Will This Season Be Different?

So we all watched in enjoyment as the Phils polished off a 5-1 road trip in California.  Mike Lieberthal went 6-12 in his home state and there was some solid starting pitching.  We’ll have pictures from the single loss in LA posted soon thanks to our scout, JMike.  Early reports mention a Phanatic sighting in Beverly Hills and the return of Burrell’s swing.  We probably won’t have any pitchers of called strikes for Rheal Cormier.  Did anyone else notice Jim Wolf, supposedly our ump in the pocket, pinching Cormier in the eight inning of Sunday’s game?  I wonder if there is a little reverse discrimination going on here or some over compensation.  Or better yet, maybe Randy Wolf is bent on sabotaging the Phils season from beyond the DL.

But back to Philadelphia and back to reality.  Philinator’s comment reminded us all of last year’s 1-9 home stand following the 5-1 west coast swing.  The Phils were five games above .500 then knocked themselves out of playoff contention.  But even if they stave off such a repeat they have to do more than just keep winning series and hanging around the top of the Wild Card standings.  If the Wild Card race comes down to the last week I am not positive the Phils can win when they have to.  A nice winning streak to regain the Wild Card lead is the only chance the Fightins got to win make the playoffs. 

Hmm, great segue for an unimpressive game tonight as the Phils pitching staff (with the help of Phils fans) coughed up 4 home runs to the Nationals.  The Nats’ ace out-dueled the Brett Myers, our de facto ace, and the game only once again proved that when the Phils can’t hit homers, they can’t win games.