Without question, Mr. “Let’s Go Eat” Hunter Pence has given the Phillies offense and clubhouse a bit of a jolt. The kid — and, in the Phillies locker room, 28 counts as a kid — has done his job and gotten on base. The Phillies have won every game with him, except for Sunday’s loss to the Giants — the only game in which Pence went without reaching base.
The most recent Philly cult hero has done his job at the plate, hitting at a .355 clip (16-for-45) since being acquired on July 29. The Phillies have outscored opponents 52-28 while going 10-1.
The Phillies appear to be clicking on all cylinders with Hunter Pence. The new RF, however, needs to be brought home more.
On the surface, Pence’s addition appears to be working to perfection. He’s provided a legit bat behind Ryan Howard, who is hitting .272 with Pence. Compare that to his .250 average on the year, and, yes, there is a little bump. He also has 17 percent of his homers since Pence joined the squad. of course, Howard usually heats up in August anyway, so it could be a coincidence.
Dig a bit deeper, and you’ll realize the Phils aren’t capitalizing on the fact that they have a hitter in the lineup they way the could or should. Specifically, they aren’t getting Pence home.
The all-star right fielder has reached base 19 times in a Phillies uniform, but has scored just five times. That’s 26 percent of the time, which is probably OK. But, take away the two bombs he hit to bring himself in, an that drops to three runs scored in 16 times on base.
Granted, Pence has just three doubles and no triples, so that likely has something to do with it. But, so does the August slump of the most streaky hitter in history, Raul Ibanez. Losing Polanco with a hernia likely isn’t going to make things any better.
The bottom line is, the Phillies need to take full advantage of the fact that their new guy gets on base 25 points higher than Dom Brown, the guy he replaced (.360-to-.335). They need to take advantage of the .067 increase in batting average (.246-to-.313).
If they do that, this team really may become a team for the ages from all aspects. The pitching is there, now it’s time to bring Hunter home.
