Phillies Roundup: Feliz Nada

How ’bout them Fightin’ Phils? It’s still early in the season, but the Phillies have now dropped four straight to the Mets and sit at 8-10 — only one game better than this time last year.

There are too many problems to count: Jimmy Rollins’ injury, Ryan Howard’s slump, the team’s batting average with runners in scoring position. But let’s pick on Pedro Feliz, who has an OPS (on base percentage plus slugging) of .616, which Jason Weitzel points out is well below the league average for third basemen of .774.

But, hey, despite his awful power numbers, he’s walking! Last year, Feliz walked only 29 times; he walked twice yesterday to give him 6 for the year in just 18 games. No doubt Feliz is pushed on by Happy Pete’s Traveling Adventures, which has chronicled every walk (except yesterday’s two) of Feliz’ season so far. The blog even has a YouTube channel!

The Phils play tonight at 8 p.m. on ESPN against the Mets; a win would be nice (duh). More Phillies notes after the jump.

• Phillies analyst and ex-major leaguer John Marzano passed away yesterday at the age of 45. It’s always sad when a man as young as 45 dies (of an apparent fall down the steps, possibly after a heart attack), and Marzano was clearly someone popular with players, fans and fellow media members. Comcast SportsNet did a nice tribute to him here. CSN.com’s John Finger has more here.

The South Philadelphia native, who lived on Passyunk Avenue, is survived by a wife and two children.

• Balls, Sticks & Stuff offers some hilarious notes on Phillies outfielder Chris Snelling, called up when Shane Victorino went on the DL. The best one is this: “A few winters ago, he went backpacking in the outback and didn’t tell anyone in the Mariners organization. They didn’t hear from him for about 4 months and were concerned that he died.” Everyone can agree that this dude needs a fan club on a low-attendance night STAT.

• Something else hurting the Phillies besides Pedro Feliz? Walks. Bill Baer writes chronicles the walks so far this season that have led to runs for the opposition. 65 walks, 23 of them leading to runs.

• Update: Oh, more good news. Both Rollins and Snelling are now on the DL, replaced by infielder Brad Harman (from AA Reading) and outfielder T.J. Bohn (from AAA Lehigh Valley). Looks like Rollins’ ankle sprain could be a problem for a while.

Speaking of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, they’re now 2-16.