Swept Away

August 24:  Houston 4, PHILLIES 2 (16 innings)
August 25:  Houston 3, PHILLIES 2
August 26:  Houston 5, PHILLIES 1

The following Hallmark card was left at the Phillies' clubhouse door by the Astros as they left The Bank this afternoon following the first four-game sweep against the Phils since 1999:

"What can we say, when we've ruined your day?
And made you all angry and surly.
How could we make, such a thoughtless mistake,
And cripple your playoff hopes early!"

It is unexpected sweeps like this, against a team as far below .500 as you were above .500, that can start a tailspin from which a team cannot recover.  With the Giants, Cardinals, and Braves sputtering along the last four days, the Phils had a golden opportunity to make up ground in the NL East race, and put some distance between them and everyone else in the Wild Card race.

Alas, the Phillies were bitten by their usual bugaboo ... playing down to the level of their competition.  And so, no ground was made up, no distance gained, as the Phils now face the Trail Of Tears known as a trip out West to face the Dodgers and the NL West-leading Padres (with a stopover on the return trip in Denver to face a Rockies team once again believing in miracle finishes).

What went wrong?  Lots of things.  Bad baserunning.  Lack of timely hitting.  A second-game-of-the-series mismanagement of the bullpen.  Ryan Howard losing his temper so that it would be Roy Oswalt, and not he, who came to bat in the 16th with the chance to be the hero.

Let's go back to Tuesday night ... [editor's note:  I now understand why the "big boy" blogs have a team of contributors and writers ... between lots of stuff to do in real life, a day down with a serious toothache, and work, I've been away for three days.  Bear with me when I "go back" to discuss stuff that's been discussed elsewhere already ad infinitum -- Brien]

It seemed obvious to me, watching via some bonus coverage on MLB Network, that the third-base umpire, Scott Barry, was just daring Howard to lose his cool.  After ringing up Howard on strike two (on a close, but questionable check-swing call), Barry put his hands on his hips in a definite imitation of Howard, then stared, wide-eyed, during the next couple of pitches, at Ryan.  It was player-baiting at its worst. 

Everyone knows that umpires are supposed to simply make their call and move on.  Barry did not, and his mimicry of Howard, followed by his intimidating, "don't you dare show me up" look was unprofessional and should be punished by MLB.

That having been said, Barry was also rather quick to pull the trigger in a game that was already in its 14th inning, and showing no signs of ending anytime soon.  Although he is not responsible for maintaining and tracking the lineups, he had to have known that the Phils had burned up a bunch of pitchers and a just about every position player to get to the 14th inning.  Surely, it could not have been lost on him that there may not have been anyone in the dugout to replace Howard in the event of an ejection.  That he tossed Ryan very quickly leads me to believe he had it in for Ryan after the first check-swing, and then used the second (a call he flat-out blew in his anger and need for revenge) to run Ryan and kill the Phillies' hopes in the inning.

Wednesday, you just knew that J.A. Happ was going to prove to the Phils that they'd made a mistake in trading him.  And when the opposing pitcher is Roy Halladay, well, that's even more incentive to pick up your game and match Doc practically pitch for pitch.  If only Mr. Kendrick could learn a lesson from Mr. Happ on bringing your A-Game.

The bats went silent again.  The baserunning stunk (Ben Francisco, please stop chatting about baserunning with Mr. Werth).  Seven hits and two walks led to two runs, five left on, a man picked off, and a GIDP.  Hoo boy.  At least Mr. Barry was umpiring at second, and unable to be a factor in the game in terms of check swings.

And today.  Seven more left on as the Phils made Wandy Rodriguez look like Dazzy Vance (and, yes, I love old-time baseball references, folks!).

The Phils head into San Diego with a 70-57 record to face the 76-49 Padres, who are holding opponents to a .235 batting average overall.  I'd like to say that the Padres are due for a bad stretch of pitching, but Bud Black has his team focused on the task at hand, and I must say that the Padres are looking like a team that should reach the NLCS at the very least.

The upcoming series could be a playoff preview ... let's hope these previews, unlike the last three days, are worth watching.