No images for this entry/It was a dark time/And I swear it was all a dream
I have been out of the country, so I did not get to witness firsthand the carnage that the Phillies' record has undergone this past week. Home or away, the Phillies results suggested an undisciplined, broken down kind of baseball with very few bright spots. Let's review the wasteland known as slice 8.
Slice Record: 2-7
Cumulative Record: 38-34
Standing at Slice's End: Miraculously, still 1.5 games ahead of the Mets, can we say war of attrition?
Opponents that hurt the Phillies: Blue Jays, Orioles, Rays
Opponents that helped the Phillies: None
Gut-wrenching sequence heard play-by-play over the phone while on the way to the airport: Ryan Madson with one out allows a HR to Greg Zaun, then with two outs allows a single to Oscar Salazar and a HR to Brian Roberts to blow a 5-3 lead in the 9th on June 20th
Most spirited loss ruined by an ex-Phillie back-up catcher:Rod Barajas wrecking hopes and dreams as he did when he was on the Phillies (Rod Barajas hitting a HR? Really??)
Bats would help when facing:Jeremy Guthrie...Jeremy Guthrie?? Really?????
Ex-Phillies haunting:Besides Barajas, Pat Burrell showed up just in time this year to beat the Phillies.
Overlooked positive pitching performance:Joe Blanton, 7 IP, 2 R, 10 K against Tampa
Nice bullpen breather:JA Happ with a dominant complete game shutout
On the shelf:Condrey, Bastardo, maybe Park?
I hope you're back for real:Brad Lidge
Isn't shortstop supposed to be a strong position?:Jimmy Rollins needs to hit or walk or something, replacing him with Eric Bruntlet for 3 days or so won't right anything.
The bullpen is not a retirement home:but it will make your arm fall off before your time.
I don't have much to add since I only saw parts of 3 games this time. The lineup needs shuffling (Rollins needs to be dropped to 7th or 8th in the order), but the struggling is a team-wide affliction from game to game. Poor starting pitching has worn out the effecive relievers and overexposed the ineffective ones. Reinforcements are needed for the dog days of summer. Ruben Amaro? Are you there? I know you've been searching for someone out there.
5-12 in Interleague (with one game remaining)...again, they were 4-11 last year. The end of June can't come soon enough.
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