I have no issue with Jake Arrieta being outspoken after the Phillies putrid weekend by the bay. One run in the series, defensive shifts, frustration of a five run sixth inning, etc.
But if you're going to call out players by name, which he did in the case of rookie, Scott Kingery, he sure as hell should have started with nine-year veteran Carlos Santana.
The 32-year-old reached base four times Sunday vs. the Giants. Normally, a great day. But with his feeble offense in desperate need of runs in the top of the first, Santana did not run out a ball that he thought would go foul.
A ball that felt like it was in the air for a decade, dropped fair down the leftfield line. Santana, after standing at the plate and watching for far too long, then proceeded to run, reaching first base safely. But he should have been on second in scoring position. Nick Williams then followed with a two-out single that easily would have scored him on the play. It was early in the game, but who knows how that changes the course of the contest if the Phils plate a run there against a rookie pitcher making his first big league start.
This is a team that has now gone 29 innings and scored one run and the player the organization signed to a three-year, $60 million deal does not run a ball out.
Unacceptable.
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Kingery is a rookie, playing out of position, who may or may not have made a bad decision. But either way, he was giving effort. Santana was not, plain and simple. This is on top of Santana's slow start to the season. He's hitting 30 points below his career average and has committed five errors already at first base.
Of course, the Phillies' offensive issues go well-beyond Santana. If you exclude Odubel Herrera, who has cooled of late, but is still hitting .305. They don't have one regular who is batting above .264. The club may not have the personnel to employ the deep count approach that the front office and manager covet.
The 31-26 record is a start any right-thinking Phillies fan would have signed up for in a second. The starting pitching has been excellent and there are there are some strong pieces in the pen, namely, Seranthony Dominguez. So there has been a lot of good thus far.
But it's the little things like not running out a ball that lead to losing six of eight games. So next time Arrieta or any other Phillie speaks out, let's make sure all the guilty parties are called into question.
