Lineup juggling can’t change luck in seventh straight loss

With every offensively impotent Phillies outing — you’re losing count, right? — it’s at least interesting to wonder what batting order games Pete Mackanin will play next.

The man charged with the tortuous task of siphoning production out of this band of baseball gypsies went old school Monday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park, trying to summon some life by going all 2015.

Yes, that’s a contradiction of terms, but nothing makes sense for the Phillies lately.

Anyway, in trying to get his top of the lineup guys from midlast-season into some semblance of playing form, Mackanin put Cesar Hernandez in the leadoff spot and Freddy Galvis in the second spot in the order. The result was a cumulative 1-for-8

from the top two spots en route a 3-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks that is the Phillies’ seventh in a row. And luck has nothing to do with it.

“It’s very frustrating,” recently deposed leadoff hitter Odubel Herrera said. “It’s very hard because we are giving 100 percent and it’s not working out for us. But we need to keep mentally strong and keep fighting because we know it’s going to get better.”

Perhaps that optimism after an 0-6 homestand in which they were outscored 42-9 comes because the Phillies have left town to play the awful Twins. But no one in the majors is as bad as the Phillies are now, so “awful” is a relative term.

There are other words to fall back on, of course. Mackanin chose to describe the recent streak as a “terrible homestand,” which was slightly surprising since he’s not usually one for understatement.

“It’s not easy,” Mackanin said. “We still have plenty of games left, and it’s either that or give up. And I’m not giving up. These guys, there is a lot of good. They can do some things. We proved that in the first two months of the season.”

Mackanin admitted to being frustrated. He even put a number value on that.

“From 1 to 10? Nine,” he said. “But I still have hopes that we’re going to get back to the way we played.”

Difficult to have faith, however, when you start reviewing the numbers. The Phillies are in the midst of a 6-24 freefall since May 20, with losses in their last seven games and 11 of the last 12, being outscored 83-23 in those 11 losses.

A minus-60 run differential isn’t good over the course of an entire season. The Phillies did that in 11 games.

“Where there is frustration,

there is some anger there, I guess,” Herrera said. “We want to win and we want things to work out for us. And it’s not happening right now.”

Trying to make something, anything happen has been Mackanin’s daily task ... or impossible dream. So he’s showing his fight by shuffling his feet, jabbing his writing hand and refusing to throw in the towel.

Herrera, the team’s lone .300-plus hitter (and only because he dove headfirst into the first-base bag to eke out an infield hit in the ninth inning Monday) was fine in the leadoff spot. But he’s batted third the past two games.

Galvis had been playing out of the No. 8 spot lately until Monday, but whether he’s hitting second, eighth or 80th in the order, he hasn’t been hitting. His oh-for-4 collar Monday dropped him to .210 on the season. Hernandez (.248), benched from the starting lineup the past two games, had just a leadoff single in the first. His team was already down three runs then.

Maikel Franco, oh-for-16 over his previous five games, was benched Monday. Tommy Joseph, such a bright spot when he came up from the IronPigs, has gone 1 for his last 23, his average falling to .230. Tyler Goeddel had two hits Monday. That was treated like a cause celebre.

But what else is an optimistic manager to do?

“Yeah, it’s hard to stay patient, but the alternative is to give up and I’m not going to give up,” Mackanin said. “I like to win. We’re all competitors. I hate losing, nobody likes it. I don’t expect the players to be happy. I expect when you’re losing, the players not to be in a good mood. The alternative is to just give up and keep taking it or fight.”

So what will tomorrow’s 1-2 lineup punch be?

MATT SLOCUM — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS In manager Pete Mackanin’s latest bid to find offense from his inept lineup, Cesar Hernandez batted leadoff and produced one hit in four at-bats. That was better than Freddy Galvis, the No. 2 batter du jour, who went oh-for-4.