The Mets awoke from their homestretch coma and defeated the Marlins 13-0 this afternoon at Shea Stadium in Queens, NY. Maybe that news was a downer for the Phillies.  Maybe they were disappointed that they would not be able to clinch the division title with a win in today’s game with Washington. Maybe they were stunned that Charlie Manuel was actually letting Adam EatinIt make a start in this, the most important game of the year.  Whatever the reason, the team came out flat against Nat’s starter Matt Chico and never could get a fire lit in losing 4-2. 

Chico is a lefty, and lefties can cause this team to struggle at the plate. He kept the Phils off of the scoreboard until an Aaron Rowand solo homer in the 7^th.  After giving up Rowand’s drive, Chico was replaced.  He left having given up just 1 run, on 4 hits, and having struck out 4.  In that same 7^th inning, the Phillies proceeded to get 2 more runners on base, but with Dobbs on second after a walk and a single by Carlos Ruiz, Shane Victorino popped out and Jimmy Rollins grounded out to first to end the threat. Ryan Howard hit a solo homer in the 8^th to make it a 4-2 score, but the Phils would not threaten again in the game.

Adam Eaton lasted only 2 1/3 innings.  He gave up a first inning run on a single and a double. In the second, he got the first 2 outs, but then walked the eight hole hitter. Ugh. If that was not bad enough, he then gave up a single to the pitcher to put runners on first and second.  An infield single then loaded the bases. After Rich Dubee visited the mound, Eaton induced an infield pop up to get out of the inning. The third frame saw Eaton get started by walking the first batter. The next hitter drove a hard line drive to left that Pat Burrell charged to make a stiff, stooped catch at his shoes as he slid onto his knees. It was a pretty good catch for Burrell, whose thunder-foot stride does not carry him gracefully across the outfield space. The next hitter singled to right and that was it for Eaton.  Geoff Geary entered and got a double play to end the inning. It was an all too familiar performance for Eaton. The Fox broadcast showed repeated shots of a grimacing Pat Gillick while Eaton pitched.  The broadcast team mentioned a theory that Eaton was signed because Gillick and team thought that he had a lot of upside.  Obviously Gillick, like the rest of us at his point in the year, gets indigestion watching his failed multi million dollar development project fail to finish off batters that he often gets ahead of in the count. 

The next 6 innings saw 5 Phillies pitchers: Mesa, Lohse, Romero, Gordon and Myers.  Lohse has performed admirably in his 2 relief appearances this week. He went 2 1/3 innings and allowed the Nats to score 1 in the fourth. He was expected to be the starter if a tie breaking game is needed Monday.  How will this outing affect those plans if it comes to that?

Beyond being unable to get any offense throughout, they did not help themselves in the field.  In the 7^th, with runners on first and third, and JC Romero pitching, Dmitri Young hit a grounder to Ryan Howard.  Howard covered the ball right in front of the bag, but as he attempted to collect it, he looked toward home and never actually got the ball into his glove.  It rolled slowly away from him into foul territory.  Ryan did not realize it immediately. He stepped toward the bag and reached into his glove to find it empty. He turned and reached for the ball as Young approached the bag but it was just too far away for him to make a play. He sat back on his knees and slammed ball into his glove.  A run had scored and Zimmerman was on second and a pinch runner, Justin Maxwell, was on first.  A fly ball out moved Zimmerman to third.  Romero then threw a pitch in the dirt to catcher Carlos Ruiz left.  Ruiz blocked the pitch and saw Maxwell take off for second.  He tossed his mask, picked up the ball and launched a throw into center field, sailing high over Rollins head at second. Zimmerman scored from third and Maxwell went to third. The throw itself was probably ill advised in the first place, but as he scooped up the ball and stepped to throw, JC Romero was several feet right in front of him.  Ruiz may have sailed the throw because if he had not, his throw might have hit Romero in the forehead and knocked him unconscious.  Romero realized late that Ruiz was going to make a play and dove to the ground to avoid the ball. No more runs scored, but the Phils now faced a deficit that they would not overcome.

The defensive sequences in the seventh were emblematic of fielding problems that have cost the Phils this year.  It seemed that Howard was going to tag first and throw home. In watching the replay, I thought that he initially sensed he dropped the ball, decided he had it and moved to make the play, then discovered his glove was empty.  He immediately knew where it lay and stepped to grab it, but by then it was too late.