| September 20: Phillies 7, Nationals 6 WP: Romero (1-2) LP: Albaladejo (1-1) S: Myers (18) |
| September 21: Phillies 6, Nationals 3 WP: Eaton (10-9) LP: Hill (4-5) S: Myers (19) |
| September 22: Phillies 4, Nationals 1 (10) WP: Myers (5-7) LP: Schroeder (2-3) S: Condrey (2) |
| September 23: Nationals 5, Phillies 3 WP: Ayala (2-2) LP: Alfonseca (5-2) S: Cordero (36) |
For more on the Nationals, please visit our SBN sister site Federal Baseball
There's not too much left to say, is there?
Last night's loss didn't feature any obvious villains, aside from the lineup-wide uncharacteristic failure to deliver with guys on base; Jamie Moyer was solid for six innings, three relievers each threw a scoreless frame, and Brett Myers gave up some bloops and bleeders to lose it in the 10th. But it dropped the Phillies' playoff chances from about 48 percent to about 30 percent, according to Baseball Prospectus; the team simply has no margin for error remaining. (As I type this, the Padres are closing in on their seventh straight win; I'll take this occasion to offer both middle fingers to the Pirates and Giants, who have aptly played the Washington Generals to San Diego's Globetrotters.)
And now they face the fourth-place Nationals for four games in a final visit to the baseball mausoleum known as RFK Stadium. At least the Phils should have something of a home-field advantage; it's fairly likely they'll have more supporters present than the Nats. Philly leads the season series, 7-4. Lineups have been posted for tonight's game, and Shane Victorino is playing right field and batting second.