It's the offense people...

agreed.  i was at the game tonight, and when i saw we had utley, bourn and rowand up in the 11th, i knew the best we could really do that inning was a tie with utley hitting a homer, and hoping maybe ruiz up after rowand would do something.

now if burrell was in there, i would have thought there was hope.  dont' get me wrong, i love bourn, but i would have much rather seen burrell in that spot.  he didn't need to be pulled when he was.  

sigh... 160 more to go.

Whenever I hear fans and radio personalities talking nonsense about the Eagles - "McNabb stinks! We need a big running back! Fire Andy Reid, he's not a winner!" - it's easy to ignore, because I'm safe in the knowledge that the people running the Eagles aren't that stupid.

But what if the people running the Phillies ARE that stupid?

Charlie Manuel clearly shares the common opinion about Pat Burrell, and his handling of Burrell is costing the Phillies runs. Pat Gillick sure seemed to believe what people said about Bobby Abreu, and look how that turned out. Sure I'm overreacting (just 2 games, just 2 games), but I think it's more than a little worrisome that the manager is so blinded by a stat as capricious and non-predictive as BA w/ RISP that he forgets about something as simple as lefty-righty matchups.

Forget the stupid "Goosebumps" slogan that they're using now - clearly the marketing slogan for 2007 should be: "Phillies Baseball: Same As It Ever Was..."

Weren't we assured that, having purged the roster of the lazy, no heart, no hustle Latin Americans, Abreu and Padilla*, this team was supposed to be so full of grit, fire in the belly, and steely-eyed determination that we would no longer be capable of blowing games like the first two?  But you know what wins about a zillion times more baseball games than grit, fire in the belly, and steely-eyed determination?  Having more players who are good at baseball than the other team.  Therefore, I would posit that if you are eager to unload players who are good at baseball solely because they are lazy, no heart, no hustle Latin Americans, you should make it a top priority to get players who are good at baseball in return.  Well done, Pat Gillick, well done.

On a related note, can someone explain to me why we were so eager to give Eaton 3 years/$24 million, but wouldn't give Padilla the $4 million he was due in arbitration last year?  I mean, aside from the fact that Eaton is white and Padilla is a lazy, no heart, no hustle Latin American.  If nothing else, let him pitch a month or two for you to get his trade value back up.

* = I realize that Abe Nunez is still on the team, but he gets a pass because he played alongside David Eckstein for a year, so he can't but help to have absorbed some modicum of grit, fire in the belly, and steely-eyed determination from Eckstein, who, as we all know from the World Series last year, possesses these qualities in such abundance and excess that they radiate from his body like so much heat and light from our sun.

As you guys have mentioned, tough to analyze anything after two games, but when the same warts keep appearing year after year, it's troubling.  Gordon thinks the pitch to McCann was great.  I've always been told to not throw down and in to lefties, but I guess I've been taught wrong.  They left runs on the bases again (Victorino, what are you doing?), but you can't blow that game in the ninth.  Blowing two well pitched games, at home, to a division rival while the Mets destroyed the Cards in three straight is very disheartening.  With a very shaky Eaton to take the mound today, the offense needs to step up and take some pressure off the pitchers.  After this, we have to go to Florida and N.Y., they better win today or it looks like another bad April.  It's amazing the deja vu.  I hear it over and over and over again from my dearly departed father:  "Good teams find a way to win, bad teams find a way to lose."  The Phillies are not a bad team, but they don't seem to be a good team right now either.  Man that game hurt last night....

33 LOB in 3 games...that's bad.

But at least they're getting that many guys on base.  That should regress to the mean soon (hopefully, next-series-soon).

If the offense is going to get healthy, tonight would be a good place to start, with the Fins' batting practice coach on the mound.

Actually it is the bullpen. Sorry, but when you're four and three outs from two wins -- it's the bullpen. The offense has been a disappointment -- albeit a secondary disappointment. The pen is most culpable and correctly taking the blame.

Madsen just doesn't appear to have the stones to handle any tough situations. I would rather see Geary in the 8th. He's a tough little SOB.