If hitting is contagious, apparently so are slumps. It’s true, the Philadelphia Phillies still rank second in baseball in runs scored (5.1) and have hit the second-most home runs (105), but after Rich Harden and the Oakland A’s handed the Phils their seventh loss in eight games Thursday, it’s clear something is wrong with one of the league’s most potent lineups.

Since scoring 20 runs against the St. Louis Cardinals June 13, the Phillies have mustered a grand total of 24 runs over 10 games, less than half of their average run production, and their team average has dropped to 18th in the league. Ryan Howard, whose 19 home runs and 65 RBIs rank 6th and 2nd, respectively, in the NL, has batted .256 in that stretch and is one of the few Phillies to raise his batting average in the recent skid, albeit from .212 to .216. Read more »