Red Alert! Red Alert!: Braves 8, Phillies 2

Just when everything seemed to be going right, the 2012 Phillies reared their ugly heads again, and we're left wondering what happened and how it can be fixed -- not even necessarily in the short term, but in the long term.

There's something not right with Roy Halladay, and it's been that way for quite some time. His nightmare season continued today when he allowed 7 runs in 1 2/3 innings. He walked Michael Bourn to start the game, and with two on and two out, Freddie Freeman yanked one out of the park and put Halladay and the Phillies in an early 3-0 hole. Just an inning later, Halladay loaded the bases on two walks and a single and Jason Heyward doubled to clear them off and increase the Braves lead to 6-0. According to Jayson Stark, this was just the second time in Halladay's entire career that he hasn't made it through the first two innings. The first time was back in 2006, and it was because he had been hit with a line drive.

The Phillies got on the board in the third after Frandsen tripled and Darin Ruf sacrificed him home for his first big league RBI. In the fourth inning, Ryan Howard homered for his fourth consecutive game, his 300th career home run. That made Howard just the second Phillie to hit 300 homers all in a Phillies uniform. The first? Michael Jack Schmidt, of course.

The Phillies bullpen (six guys -- Jeremy Horst, B.J. Rosenberg, Jake Diekman, Josh Lindblom, Justin De Fratus, and Phillippe Aumont) kept the Braves quiet after Halladay left the game, with the exception of Justin De Fratus in the eighth inning. Of course, that's the first run De Fratus has allowed in eight games and seven innings pitched. /swoon

I don't really want to talk or even think about the Wild Card standings or the Cardinals, Dodgers, or Brewers, except to say this: things happened today, and if they hadn't, the Phillies Wild Card dreams could have gotten a bit more life. But when your Wild Card dreams depend on the competence of Carlos Marmol and the Chicago Cubs... well, I don't think I need to say much more. There are 10 games left. That saddens me for so very many reasons.

Also, if anyone can explain to me why Fox decided that East Haven, CT needed to see the Dodgers-Reds game, I'd appreciate it, because I have no earthly idea why that happened.

Fangraph of ROY PLEASE GET BETTER OH GOD PLEASE /sobbing

Source: FanGraphs