Stinky Phillies

I managed to leave work just before 5 p.m. I was in the car when Jimmy Rollins tied up the game in the 7th. I skipped an important errand so I could get home and watch the end of contest. I was rewarded with a 5-run 9th inning by the Nationals, en route to yet another Opening Day loss by the Phillies, 11-6 - their third-straight Opening Day loss.

I wanted to be able to write a nice, long piece on Brett Myers. But his 5-inning, 4-run effort is not worth it.

I was going to rail against all the comments made by the players, that they would be ready for Opening Day, like it's just as easy as flipping a switch and they would start to play well. But then the Phils fought back and made it a game again in the late innings, lead by J-Roll, showing that maybe the offense can flip a switch.

What it comes down to, as any fan knows, is the pitching. Brad Lidge hasn't pitched for the Phillies yet, so who knows how he would have done out there today, but chances are it would have been a better performance than the one turned in the by the aging Tom Gordon, who is mercifully in the last guaranteed year of his contract. If this is how he pitches after a spring where he repeatedly proclaimed himself healthy despite numerous drubbings, then give me last year's Gordon who went away for a few months and then came back and pitched well enough to keep the team in the game most nights.

And Joe Wolf's Vertical Jump was right. The Nationals are dominating the division, and the Phillies may manage to win a game here or there. Nah, I still have full confidence in my team, just disappointed and uneasy that they may start this season with the same subpar record as years past. Last year they managed to overcome an 11-14 April; they came back 48 times to win games after giving the opponent the lead. But the 2008 Phillies need to play better than that, and the offense better drive in every single run that it can because right now, who can trust any of these pitchers.

And now the long wait until Wednesday night, when the Phils begin the quest to knock the Nats out of first place.

(It's just one game. Though Gordon does suck.)