Welcome back

On a night when both our teams played in Texas for the first time ever, Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Phillies offense decided to show up.

It was a typical Dice-K start - five innings, no runs, two hits, three walks and four strikeouts. And, of course, 87 pitches. But it's better than last time, when he couldn't get out of the 2nd inning. Red Sox 6, Astros 1.

For the Phillies, hold your hats. They scored more than four runs for the first time in nearly two weeks, back when they beat the Sox 8-2. I thought the 3rd inning could be a turning point in the season. Tied at one, the Rangers intentionally walked Pat Burrell to load them up for Ryan Howard, who struck out. But Pedro Feliz homered, giving the Phils a 5-1 lead.

That lead lasted about five minutes with Brett Myers pitching. He, and later Clay Condrey, gave back those five runs in the 3rd. There was an unnerving blank stare on Myers' face as he watched the rest of the inning from the dugout.

The Phillies, down by two, threatened to tie the game in the 9th. It was the sort of rally they use to have before they stunk. They scored one, but couldn't tie and lost 8-7 to the Rangers. And my thoughts in the 3rd were probably premature; only seven hits off a pitching staff that ranks last in the league in ERA and second to last in batting average.

Short-lived renaissance

Charlie Manuel juggled the lineup again - didn't work. The Phillies couldn't do anything against Rich Harden and lost the game 5-0 and the series 2-1 to the A's. That's now five straight series losses and a 4-11 record in that span.

Adam Eaton had a decent outing, but does it even matter anymore?

And I don't know whether the Phillies are stealing signs, but if they are, they need to be doing a better job of it. {Phillies don't cheat.}

Wake wins battle of the aged; Cholly mixes things up

In the battle of the 40-somethings, Tim Wakefield outdueled Randy Johnson. It was much closer than the 5-0 final. I actually got to see the ESPN Red Sox broadcast and Wake's knuckleball flutter past the Diamondbacks, giving up only two hits and a walk in seven innings. The Big Unit gave up two runs in six innings before Kevin Cash hit a three-run homer off Juan Cruz.

And, honestly, we weren't thinking about our fantasy team when Craig Hansen loaded the bases in the 9th, setting up a save for Jonathan Papelbon.

Off the field, however, the focus was on the two biggest names on the DL for the Sox: Curt Schilling may not be done, and David Ortiz relived his T-ball days.

In Phillyland, Charlie Manual might want his slumping bats to go back to T-ball to get reacquainted with that strange little white orb that's baffled them lately:

We've got guys not hitting. I mean swinging bad. Swinging at balls in the dirt. Chasing balls over their heads. It looks like they've never seen a baseball. Really. They can go back to square one and think about what they've always done. And that's be aggressive, but at the same time be patient enough to get good balls to hit. That right there is how we're going to come out of it.

His theory tonight: Pick a lineup out of a hat.
1. Jayson Werth, RF
2. Chase Utley, 2B
3. Jimmy Rollins, SS
4. Pat Burrell, LF
5. Ryan Howard, DH
6. Pedro Feliz, 3B
7. Shane Victorino, CF
8. Chris Coste, C
9. Erick Bruntlett, 1B.

So far, it's working. The Phils are leading the A's 2-0 in the 4th. My alarm clock is set to WIP; I'm sure Angelo Cataldi will greet me in the morning with how they blew it.

And, breaking news: Shawn Chacon beat up Ed Wade.

If not the Phillies ...

From the looks of it, the Diamondbacks might make worthy foils to the Red Sox should the Phillies continue to falter and spoil the chances of a Sox-Phils World Series.

{I think Greg conveniently forgot that, like the Phillies, the Sox have a Florida team right on their heels. It will take two teams to win to make it a Phils-Sox World Series.}

Last night, the billed pitching match-up of Dan Haren and Josh Beckett lived up to the ESPN hype. Haren won 2-1. Even though it was a loss, I prefer low-scoring pitching duels and would have loved to watch, except I only caught an occasional pitch because of work.

Tonight the Red Sox, who blew a prime opportunity to come back against the D-Backs in the first game, stole one back with four runs in the 8th to win 5-4.

In other Sox happenings: Kevin Youkilis injured his eye during infield warmups Monday; he didn't start tonight but came in for defense in the 9th. Curt Schilling's surgery went well; he could start throwing in January if he decides to try a comeback. And the Sox are slumping at the polls, especially Jason Varitek, who's now trailing Joe Mauer for the starting spot in the All-Star game.

The Phillies are playing too late for us East Coasters. They're scoreless through three in Oakland.

The first time the Sox visited Philly ...

This starts an occasional series where I look at some of the amusing baseball paraphernalia I salvaged from my parents' attic.

There seemed to be fewer Red Sox fans in the stands at Citizens Bank Park last week. Perhaps the Phillies strategy of selling Red Sox tickets only to those who bought multi-game packs worked. But back in 1998, the Phillies made no bones about marketing to Red Sox fans. Heck, they even promoted Red Sox players for the series. Look at this:

That's not a program from Fenway; it's the official Phillies magazine I bought at Veterans Stadium. Besides the cover story on Pedro Martinez, there's a nice story on Terry Francona. (He, unlike Pedro, was a Phillie then.) There's also a story about the young, upcoming Bobby Abreu and the new Phillies Web page, Phanland. They have a screen shot of it, and one of the headlines is that the Phils are resuming talks with J.D. Drew. I wonder how that turned out.

I have this program because not only was it Boston's first trip to Philly for interleague play, it was the first time Christine and I went to a major league game together. It was a bad game, as you can see I got bored with keeping score. Stupid Steve Avery.

Our outfield that night: Troy O'Leary, Darren Lewis and Darren Bragg. Kevin Jordan hit cleanup for the Phillies. Their double play combo was Mark Lewis and Desi Relaford.

Surely the Phillies were looking to better things ahead, like when their farm system would start developing MVP-caliber talent, such as the legendary reliever Kyle Kawabata. And Brandon Duckworth, whose claim to fame was being part of the Billy Wagner trade. Oh, and getting quacked at on his Baseball-Reference page. And when he was stinking up the joint for the Phillies, we called him Mr. Stinkypants. The Phillies did have a real grim, determined-looking prospect in the system at that time. His name? Jimmy Rollins.


I hope you enjoyed this. The Phillies are off, and the Sox start a series with the Diamondbacks. I'm working an all-nighter and may not be able to update. Hopefully the Sox can take care of business.

This is getting depressing

There was high drama today. In the 3rd, the Phillies trailed the Angels 3-0 with Chase Utley at the plate. It was time for Chase to be Chase again. And he was, hitting a clutch two-out double to snap his 0-24 skid. A standing ovation ensued. He scored on a Ryan Howard single, but then started a new hitless streak (two strikeouts and counting). His run accounted for half the scoring the Phillies could muster against Jered Weaver and the Angels bullpen.
It was a 3-2 loss to complete the first sweep of the Phillies this year. Poor Cole Hamels lost a decent start to Weaver, a fellow beach bum first-rounder from California who pitched all right but not as good as young Cole.

Everyone is excited that the Phillies may acquire a starter midseason. I'm not terrible excited because 1) When do the Phils ever get the big name? 2) Will said "big name" make that big of a difference? 3) It's the offense that's been problematic every since they put up 20 against the Cardinals.

Case in point: today's first inning. Jimmy Rollins leads off with a single. He steals second before Greg Dobbs walks. There's no excuse for not scoring when you have two on, no outs, for Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell. But Utley flies out, and then, after a double steal, the next two strike out. You had the feeling they would be in trouble from then on.

Observations from the stands: When we returned to our usual Sunday seats after having different seats for each of the Red Sox games, there were people sitting in them. It felt like someone was squatting in our home. They then argued with us as we told them they were in the wrong section. ... Remember the Pat Burrell fan? Shocking development. He wore a Cole Hamels jersey today and barely cheered for Pat the Bat. Odd. It's like they had a falling out or something. We weren't the only ones in our section to notice. ... During pre-game warm-ups, two Angels, Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar, played along with the Phanatic's shtick where he asks them to throw him the ball. One of them did; the Phanatic missed. ... The Schuylkill Choral Society sang the national anthem - nothing to say about it.

The jumbo-tron caught one of the Angels relievers - I'm pretty sure it's Jose Arredondo - carrying the backpack o' snacks to the bullpen. I remember our first game at Citizens Bank, watching Ryan Wagner lug a Barbie bag for the Reds. ... Dale Murphy was the last Phillie (1991) to hit a grand slam in extra innings. After that trivia, we joked Pedro Feliz was going to do it today. Ha. ... One real nice thing about the three mid-week Red Sox games was no God Bless America. I wish they never started that Sunday tradition. ... Walking out I saw a true SoxandPhils fan, wearing a Red Sox hat and Chase Utley jersey. I didn't get over to him to try to pitch the blog. ... Later, around our house, I saw our neighbors' kid wearing a Phillies Curt Schilling T-shirt. It looked rather new, too.

On-field observations: When J-Roll stole second in the 1st, the catcher just dropped the ball; it looked like he threw it behind him. (No, Weaver isn't doing that either in the above picture, that's the rosin bag.) ... Casey Kotchman's 3rd inning home run was smoked, hitting the Bud sign in right. ... Carlos Ruiz picked Aybar off first in the 3rd. ... Hamels spun a nifty double play in the 4th. ... Howard actually leaped to snag a liner in the 6th. ... Reggie Willits had a web gem-caliber diving catch to rob Burrell in the 8th. ... When J-Roll came up with the tying run aboard, we challenged him to prove his MVP mettle. He was intentionally walked after Eric Bruntlett stole second. Then, it was up to So Taguchi against Francisco Rodriguez. I think you already know who won that epic battle.

Red Sox: One of our teams finally won this weekend; it just took them 13 innings to remember how to do it against the Cardinals. It was painful watching the scoreboard as one-time Sox Joel Piniero shut them down. Looks like another strong start for Jon Lester, a blown save for Jonathan Papelbon and a huge day for Kevin Youkilis - homering in the 7th to tie it at two and then a two-run blast in the 13th to win it, 5-3.

A night to miss

We had a party to attend this evening, so we missed the Red Sox playing the Cardinals on Fox. We didn't miss much. Daisuke Matsuzaka, returning from the DL, lost for the first time this year, 9-3. He didn't make it out of the 2nd, giving up seven runs in 1+ inning.

The lead over the Rays is now a half game, which is amazing because the Sox have been on a tear despite a rash of injuries. Today's loss snaps a streak in which the Sox have won six straight series - in the last four, they've lost the first game and then won the next two. Also making a move is the Yankees - just 4.5 games behind the Rays for the Wild Card.

The slumping Phillies (three wins in their last 11 games and four straight series losses) still lead the division by one game. Although the disastrous Mets, who I'm sure would love revenge for last year, lurk only four games out.

So in case you couldn't guess it already, the Phils lost again. Brett Myers wasn't awful, but why send a pitcher struggling with his psyche out in the 8th inning of a tie game? Did you expect different results?

After the 8th inning ended, I was hoping the Phillies would make a comeback in the 9th against Francisco Rodriguez, which would be a double treat for us. First, a Phillies win. Second, good news for my suddenly beleaguered fantasy team, which is playing a team with K-Rod on it. But So Taguichi blew it with an error in the top of the inning, and the Angels took a 6-2 lead. After the Phillies pretended to pose a threat against Jose Arredondo, K-Rod came in and ended the game on four pitches.

Cole Hamels goes tomorrow. We're confident they'll win, but the next four...