The answer seems simple. Johan Santana wasn't pitching anymore and Billy Wagner was still recovering from his bruised shoulder. Wagner's been leaky himself in 9th innings this year, but even the greatest Phillies optimist would be pessimistic at the Phillies chances against Wagner. But then again, Duaner Sanchez should have finished the job.

So again, the Phillies triumph over the Mets! There's been a huge buildup toward this series given the tightness in the standings. And guess who was thrown into the fire: newly acquired Phillie Joe Blanton. Blanton wasn't exactly impressive, but he's not a flashy pitcher. He may have given up 5 runs, but he was able to work through 6 innings. I think that's all the Phillies are asking of Blanton so far.

Charlie Manuel used the same lineup as the last time the Phillies faced Santana; Utley hitting second, followed by Burrell and Howard. Again, the results were mixed; Santana went 8 innings allowing only 2 runs. But hey! Only 4 K's, that's pretty good for our offense.

2008 is eerily similar, but 2007 shows promise for Blanton. There's also talk of Blanton acting as the team's #2 or 3 starter. Let's get real, he's a 4 at best.

Jamie Moyer Continues to Impress

Moyer might have had an advantage tonight since we was facing a young Marlins team that lacks a little plate discipline. But we shouldn't discount how Moyer continues to consistently keep the Phillies in ballgames. Tonight, he pitched his usual game and lately, it's usually been successful.

Dan Uggla might still be smarting from the show he put on at the All-Star game. He handled the first two groundballs of the game without a problem, but he struggled at the plate going 0-4 including an inning ending double play with the bases loaded in the 6th inning.

After taking the loss in Tuesday night's All-Star game, Brad Lidge showed no lingering effects as he successfully saved tonight's ballgame, making him 21 for 21.

He is obviously underachieving this year and it looks like A's GM Billy Beane decided it was time to unload the 27-year old like they did with Rich Harden. In years past, Blanton has been one of Oakland's more reliable pitchers...if he's not given the responsibility to carry a rotation like he was asked to do in Oakland this year. With the Phillies, Blanton will likely replace either Brett Myers or perhaps Adam Eaton, depending on how well Myers rebounds from his Triple-A demotion.

Blanton is a pitcher that relies getting the batter to put the ball in play. He's not a big strikeout pitcher and he is a workhorse pitcher who will eat up innings. When he gets in a groove, he can easily pitch 8 innings with no problems and is usually reliable for at least 6 innings, a huge plus for the Phillies bullpen.

If Blanton returns to his 2007 form (230 IP 14-10, 3.95 ERA) he should be a decent addition to the Phillies staff. But should he fail, Phillies fans will be quick to remind Phillies management of the talent we gave up for him and the $3.7 million dollar salary that they are paying him.

After implementing the home-field advantage rule and expanding the rosters, Selig believed managers would keep the starters out there longer, and maybe save some pitchers in case of a tie. After the rule was implemented, that sorta happened. Position players were still being replaced in the 5th and 6th innings, supporting the notion that managers cared more about letting every play rather than appeasing the fans that voted in the starters by keeping them out longer.

During the last 3-4 innings of last night's All-Star game, I couldn't help but noticeable lack of the "stars" deciding the game. A-rod, Jeter, Ichiro, and Manny Ramirez on the AL; Pujols, Utley, Hanley Ramirez, and Matt Holliday on the NL side. Instead we were treated to bench players, even if they are really good bench players.

The pitchers were a different story, at least for the NL side. Carrying 12 pitchers should be more than enough for an 18 inning baseball game, but not with the way All-Star managers continue to use the pitchers. Again, they're trying to please the players and the fans by trying to play everybody and in a game that counts, that strategy can turn ugly as it almost did last night.

AL manager Terry Francona used his starter for 2 innings, but then he used 4 of his next pitchers (all normally starters) for 1-inning apiece. Then of course, the next 4 relievers combined for 3.1 innings until near the end, Francona was forced to use each of his relievers for more than 1 innings, a feat designed for starting pitchers. At least Clint Hurdle was in a better situation. He had the sense to use 3 of his starters for 2 innings each before using up his relievers. He did it with a short staff too. The NL was short Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum who was in the hospital due to flu-like symptoms. Actually the Giants probably dodged a bullet. They got lucky that they're prized young pitcher was sick. Then they wouldn't have to see him try to gut out an inning at the end of the game the way Kazmir and Webb had to (Lincecum pitched last Sunday too). I'm sure the Tampa Bay front office wasn't very appreciative.

What if the last play had been called an out? It was sure close enough. Throughout the night, a number of scenarios that ran through my head on the event of a that game would last forever. I thought a likely scenario might have been a forced tie, but it would have expose the home-field advantage rule and the negative publicity would have been overwhelming. Another possibility was using position players to pitch and to DH the pitcher, which would have been fun(ny) to see, but in the same token would have denigrated the meaning of the game and the significance of deciding home field advantage in the World Series. What if the game was in an NL park? Another frightening possibility was Bud Selig authorizing a modification of the rule that disallows players to re-enter a game. perhaps to pitch. It probably makes the least sense out of all the scenarios, but it's not as bad as my last possible scenario. Call the game a tie and decide home-field advantage with a coin flip.

It will be interesting to see how future All-Star games play out. Since games are usually low-scoring, the possibility always exists for extra inning games. At least this time the managers were able to stretch it out to 15 innings, but still disaster looms with th current model in place. Expand the pitching rosters? What other solutions could solve the All-Star game problem?

I have to believe Myers's problems this year have a lot to do with his move to the bullpen last year. Being the closer totally changed his approach to pitching and he is arguably better suited to being in the closer's role. But Brett came up as a starter and we all believed that starting was in his blood, enough so that the Phillies went out and signed Brad Lidge.

Lidge has been a smashing success, but Myers has been the complete opposite. His struggles show that it isn't easy returning as a starting pitcher after a season in the bullpen, although John Smoltz sure made it look easy.

With the Opening Day starter in the minors, who's going to fill the void? If Myers finds himself again, the Phillies will certainly welcome him back to the rotation in about a month. But as it looks now, the Phillies will probably have to search for talent in the trade market.

Why did the lineup work on Wednesday but not Thursday? Because Kyle Kendrick pitched on Wednesday and Adam Eaton Thursday. The Phillies won on Wednesday due to an excellent performance by Kendrick. Eaton did decently, but he got punished since he had the audacity to not pitch a shutout for the entire game. I almost feel sorry for Eaton because he did pretty good today, but all we'll remember about the game is the L he got because the offense wasn't able to make a dent against Rich Harden.

Harden's actually got a great arm, so I'm willing to give the Phillies a pass on this one. But Texas is another story.

Tonight, the Phillies Kyle Kendrick faces off with lefty Greg Smith (4-5 3.51 ERA). Oakland isn't a hitter friendly ballpark, but the Phillies must find a way score some runs. Despite the losing streak, the Phillies are still 6 games over .500 and somehow hold a 1 game lead over Florida. It shows how hot the Phillies were at the beginning of the month.

In previous games when a starter gives up a run or two early in the game, the Phillies offense would always have an answer. They don't necessarily have to catch up to the other team, just a run would be enough to instill confidence back into the players. But today, the Phillies failed again.

Shane Victorino did his part with a single and a stolen base. Victorino ended up at third with one out and Chase Utley up. The leading vote getter for the All-Star game is usually money in this situation, except when he's not. And that's been happening a lot lately. Utley still has not managed to break out of his slump and despite the denials otherwise, this slump is one of the main reasons the Phillies are on this losing streak. By the way, Utley struck out in the first inning and finished the day 0-3 with 1 RBI.

Of course, Ervin Santana was dealing today, so it wasn't all Utley's fault. The Phillies offense managed just 2 hits today. Not quite enough to counter a 17 hit attack from the Angels.

Eaton wasn't actually doing to bad until the 6th inning where he pretty much ran out of gas. That's been an issue with him this year and it has inflated his numbers much like crude oil prices have inflated gas prices.

The Phillies starting pitching is weak except for Hamels. The Phillies get away with it with our offense, but soon enough it will catch up to them. Which is why the Phillies should be looking to acquire a solid starting pitcher near the trade deadline. Let's face it, do you really have confidence that our "ace" is gonna do well tomorrow?

Some returning visitors will notice the new layout I created over the past couple of weeks. There isn't anything dramatically different that I need to point out except that I have simplified the interface and dropped several pages that I never updated over the years. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration. I may have updated them once or twice, but now I don't have to worry about them and they didn't add much to the site anyways.

There you have it. I'm hoping that I will be able to update this page a reasonable number of times and I'm sure this place will be busy near the trade deadline as rumors about who's on the trading block and who's about to become a Phillie will be on the minds of many. I have been following the Phillies first half and I am excited by what I see. We finally have a steady third baseman. Utley, Howard, and Burrell are performing well and our bullpen's been pretty solid. But what's wrong with Brett Myers? Is he the Barry Zito of the Phillies? At least he makes less money.