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One Team Blogger On A Hunger Strike Until the Phillies Score A Run

May 28, 2010, 5:20 PM UTC

At 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday evening, Mike Meech of the superb Phillies blog The Fightins finished up dinner before watching the Phils take on the Mets. On Tuesday, the Philadelphia nine had lost a demoralizing 8-0 game at the hands of their rivals from New York to start a three game set. That was on the heels of being shut out – and nearly no hit – on Saturday by the Red Sox, before coming back with three inconsequential cheepies in the ninth inning of Sunday’s game to avoid getting shut out again.â†µâ†µOn Wednesday, the Phillies lost to the Mets again, this time tallying seven hits…but zero runs. Meech had enough. He vowed that he wouldn’t eat until the Phillies scored a run. A hunger strike, until the team scored one measly run. There’d be no way that the best offense in the National League in nearly every statistical category just one week ago could get shut out a third time in as many games (and four times in five games). They had to score on Thursday night, right?â†µ

â†µâ†µWrong. As Meech tweeted with a photo of the dinner he purchased in hopes of devouring it as soon as one player in red crossed the plate, “what a waste of $15.”â†µ

â†µâ†µHe estimates that he’s lost close to ten pounds – if he owned a scale – in the last three days. At the time of this post, he’s near 45 hours without food, so I asked him what he’ll do if the Phillies don’t score tonight and get shut out for a fourth-straight game? Set up an IV?â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“I’ll figure out what I’ll do when it happens. I’m starving, man.”â†µâ†µHe is, in fact, a starving man.
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Meech mentioned that it’s more a sense of pride at this point, as there’s very little panic in Philadelphia over this latest swoon. Charlie Manuel had possibly the quote of the year with regard to this slump:â†µâ†µâ‡¥“Sometimes you eat the bear. Sometimes the bear eats you. Panicking ain’t going to do no good.”â†µâ†µTo which Meech opined, “and sometimes, you don’t eat period.”â†µâ†µSo what are the chances that Meech sits through another nine innings without a run for the Fightins (presumably, at that point, from a hospital bed)? According to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, they’re entering rarified air:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥The MLB record since 1920 is four [consecutive games being shut out], which has been accomplished eight times. The last team to suffer that feat? The 1992 Chicago Cubs.â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥What you have watched has been remarkable. The Phillies have not scored a run in 27 consecutive innings, and have not scored a run in 46 of their last 47 innings. And while the Phillies say this is just baseball - every team goes through slumps - offenses as good as the Phillies don’t struggle quite like this.â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µAt some point the offense has to wake up. We’re not even talking about winning a game…we’re talking about scoring a run. Meech might not be able to last much longer.â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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