Carlos Ruiz

CINCINNATI - Aroldis Chapman easily dispatched the Phillies in order in the ninth inning on Monday. This wasn't surprising, since Chapman is arguably the most lethal reliever in baseball. Few pitchers regularly reach 100 mph on the radar gun. But he's also lefthanded, meaning Chapman had a pretty good chance to have success against the Phillies, even if he wasn't throwing harder than any pitcher in the National League. The Phils entered play on Tuesday hitting .136 against lefthanders this season.

The Phillies hit three home runs in one inning and scored eight times on Tuesday night against the New York Mets. They hit three more home runs and scored seven times Wednesday to claim their first series victory of the season. Blasts in the past carried the Phillies offense, but in recent years the power slippage has been significant and debilitating. Ryan Howard, the team's primary power source since the second half of the 2005 season, and Jimmy Rollins, the team's unlikely leader in home runs a year ago, both refused to compare this year's lineup to the ones that mauled opponents from 2007 through 2009.

IT'S THE pitchers, stupid. If the glares from across the opposite side of the room could talk, that's likely what they would have said. On Monday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park, before the Phillies lost another game because of another lackluster pitching performance, a herd of 20-some reporters surrounded catcher Erik Kratz at his locker after the lineup was posted. Kratz, who had started five of the first six games, was not in the lineup to catch Roy Halladay. As the questions for Kratz somehow continued for nearly 10 minutes, a trio of starting pitchers looked on and obviously knew what was up. The easy-to-write story was that the Phils pitchers and catchers weren't in sync, and thus, a change behind the plate in the form of Humberto Quintero.

IT DOESN'T TAKE an advanced degree in statistics to know that the odds of a team stringing together enough singles to build a significant lead are limited in the sport of baseball. Big chunks of runs require big extra-base hits, and in the Phillies' 9-8 loss to the Royals on Sunday, they did not get one until Jimmy Rollins connected on a three-run homer in the ninth inning. As shaky as the pitching was during the first week of the season, so too was the power production of a lineup that does not have a clear rightfielder and is missing catcher Carlos Ruiz.

The cameras first surrounded Erik Kratz, who said he was "disappointed" when he arrived Monday at Citizens Bank Park and did not see his name in the lineup. Then the pack shuffled to the other side of the Phillies clubhouse to question Humberto Quintero. All the while, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels stared as the two catchers were interviewed. Halladay, immersed in preparation for his start, raised his head from his notes and sneered. The players may have viewed it as a media concoction, but the melodrama Monday was set in motion by Halladay's words five days earlier.

ATLANTA - And on the third day, a voice boomed down from the heavens, saying, "Fear not, for I am with you!" Actually, it wasn't really a voice. It was Cliff Lee, and for eight scoreless innings he reminded everybody in Philadelphia why the Phillies expect to be in the thick of the National League pennant chase. For 106 pitches, he was the most dominant player on the field, pounding the zone with a two-seamer that ran away from the Braves' righthanded power and, when coupled with his changeup, proved nearly unhittable.

FIRST, Shane Victorino grounded out to end the 2009 World Series, and then Ryan Howard was caught looking at a third strike to conclude the 2010 National League Championship Series. In 2011, Howard's left Achilles' snapped and he collapsed after hitting a grounder for the final out of the National League Division Series at Citizens Bank Park. The 2012 season ended with the Phillies missing out on the playoffs altogether, and with unofficial team spokesman Jimmy Rollins saying things would have been different had everyone been healthy.

THE STORY LINES change fast this time of year. When the Phillies arrived for their first spring workout in mid-February, the question was whether Domonic Brown was good enough to warrant a spot on the Opening Day roster. A month-and-a-half later, the question has evolved into how good he can be. First, though, let's ponder another question. What if Brown didn't dominate the Grapefruit League the way he did? What if he did not hit seven home runs in 83 at-bats? What if he didn't hit .373 with a .429 on-base percentage?

It's almost too easy. Thirty years after the Wheeze Kids won the National League pennant, another bunch of aging Phillies will try to defy time and recapture recent glory. What a perfect angle for opening day, right? Well, no. The '83 Phillies really were an assemblage of last-legs superstars: Pete Rose was 42. Tony Perez was 41. Joe Morgan was 39. They won 90 games that year. The oldest of this season's "old" Phillies regulars is 36-year-old Michael Young. Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins are 34, fully eight years younger than Rose was. Ryan Howard is 33, which is the same age Mike Schmidt was when he hit 40 home runs and finished third in the 1983 MVP voting.

THE STORM CLOUDS gathered early last March. Ryan Howard was fielding ground balls on a stool. Chase Utley was conspicuously absent from Grapefruit League games. Roy Halladay's velocity was down. The Phillies had no obvious leftfielder, no veteran setup man, and an aging third baseman who had struggled to stay on the field the previous season. The fan base was understandably nervous. My answer to all who asked: It wouldn't surprise me if this team won 100 games, and it wouldn't surprise me if it lost 80. This year, the answer is the same, minus the 100 wins part.