PHILLIES NEWS

Like I said, the Phillies won last night only because starter Ryan Madson went 8 and 2/3rd shutout innings. Tonight, by contrast starter Adam Bernero, filling in for Brett Myers, who is currently on a leave of absence following the events of last weekend, lasted only 2 innings and gave up 8 runs on 7 hits leading to an 8-1 Phillies loss. Now, let's think for a minute, what does this all mean for the Phillies, what does this say about the Phillies offense, is it so bad that they can only win when their starter goes 8 shutout innings. I mean, with all the talent the Phillies lineup is supposed to have, with JRoll, Utley, Abreu, Burrell, and Howard, to need their starters to be that good to win, is more than pathetic, it's inconceivable. I mean what does hitting coach Milt Thompson have to do to get these guys to execute and score runs? How much more can the Phillies tweak their lineup, they have already benched Burrell and just about every other guy in the starting lineup at least once and it didn't seem to work at all. Yes it's true that the Phillies starting pitching has not been very good as of late, Ryan Madson aside, but it shouldn't have to be. As long they can keep the Phillies in the game, it should be enough for the offense to get the win, but for some reason it isn't. Now the biggest problem for the Phillies is that they are without their top 3 starting pitchers which means their starting pitching won't be getting much better than it is now anytime soon. John Lieber remains on the DL until at least next, Brett Myers is on leave indefinitely, and Randy Wolf is still not expected back until after the all-star break, meaning that the current staff ace is um, Cory Lidle with a laundry list of young guys pitching without confidence tailing in the wind behind him. Add it all up and you've got big problems. So, lets see their offense is sputtering, and their starting pitching is short on reserves, looks like the Phillies are going nowhere soon, but I am diehard fan and I am not going to give up on them, yet. Hey when does football season start again?