as he won Rookie of the Year in the NL (despite the fact that Willy Tavares and his 291/325/341 line in Colorado managed more than 20% of the first-place votes).

Howard didn’t exactly shine against left-handed pitching in 2005, going a meager 9-for-61 against them with a 148/175/246 line and striking out in about 41.3% of his plate appearances.

If his ’05 performance elevated concerns about whether he would ever hit lefties or not, he appeared to respond in dramatic fashion in 2006. He hit a monster 279/364/558 against lefties with 16 home runs in 225 plate appearances.

That was, however, as good as it would get for Howard against lefties. In the five seasons since the end of 2005, Howard has hit better than .225 against left-handed pitching just once (.264 in 2010). Since the start of the ’06 season, Howard has gotten 1,164 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers and struck out 32.6% of the time while posting a 228/309/430 line.

It’s enough to make some people wonder if what he did against lefties in 2006 might have been a little flukey.

Back to the power, though. Utley and Howard have both seen their power drop off in 2010 and 2011. Utley’s dropoff overall for those two years has been far more dramatic against righties. Howard has also seen a bigger drop in his isolated power against righties than lefties, but without results that are quite as severe as they are for Utley.

Here’s Howard’s at-bats, average, slugging and isolated power against lefties and righties for the years 2005-2009 combined as well as 2010 and 2011 combined:

First things first and the first things is this — from 2005 through 2009, Howard slugged .661 against right-handed pitching. That’s silly. In 2006, thanks in large part to his success against left-handed pitching, Howard hit 58 homers and slugged .659 for the year year overall. That’s good enough for 80th all time on the list of single season slugging percentage.

In 2010 and 2011 combined, Howard’s isolated power against lefties dropped from .220 in the ’05-’09 period to .179. His power against righties started out a lot higher, but also fell a lot more. It dropped more than twice as much, falling from .354 to .258.

Notably, Utley has posted a higher isolated power mark than Howard against left-handed pitching over the past two years. Since the start of 2010, Utley’s isolated power against lefties is .214 compared to .179 for Howard. From 2005 to 2009, Utley and Howard has similar numbers for isolated power against lefties — .220 for Howard and .216 for Utley.

Finally, Howard’s isolated power against lefties for 2011 was .124 as he hit a rather miserable 224/286/347 against left-handed pitching. His fellow Phillie, fellow lefty Raul Ibanez put up a better isolated power number of .143 in what was a horrid season with the bat for Ibanez — he hit just 211/232/353 against lefties in 2011. There were 15 left-handed batters in the NL who got at least 125 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers. Of those, Howard’s isolated power of .124 was 11th-best. In addition to Ibanez, Jay Bruce (.251), Joey Votto (.236), Brian McCann (.219), Carlos Pena (.200), Carlos Gonzalez (.177), Prince Fielder (.176), Logan Morrison (.158), Freddie Freeman (.156) and Todd Helton (.146) all topped him.

Remember the bench-clearing incident from May 24, 2007 when Willis, with the Marlins at the time, threw behind Jon Lieber? Read all about it. And here, too.

In this article, Amaro seems to suggest that the best case with Thome would have him playing first base four or five times a month. So I wouldn’t be looking for him there every day while Howard is out. Since the end of the 2006 season, Thome has made as many appearances at third base as he has at first (one). He was at third for one pitch in 2011.

This suggests that Jamie Moyer may sign a minor league deal with the Rockies.

This and this suggest the Phillies and right-handed free-agent pitcher Joel Pineiro have agreed to a minor league contract. The 33-year-old Pineiro was awful for the Angels last year, throwing to a 5.13 ERA and a 1.51 ratio over 27 appearances, 24 of which were starts. He was very good the two previous years, throwing to a 3.64 ERA with a 1.18 ratio in 55 starts with the Cardinals and Angels. Great move by the Phils.

Just in case there was someone out there who isn’t tired of reading about walks yet.

Earlier this week I looked at 2010 Phillies that walked both less than 3.32 batters per nine innings and less than 8.59% of the batters they faced.

For the players in that group who threw at least 50 innings, the table below shows how their walk rate per nine innings with the Phillies in 2010 compares to their career walk rate per nine innings coming into the season. They are ordered by the difference between their ’10 walk rate with the Phils and their walk rate coming into last season.

Despite throwing to a 4.84 ERA, Jamie Moyer had a 1.10 ratio last season. In 111 2/3 innings, he walked just 20. He posted the best walk rate of his career in his 24th season.

Halladay has been in the top seven in his league for fewest walks per nine innings for each of the past five seasons. In four of those years he’s been in the top three. His walk rate per nine innings was also the best of his career.

Contreras nearly had the best rate of walks per nine for his career. He was a tiny bit better in 2006, but was still way below his career levels in 2010.

Madson posted the best rate of his career (with the exception of 2003, when he didn’t walk any of the six batters he faced). In 2007, all of Madson’s appearances came in relief and he walked 23 of the 237 batters he faced (9.7%). In 2010, Madson walked 13 of the 217 batters he faced (6.0%).

Blanton finished sixth in the NL in fewest walks per nine innings. It was his sixth season in a row in which he has made at least 28 starts. The only year of his career where he had a better rate of walks per nine innings was 2007 when he was with Oakland.

Kendrick’s best year at preventing walks came in 2007, when he threw to a 3.87 ERA for the Phils over 20 starts. In that season he only threw 121 innings, but walked just 25. That’s a rate of 1.86 walks per nine innings. Kendrick didn’t have enough innings to qualify among the league leaders, but in 2007, Greg Maddux led the NL with 1.14 walks per nine and Aaron Harang was second at 2.02. In 2008 and 2009 combined, Kendrick walked 66 in 182 innings, which is too many (3.26 per nine). That number was way down in 2010, but not down to his 2007 levels.

Between his time with the Astros and Phillies combined, Oswalt was seventh in the NL in fewest walks per nine innings. In less than 100 innings with the Phils, his walk numbers were slightly higher than his career levels, but still low. In his 10-year career, Oswalt has been in the top ten in fewest walks per nine innings seven times.

The walk rate for Hamels was up. In his first year in the league, 2006, Hamels walked about 3.3 batters per nine innings. Over the next three years, Hamels made 93 starts combined starts and walked 2.07 batters per nine. That was up to 2.63 last year.

Comcast SportsNet will air eight Phillies Spring Training specials, the first of which will air on Sunday. Schedule here.

This article on the bullpen guesses that Bastardo and Kendrick win the last two spots in the pen, joining Lidge, Madson, Contreras, Romero and Baez. That is my guess as well.

This article on the bench suggests that Brown, Mayberry and Delwyn Young may be the top candidates to join Gload, Schneider and Valdez. I am going to be surprised if the Phils start the season with Francisco and Mayberry as the guys in right. Delwyn Young and Valdez on the same bench seems like it would be more guys of the Delwyn Young and Wilson Valdez ilk than one team would need at one time. Young is a switch-hitter and can play the outfield, but his 260/317/393 line against righties doesn’t really cry out for regular playing time in right no matter how desperate the Phils get for platoon partners for Francisco.

Here’s the bullpen record by starting pitcher for the Phils for 2010:

The bullpen had a total of three decisions in the 52 games started by Halladay or Moyer, but 13 in the 18 games started by Blanton.

Halladay pitched well enough to win in the games he didn’t get a decision, too. On July 10, Halladay threw nine shutout innings against the Reds, but the Phillies didn’t score until the eleventh when a double by Ruiz and a walkoff single by Rollins gave them a 1-0 win. Halladay wasn’t as dominant in his other no-decision in 2010. On May 12, he allowed three runs over 6 1/3 innings against Colorado. That game was also decided in extra innings — this time when Miguel Olivo homered off of Chad Durbin in the bottom of the tenth to give the Rockies a 4-3 win (it was Olivo’s fifth hit of the game).

Moyer had a decision in each of his first 18 starts on the season. His 19th start came on July 20 and he went just one scoreless inning before leaving the game with a strained elbow. Carpenter and Baez combined to allow six runs over the next four innings and the Phils lost the game 7-1.

Overall for the season in the NL in 2010, the teams that weren’t the Phillies saw their starter get a decision in 70.5% of their starts. As you know, the Phillies had the best winning percentage in the NL last year. Here’s how the difference in winning percentage breaks down between the starting pitchers and the bullpen:

The Phillies starting pitchers went 70-48 for a .593 winning percentage. The starting pitchers for the other teams in the league that weren’t the Phillies went 829-884, a .484 winning percentage. So the winning percentage for the starters was .109 higher than the winning percentage for the teams in the league other than the Phils. The winning percentage for the bullpen was also .109 higher. The pen went 27-17 for a .614 winning percentage. The bullpens of every team in the league other than the Phils combined to go 362-355, a .505 winning percentage. .614 minus .505 is .109.

Turns out that if you want to win games without scoring many runs, it helps a lot to have some great pitchers.

The start log for 2010 is done. One of the things it shows is that the Phillies won 13 games in 2010 when they scored less than three runs. That’s more games than the Phils won when scoring less than three runs in 2007 (0), 2008 (5) and 2009 (4) combined and the most games they’ve won in a season when scoring less than three runs since 1982. The Phils won 16 in 1982 in games where they scored less than three runs — if you know how to get Steve Carlton back to win 23 games and a Cy Young, I wouldn’t dawdle about letting someone in the front office know.

Scoring was down this year and 13 wins in games in which your team scored less than three runs wasn’t even enough to lead the league. The Dodgers won 14.

Still, if you can win 13 times when you score two runs or one run, it sure helps your chances. And the guys who were on the hill in the those games the Phillies won are probably the ones you would guess: Halladay five, Hamels five, Oswalt two and Moyer one.

Sadly for the Phils, some guys got a whole lot more chances to pitch in games where the team didn’t score a lot of runs than they should have.

The Phils scored less than three runs in 51 of 162 games (they scored at least three in the four games started by Happ or Figueroa). Halladay or Hamels started 25 of those 51 and the Phils went 10-15 in those games. In the other 26, they went 3-23. In the 22 games started by Moyer, Kendrick, Blanton or Worley in which they scored less than three runs, they went 1-21.

They played 29 games when they scored less than three runs and Halladay, Hamels or Oswalt started. 12-17 in those games, for a .414 winning percentage. That .414 winning percentage is better than the overall winning percentage for the season for four MLB teams last year — the Orioles, Mariners, Pirates and Diamondbacks (the Royals played to a .414 winning percentage).

Finally, the Phils sure failed to put up runs a lot of the time when Moyer or Hamels started in 2010. That pair combined to make 52 starts and in 23 of them, about 44.2%, the Phillies scored less than three runs.

Jamie Moyer will have Tommy John surgery, but may not retire.

Jayson Werth declined arbitration.

Given that there are approximately two people on the planet named Roy who can pitch better than Cole Hamels, you have to wonder what Cole thinks of having both of them on the Phillies and pushing him to the third slot in the rotation. Maybe he doesn’t care at all. Whether he does or not, though, he sure was fantastic yesterday. Hamels allowed a single and a walk over eight shutout innings. It almost wasn’t good enough for a Phillies team struggling to score runs, but Polanco delivered a solo home run in the top of the eleventh and Werth came through with an RBI-double four batters later to get the Phils out with a 2-0 win.

Hamels wasn’t the only pitcher to have a good day. The Phils are counting on Madson and Durbin to bring some stability to the bullpen coming off of injuries. They did just that yesterday as they combined to throw an inning and two-thirds of perfect relief late in the game.

The Phillies are 49-46 on the season after beating the St Louis Cardinals 2-0 in eleven innings yesterday afternoon. The Cards take the series three games to one. The Phils end their eight game road trip at 2-6. They are back in second place in the NL East, seven games behind the Braves.

Hamels got the start for the Phils and went eight shutout innings, allowing a single and a walk. He struck out seven and dropped his ERA on the year to 3.40.

He was perfect through the first four innings, striking out the first five batters he faced.

Matt Holliday singled to left to start the fifth with the game still tied. Allen Craig was next and he popped a ball behind short. Rollins and Victorino converged and Victorino made a nifty sliding catch to record the out. Holliday was way off base and doubled-up easily. Yadier Molina was next and hit a ball to right. Werth came up with the second dazzling defensive play in two batters for the Phils, sliding to catch the ball and holding on with his bare hand to record the third out.

Hamels threw a 1-2-3 sixth. He got another nice defensive play in the inning as Howard made a nifty play on a foul ball hit by Wainwright for the second out.

He set St Louis down in order again in the seventh.

He got the first two in the eight before Molina drew a five-pitch walk. Brendan Ryan was next and Hamels struck him out swinging to end the inning.

Madson threw a 1-2-3 ninth. Hamels had thrown 97 pitches.

Romero started the tenth with Ransom at second after Dobbs hit for Valdez in the top of the inning. He got Rasmus on a ground ball to first and Durbin came in to pitch to righty Albert Pujols. Pujols blasted a ball foul before Durbin struck him out swinging 3-2. Durbin got Holliday on a check-swing roller back to the mound.

Lidge pitched the eleventh with a 2-0 lead. Jay walked and stole second before Molina grounded to first for the first out with Jay holding second. Lefty Skip Schumaker hit for Ryan and hit a ball that Lidge handled for the second out as Jay moved to third. Winn flew to left to end the game.

Romero was pitching for the second day in a row and has thrown four of the last five days. Lidge threw 14 pitches in the game. Everyone else was under ten.

The Phillies lineup against righty Adam Wainwright went (1) Polanco (2) Victorino (3) Ibanez (4) Howard (5) Werth (6) Rollins (7) Schneider (8) Valdez. Rollins hits sixth again with Polanco and Victorino at the top of the lineup. Ibanez back in left against the righty after a day off. Schneider catches the day game after the night game. Valdez at second against the righty with Dobbs not at second. Start number 50 on the year for Valdez. This time last year, if you had set the over/under for number of games that Wilson Valdez would start for the Phils in 2010 at 0.5, I would have taken the under. Ditto for November 26, a day after they signed him this winter.

Polanco led off the game with a single. Victorino popped the first pitch of his at-bat up to third for the first out before Ibanez singled into center and Polanco moved to second. Howard grounded out on a ball handled by Miles and the runners took second and third with two down. Werth struck out swinging 3-2 to leave both men stranded.

Schneider doubled to right with one out in the second. Valdez followed with a ground out to second and Schneider moved to third. Hamels grounded to second for the third out.

The Phils went in order in the third.

Howard started the fourth with a single. Werth followed with a ground ball to third and Howard was forced at second for the first out. Rollins was next and singled to right, putting men on first and second for Schneider. Schneider struck out swinging before Werth took third on a wild pitch by Wainwright. Valdez grounded to third to leave the runners stranded.

Polanco singled with one out in the fifth, but Molina picked him off for the second out. Victorino grounded to second to end the frame.

The Phils went in order in the sixth.

Schneider singled with one out in the seventh. Valdez hit into a double-play behind him.

Shawon Dunston, look out. Valdez may have lulled Dunston into a false sense of security with his blazing walk rate to start the second half (he has two), but he’s back on the move (15/6) now. In the interest of full disclosure I should probably point out that there’s no way Valdez catches Dunston now that he has six walks. If he didn’t walk again this season he would need to hit into ten more double-plays.

Victorino lined a ball into left with two outs in the eighth. Holliday had troubling picking it up and the error allowed Victorino to take third. Ibanez struck out swinging 1-2 as tradition dictates.

Howard singled off of lefty Denys Reyes to start the ninth. The Cards brought in righty Jason Motte to pitch to Werth. Werth quickly got behind 0-2 and struck out swinging 1-2. Rollins chopped a ball to first. Pujols fielded, stepped on first and threw to second where Howard was tagged out to complete the double-play.

Motte got Schneider to pop to third for the first out of the tenth. Dobbs hit for Valdez and struck out for the second. Gload hit for Madson and flew to center to end the frame.

Polanco led off the tenth and hit a 1-1 pitch from Kyle McClellan out to left, putting the Phils up 1-0. Victorino grounded to short for the first out and lefty Trever Miller came in to pitch to Ibanez. Ibanez walked and moved to second when Howard followed with a single. Righty Fernando Salas came in to pitch to Werth and Werth delivered a double to left, scoring Ibanez to make it 2-0 with men on second and third. Rollins was walked intentionally to load the bases for Schneider. Schneider hit a ball back to Salas and Howard was forced at home for the second out. Ransom flew to center to leave the bases loaded.

Polanco was 2-for-5 with a home run in the game. 6-for-18 with a triple and a home run in the series. He’s hitting 319/350/441 for the year.

Victorino 1-for-5 with a double yesterday and a big defensive play in the fifth to turn a double-play. 4-for-17 with two doubles in the series. He has one walk in July in 82 at-bats. He’s hitting 253/314/448 for the year and on-basing .265 this month.

Ibanez 1-for-4 with a walk yesterday. 3-for-13 with two walks in the series. 248/331/392 on the year.

Howard was 3-for-5 with three singles in yesterday’s game and 7-for-17 with a walk, two doubles and a home run in the series. 303/360/545 on the season.

Werth 1-for-5 with an RBI double yesterday. 5-for-15 with two doubles and a walk on the year. 279/369/498 on the year.

Rollins 1-for-4 with a walk yesterday. 3-for-17 with a walk in the series. 184/267/276 in July. 227/326/373 for the year. He’s hitting .183 in 123 plate appearances since coming off the DL.

Schneider was 2-for-5 with a double yesterday. Ruiz caught the other three games and went 2-for-9 with a double and a walk.

Valdez was 0-for-3 yesterday and 0-for-8 with a walk in the series. 239/267/367 on the year. Ransom was 1-for-6 with four strikeouts in the series and is 5-for-25 with the Phillies this season.

Roy Halladay (10-8, 2.40) faces Aaron Cook (4-5, 4.56) tonight in Philadelphia as the Phils and Rockies start a four-game set. Coming off of two excellent starts in a row, Halladay was hit hard his last time out as he allowed six runs in six innings to the Cubs. Cook threw seven shutout innings against the Reds in his last start, but has a 5.83 ERA in his ten starts away from home this season.

This article suggests that Moyer’s injury could end his career.

Happ and Kendrick will fill out the rotation this weekend against the Rockies.

The Phillies fired Milt Thompson as their hitting coach and replaced him with Greg Gross.

Even when things are at their lowest, at least we still have that “Moyer” and “more” kind of almost rhyme.

Let’s hope that’s enough. It might have to be.

Another day, another ugly loss for the Phils who are now 1-5 since the All-Star break and seven games back in their division.

Last night’s loss came with yet another injury as Jamie Moyer threw just one inning before leaving the game with a strained left elbow. Even in the best of circumstances, losing your starter after one inning in a stretch where you play 18 games in 18 days would be tough. These are far from the best of circumstances for the Phils, though, and the relief corps and the offense both struggled after Moyer’s exit last night.

The Phils are suddenly leaking pitchers. Two of the five guys in the starting rotation need to be replaced since Kendrick was sent to Triple-A yesterday before Jamie Moyer was injured last night. JA Happ is almost surely part of the mix to fill out the rotation, but that still leaves them one starter short. The bullpen threw seven innings last night and allowed seven runs and the Phils still have to play 12 more days in a row before getting a day off.

Finally, Danys Baez got blasted again and you have to wonder how much longer the Phils are going to stick with him. Over his last 14 appearances he has thrown to a 7.30 ERA with a 2.27 ratio. He’s walked nine in 12 1/3 innings and opponents have hit .380 against him in those games.

The Phillies are 48-45 on the year after losing to the St Louis Cardinals 7-1 last night. They remain in third place in the NL East, seven games behind the Braves and a half game behind the second-place Mets. They are 1-5 since the All-Star break.

Jamie Moyer got the start for the Phillies and threw one scoreless inning before leaving the game with a strained left elbow. He allowed two singles and didn’t walk anyone or strike anyone out.

He got the first two in the bottom of the first before Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday singled back-to-back. Pujols and Holliday pulled off a double-steal with Allen Craig at the plate, but Moyer got Craig to line to Victorino for the third out.

Andrew Carpenter took over for Moyer in the second. Aaron Miles singled with one out and the pitcher Chris Carpenter bunted him to second with the first out. Carpenter got Brendan Ryan on a fly ball to center for the third out.

Felipe Lopez started the third with a single. Randy Winn was next and hit a 1-1 pitch out to right center for his second homer in two games, putting St Louis up 2-0. Carpenter got the next three.

Yadier Molina started the fourth with a double. Miles lined back to the mound for the first out, but the pitcher Carpenter singled softly into center and Molina moved to third. Carpenter uncorked a wild pitch with Ryan at the plate, allowing Molina to score (3-0) and Carpenter to take second. Ryan went down on a fly ball to Werth for the second out. Carpenter struck out Lopez for the third.

Baez took over in the fifth. He walked the leadoff man Winn and Winn stole second before Pujols walked. Holliday was next and he blasted a 1-2 pitch out to center for a three-run homer that made it 6-0. Baez got Craig on a ground ball back to the mound before Molina and Miles singled back-to-back. It put men on first and third with one down, but Baez got Carpenter to hit into a double-play to end the inning.

We’ve got to be near the end of the Baez era at this point.

Herndon pitched the sixth. He allowed back-to-back singles to Ryan and Lopez to get things started. It put men on first and second for Winn and Winn hit a fly ball to center deep enough to move Ryan to third. Herndon then struck Pujols out swinging 3-2 and Ruiz threw Lopez out trying to steal second to end the inning.

Contreras pitched the seventh with the Phils down 6-1. He struck Holliday out for the first out. Lefty Colby Rasmus hit for the righty Craig and singled to center, but Contreras got Molina and Miles behind him to keep the Cards off the board.

Madson came on for the eighth, pitching for the second day in a row. He got the first two batters before Lopez doubled to center. Winn followed that with an RBI-single and the St Louis lead was up to 7-1. Pujols grounded to short for the third out.

Long day for the pen with Moyer only going one inning. They didn’t pitch very well, allowing seven runs in seven innings.

Carpenter threw 49 pitches. Baez 28, Madson 20, Contreras 18 and Herndon 15.

The Phillies lineup against righty Chris Carpenter went (1) Rollins (2) Polanco (3) Ibanez (4) Howard (5) Werth (6) Victorino (7) Ruiz (8) Valdez. Valdez at second with Utley on the DL, making his 49th start of the season. There have been a whole lot of events this season that the Phillies couldn’t control, but nobody can make you start Wilson Valdez in 49 of 93 games.

1-2-3 in the first.

Werth reached on an infield single with one out in the second, but Victorino hit into a double-play behind him.

Ruiz reached on a throwing error by Lopez at third to start the third. Valdez walked behind him to put men on first and second. Carpenter was next and he got the bunt down, but Molina fielded and went after Ruiz who was retired for the second out. Rollins hit into a double-play to turn the Phillies away.

Nothing for the Phils after putting their first two men on base to start the inning.

Polanco led off the fourth with the Phils down 2-0 and singled to right. Ibanez, Howard and Werth went down behind him.

Down 3-0, the Phils went in order in the fifth.

Valdez grounded to third to end the fifth. Cody Ransom took over for him at second in the bottom of the inning with the new pitcher Baez moving into the eight-hole in the lineup. That’s a great move by Manuel, but it sadly didn’t help as Ransom went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts in the game.

With the current roster I think it makes sense for Ransom to start at second base a lot against lefties. At least until he demonstrates he can’t play second. I’m even up for a Dobbs/Ransom platoon at second for a while.

Polanco tripled with two outs in the sixth and the Phils down 6-0. Ibanez was next and hit the ball well, but Pujols reached for the ball at first and got it to retire the side.

Werth and Victorino doubled with one out in the seventh, cutting the lead to 6-1. Ruiz grounded to second for the second out with Victorino holding second. With the righty Carpenter still on the mound for St Louis, Dobbs hit for our Carpenter and grounded to first.

The Phils went in order in the eighth.

Down 7-1, Howard doubled with one out in the ninth. Werth flew to right behind him for the second out and Victorino struck out swinging to end the game.

Rollins was 0-for-4 in the game. He’s 2-for-his-last-24 and hitting 178/263/277 in 114 plate appearances since returning from the DL.

Polanco was 2-for-4 with a triple. He’s 6-for-18 since coming back.

Ibanez 0-for-4.

Howard 1-for-4 with a double.

Werth 2-for-4 with a double. He’s still on pace to hit 50 doubles. 6-for-his-last-14 with four walks.

Victorino 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI.

Ruiz 0-for-3.

Valdez 0-for-1 with a walk. I think the combination of the Valdez walk plus the Moyer injury puts an end to the great Valdez/Moyer walkoff of 2010. Valdez leads 6-3 now and that lead may be insurmountable given that Moyer didn’t get a chance to hit last night and looks likely to miss significant time. Valdez is hitting 150/209/225 over his last 43 plate appearances.

Blanton (3-5, 6.21) faces lefty Jaime Garcia (8-4, 2.27) tonight as the fun continues. Blanton has had an awful year and has a 6.27 ERA and a 1.50 ratio over his last three starts. Opponents are hitting .300 against him and he’s allowed 16 home runs in 87 innings. Garcia turned 24 this month and had pitched very well this year. He has allowed more than two earned runs in two of 18 starts and given up just four home runs in 103 innings.

Trade rumors abound. The loudest seem to be around two possible moves, trading for Roy Oswalt and trading Jayson Werth. Oswalt would be a great addition, but even with the injuries the problems with this team are mostly about their ability to score runs and not their ability to prevent them. A lot of the offensive problems have to do with hitters that should and will hit simply not hitting. Not all of them, though. See, for example, the thing about Wilson Valdez starting more than half the games for the Phils this season.

Moyer is apparently headed to the DL, maybe for a long time.