Ya Win Some. Ya Lose Some. But Mostly Lose Some.

Eh. I'm depressed after this one. It was a well-played, relatively crisp game. Esteban Loaiza pitched the hell outta the ball. Brett Myers, despite walking everything that came to the plate in the first few innings, shut us down. Nil Nil, headed to the ninth. It doesn't get much better than that.

You know what happened in the ninth. Crap happens when you can't score runs. But, it certainly does seem like the better our starters pitch, the worse our hitters hit. Somewhere, we've gotta find a happy medium. Maybe we'll start friday.

It's hard to pick out a Lame Duck in this game, but this is DC. And no matter how big, or tiny the program, when something starts going wrong and the press start pouncing, someone must be blamed.

And I hate to do this to him, but I'm looking your direction, Brad Wilkerson. He's been this team's Atlas lately, and things looked promising after his first plate appearance, when he battled Myers for six pitches before earning a walk. But, then he had to go and be stupid and get picked off.

It was particularly annoying, because Myers threw over about 15 times to keep Wilkerson close. The 16th time was the charm, forcing Wilkerson to make the slow walk of shame across the diamond back to the dugout.

Apparently, the walk of shame deflated his confidence. He finished the game 0-3 with another two strikeouts.

I also think he misplayed a ball -- or at least made a poor decision in the field. In the second inning, Jason Michaels hit a ball into the hole between second and first. Jose Vidro didn't come within 15 feet of the 42-hopper. Wilkerson had peeled off early to retreat to the bag. I didn't have the benefit of a replay, but it seemed like a play that had to be made by one of them. Neither did, and it was the Phillies lone hit until the 8th.

WTF Frank Senior Moment
I'm not going to quibble with Loaiza coming out to start the ninth. If I was managing the team, I would've patted him on the ass after the 8th and said thanks, but I can see the argument for leaving him out there. (Although, the 10-pitch AB to Placido Polanco was pretty telling -- it's easy to see a starter's losing it when the opposing team starts fouling off pitches they were missing earlier in the game)

What I will quibble with is allowing Loaiza to face the next batter, Kenny Lofton. Lofton was the first of four straight lefty batters to come up. Joey Eischen, fresh off his whole day off, had been warming early and should've been ready. As soon as Jimmy Rollins's ball cleared the wall, Frank should've been on his way to the dugout.

Loaiza was spent. He gave it everything. And it's a shame he had to have an additional run charged to his line.

Other than that, Frank managed a good game. It was interesting to see Tony Blanco come out once again to PH against a lefty instead of JJ Davis. One of them's headed somewhere soon.

Cristian Guzman had two hits, including an ugly bunt single. He hit it hard to the right side, past the pitcher towards the first basemen. Off the bat, it looked like an easy out. But, Jim Thome played the ball as if he were a breaching whale, giving the Li'l scamp enough time to beat it out. Earlier, he nailed a line drive to centerfield. Progress. I'll take it.