LOS ANGELES — The last time the Philadelphia Phillies were here, many of the hitters formed small therapy circles in different corners of the visitors clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. They had lost in 11 innings, scoring one run, and nearly matched the eventual back-to-back champion Dodgers for four games in a taut National League Division Series.Seven of the nine starters from that heartbreaking Game 4 were in the lineup again Friday night for the Phillies. The room was a little different this time, but not really. The Phillies know they will have to go through the Dodgers at some point in October, if they are lucky enough to make it, because all roads lead to Dodger Stadium.“This is where it ended last year,” Kyle Schwarber said. “So you walk in, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, well, here we are.’”It’s too daunting to think about the bigger picture because the Phillies, a 29-28 team, have not scored more than four runs in a game for nine straight games. They have won many of them because of their stellar starting pitching. But it cannot be perfect. The hitters have to do something.So, as the Phillies were no-hit for the first five innings of Friday’s 4-2 loss to the mighty Dodgers, all of the feelings from last October came rushing back. Schwarber, who snapped the no-hit bid with a towering blast to center field for a solo home run, doesn’t want to forget what happened here.“At the end of the day, that’s baseball,” Schwarber said. “That’s what keeps you coming back, right? Those feelings of ‘What if?’ It keeps you up at night. So that’s the driving factor on a daily basis to keep fighting and keep coming back and keep trying to find a way to win baseball games and continue to be better. I know a lot of people have the same feeling that I have about it.”No one will accuse the Phillies of not wanting it enough; it just seems, on certain nights, that the hill is too steep without everyone pushing the boulder together. Schwarber now has 22 home runs, which matches the combined total of every single right-handed hitter on the Phillies this season. No team has received less production from their righties (a .573 OPS).Not one right-handed batter collected a hit Friday night for the Phillies. Justin Wrobleski entered the game with the fourth-worst strikeout rate among major-league starters. He fed the Phillies a steady diet of fastballs. He fanned a career-high nine batters.
As Phillies confront old Dodger Stadium demons, familiar hitting woes persist
Kyle Schwarber broke up a no-hit bid in the sixth inning, but not one right-handed batter collected a hit for Philadelphia.















