Phils fans are now screaming for Jose Mesa, now that Ryan Madson pulled a Brad Lidge and went all Adam Eaton up in Pittsburgh's face. Of course it's not entirely Lidge's fault that Philadelphia can't close the deal. As we speak Chase Utley made a sacrifice fly and Rollins stayed at third. Maybe that's playing it safe, but how safe are we when the Phillies have a realistic chance of dropping the first two games to the Pirates? Ryan "Pierre Escargot" Howard just hit a long one to give us a three-run cushion in the tenth. And yet I'm still clutching my chest.Philly keeps on finding ways to win and lose spectacularly. Take Sunday, when Bruntlett was a force to be reckoned with at bat, had a triple robbed of him by Jeff Francouer, almost gave the game away and made the non-perfect game Play of the Year. Now what was I talking about? I was mesmerized just now by Meat Loaf pouring a giant bottle of A-1 Steak Sauce and serenading his small "m" meatloaf with "I'll Do Anything For Love." It's that kind of night, and needless to say my stomach is turning.
But anyway, these spectacular plays hide the team's major fault: not being able to make the small plays that seal the deal. Poor fielding leads to tighter save situations that for one reason or another Brad Lidge can no longer deal with (though he'll probably be back to 2008 form at least once more in his career). And with a subpar relief corps Cole Hamels (whose 8 shutout innings were wiped away with the swing of Brandon Moss' bat) cannot be pleased.
But all is well in the Delaware Valley, for Ryan Howard hit a ball long enough for a $2000 hoagie. Who knows, maybe we'll win tomorrow and take two out of three against the gang from "Major League".
