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There is a Chinese proverb – or at least a line in a speech by Robert F. Kennedy – that says “may you live in interesting times.”

Whether to view that as a blessing or a curse is the choice of the listener.

One thing is certain – as the Phillies struggle to reach .500 (they are currently 19-22), the way they are going about it is interesting to say the least.

For one thing, a Roy Halladay with an 8.65 ERA and a shoulder which needed surgery is an “interesting” development. Looking more deeply into Halladay’s season, he struck out 35 batters in 34-1/3 innings. The last time Halladay struck out more than one batter per inning in the major leagues was…never.

How about the 4 starts lasting 4 or fewer innings? Then again, how about the complete game against the Cardinals? OK, so it was a rain-shortened, 7 inning complete game. But it came right after Halladay threw 8 innings of 1-run ball at Miami and right before he threw 6 innings of 1-run ball against Pittsburgh.

What about the 9 home runs allowed – one per 3.8 innings. That would translate to 48 longballs if Halladay pitched his typical 200 innings.

Halladay did undergo “successful” surgery Wednesday in Los Angeles, as termed by a statement released by the Phillies. The good news is that he will be cleared to begin throwing a baseball in 6-8 weeks. The bad news is the soonest he will return to a big-league mound is in 3 months.

And that’s if all goes well.

Phillies’ team doctor Michael Ciccotti sounded a cautionary note: “The combination of a rotator cuff injury and a labral injury is a challenging injury for a professional pitcher to navigate through…we remain cautiously optimistic about it. And given the person that he is, the motivation that he has, the dedication that he has, he has all the intangibles that are important in getting someone back. But we’re realistic about it, too, that it is very possible that he is not pitching at the level that he wants or what Phillies fans and his teammates deserve him to be pitching at.”

Here’s a sobering thought – Mark Prior never made it back from his 43-2/3 innings, 38 strikeouts, 9 homers allowed and 7.21 ERA in 2006.

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Interesting times, part II: The Phillies are 1-8 in games started by their $153 million man, Cole Hamels. Hamels himself has a 1-6 record in 2013.

Most say he is pressing to hard to be the #1 starter on the Phillies and live up to his contract.

On top of that, Hamels has gotten poor run support in most games. But it also seems like when he gets the run support, he gives up that many more runs.

Yes, the Phillies have lost 2-0 twice and 2-1 twice in games Hamels has started.

But they also have lost 7-5, 9-8 and 10-4.

In short, Hamels is pitching well enough to lose.

Considering that the Phillies are 18-14 in games not started by their ace – whatever the cause, Hamels needs to start pitching well enough to win.

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Interesting road trip: The Phillies bookended a pair of wins at the beginning (San Francisco) and end (Arizona) of their western trip last week around a 3-game losing skid, to end up with a 4-3 mark on the trip.

Considering that the Phillies had just dropped 2 of 4 at home to the lowly Marlins, including their second 14-2 pasting of the week, a winning road trip was a pleasant surprise.

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Adams to join Halladay on the shelf? Mike Adams was supposed to end the Phillies’ 8th inning problems.

For the most part, he has done just that – though he has not been his usually dominant self this year.

After battling back from thoracic outlet syndrome, Adams now has a bad back, which flared up Sunday while shagging fly balls in Arizona.

Adams disclosed that he would likely get an MRI soon to determine whether he needs to go on the DL or can wait this out.

While Antonio Bastardo (2.08 ERA in 16 apearances) and Justin De Fratus (2 scoreless appearances) have pitched well so far this season, losing Adams would be a tough blow to a team struggling to gain consistency in the bridge between their starters and Jonathan Papelbon.

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Interesting times, part III: The Phillies saved Carlos Zambrano from independent league purgatory by signing him to a minor league deal Wednesday.

Statistically, Zambrano’s 2012 was not far off from Roy Halladay’s, especially when you factor in that the Marlins overall finished with 12 fewer wins than the Phillies last season:

Zambrano 7-10, 4.49 ERA in 20 starts
Halladay 11-8, 4.49 ERA in 25 starts

But in terms of the clubhouse, there could not be a more opposite pair of players.

Halladay is by all accounts a great teammate, who even apologized to Phillies fans for trying to pitch through his problems this season and for how it ended up.

Zambrano, meanwhile, picks fights with teammates (Derek Lee and Michael Barrett quickly come to mind), gets suspended by his own team and in general is a bad dude.

It will be interesting if the Phillies – who right now are riding Jonathan Pettibone and Tyler Cloyd and will eventually get John Lannan back – turn to Zambrano by July 1, when he can opt out of his deal if he is not on the Phillies’ active roster.

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The Phillies have been disappointing fans since last season.

This year, the optimistic ones felt that with a full year of both Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, the Phillies could contend.

Instead, they have hovered just under .500 for most of the season.

While that’s not terrible, a closer look at the 14-18 Phillies reveals that they are 9-4 against the Mets and Marlins (who just split a 4-game series with the Phils) and 5-14 against everyone else.

This is disturbing news.

While it’s true that the Phillies haven’t faced other lousy teams like the Padres, Cubs and Astros (whom they play a combined 12 times over the last 130 games – with none against the Astros), the really bad news is that the Phillies have played over 1/3 of their schedule against the Mets and Marlins and we are only 1/5 of the way into the season.

If the schedule makers gave the Phillies 65 shots at the Mets and Marlins (instead of the 38 they actually get), I might like their chances of making the postseason.

In reality, the trend established would lead to a win total in the low to mid-70′s. – assuming the team stays intact through the whole season.

More on that in a moment.

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Young to the rescue? Delmon Young was activated from the disabled list before Tuesday’s game in Cleveland, and promptly launched a solo homer while playing at DH. In his other 17 at bats, Young has 2 hits and 6 strikeouts.

When the Phillies came home, Young was in right field – for the first time since 2007.

In other words, he’ll fit in well with this team.

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Carrera walks to his next team: When Young was activated, the Phillies made a roster move in designating Ezequiel Carrera for assignment. Carrera’s former team, the Cleveland Indians, were all to happy to make a waiver claim and get him back. With Carrera already in Cleveland with the Phillies, we can imagine he simply checked out of the team hotel and walked over to Progressive Field to reintroduce himself.

Turns out, Carrera may need some new shoes as he was just designated for assignment again by the Indians…he may end up walking to Columbus, which is Cleveland’s AAA affiliate.

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Scalped! The Indians routed the Phillies 14-2 on Tuesday night and then rookie Trevor Bauer combined with 4 relievers to shut out the Phils 6-0 on three hits on Wednesday.

To add to the insult, Bauer was optioned to the minors after the game.

The victim on Tuesday night was Roy Halladay, who gave up 8 runs in 3-2/3 innings. Things were no better for Halladay on Sunday, who walked three batters and hit one – also giving up a pair of doubles to drive in 5 runs – all in the first inning. After a 1-2-3 second inning, Halladay got blown out of the game after Adeiny Hechavarria‘s one-out grand slam in the third inning.

Hechavarria became the second player to amass 7 RBI against the Philies on a Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park – following the Royals’ Billy Butler on opening weekend.

And when all was said and done, the Phillies lost 14-2 for the second time this week – and Halladay confessed after the game that he has had shoulder discomfort since his April 24 outing in Pittsburgh, and was going to Los Angeles to get an MRI and/or a CT scan and get his shoulder evaluated.

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Blanked again: On Saturday night, rookie phenom Jose Fernandez again outdueled Cole Hamels to earn his first major league win. Tthe two faced each other on April 13 in Miami, with the Marlins getting their ony other win over the Phillies this season.

With controversial Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria in attendance, Fernandez, who is only 20 years old, pitched 7 strong innings, combining with relievers Mike Dunn and Steve Cishek to one-hit the Phillies – who had not been one-hit since August 30, 2010 when Dodgers’ Hiroki Kuroda and Hong-Chih Kuo turned the feat.

The Phillies have been shut out 5 times in their 32 games. That would translate to 25 times over the course of the season.

To put that into perspective, the Phillies were shut out 18 times from 2007-2009 combined.

Even last season, with the offense as maligned as it was, the Phillies were not shut out for the 5th time until their 105th game and were blanked only 6 times overall.

Meanwhile, their $153 million ace, Hamels, is 0-4 and the Phillies are 1-6 in his 7 starts.

This season is disappointing – but it could get worse.

By late July – with Roy Halladay, Chase Utley, Carlos Ruiz, Michael Young and Delmon Young about to hit free agency, Cliff Lee and Jimmy Rollins the subjects of legitimate trade rumors and Charlie Manuel in his last contract year – things could turn ugly really quickly.

By August 1, the Phillies may be barely recognizable, with Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels potentially being the only players left from a once-proud core.

But that’s not the end of the story.

Do you trust Ruben Amaro, Jr. to make the right deals and get the right prospects back?

Only Phillippe Aumont has made the majors from the 2009 Cliff Lee trade – and Aumont is 1-3 with 8 walks in 9-1/3 innings, leading to a 1.93 WHIP. Last year’s Hunter Pence trade yielded catcher Tommy Joseph, who is batting .209 with a .622 OPS at AAA and Seth Rosin, who has been converted to a starter since joining the Phillies organization with some success, but has averaged less than 5 innings in his 8 starts. The Shane Victorino trade brought Ethan Martin – who got passed over for the injured John Lannan‘s spot in the rotation because of his 20 walks in 22-1/3 innings and 7.66 ERA.

Could Amaro be fired, along with Manuel, before late July?

It’s possible, but unlikely. Manuel being dismissed if the Phillies sell off players is nearly certain. But Amaro figures to keep his title, if not his influence, through the season.

That would mean that assistant GM Scott Proefrock, team president David Montgomery and senior advisor Pat Gillick – who already are strongly engaged – might actually have the final say on trades as a committee, while Amaro plays the role of messenger. Then again, that group might share some of the blame for the misevaluation of young players that is beginning to choke the organization at the major league level.

The window between the June 6 draft and the July 31 trade deadline will tell us a lot about the direction of the team – both on and off the field.

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