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Mayday for Nix as PH

FOR A LITTLE while there, it looked like the Phillies had found their next great pinch-hitter. Laynce Nix slugged as many pinch-hit home runs this April (two) as he had in his entire career before this season (covering 179 pinch-hit plate appearances). And he was hitting .538 (7-for-13) off the bench.

Laynce Nix walks back to the Phillies dug out after striking out to end the eighth inning with two men on base against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, April 18, 2013. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
Laynce Nix walks back to the Phillies dug out after striking out to end the eighth inning with two men on base against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, April 18, 2013. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)Read more
    by By Bob Vetrone Jr., Daily News
    Published 

FOR A LITTLE while there, it looked like the Phillies had found their next great pinch-hitter.

Laynce Nix slugged as many pinch-hit home runs this April (two) as he had in his entire career before this season (covering 179 pinch-hit plate appearances). And he was hitting .538 (7-for-13) off the bench.

But then something happened: May.

Since tearing a page off the calendar, Nix has turned from Rogers Hornsby to Ryan Howard . . . going 0-for-8 and striking out in half of his pinch-hit at-bats (entering this weekend's series against the Reds).

That's a lot more in line with his pinch-hit numbers prior to this season, when he went .181/.263/.263 and struck out nearly a third of the time.

His career numbers as a pinch-hitter:

AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO Avg. OBA Slg. K/AB

Through 2012160 29 7 0 2 14 18 52 .181 .263 .263 .325

April 201313 7 1 0 2 5 0 3 .538 .538 1.007 .231

May 20138 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000 .000 .000 .500