PHILLIES NEWS

Nationals 4 Phillies 3

It Was Over When......

Chase Utley's homerun in the 2nd inning was called foul, despite the fact that instant replays clearly showed it glancing off the foul pole. They might not have looked it at the time, but after seeing the replay for themselves the Phils knew they had been robbed, and after Ryan Zimmerman doubled in 2 runs to give the Nationals a 3-2 lead in the 3rd inning just minutes later it was clear that they felt that their fate had been sealed. Basically, they never got over the anger of Utley being robbed of a homer.

The Game Ball Goes To.......

Nationals 3rd baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who knocked in 3 of the Nationals 4 runs, had 3 hits, and scored a run. There has been a lot of talk lately that Zimmerman should be named NL rookie of the year, and now we all know why.

The Stat of the Game is......

11 , as in 11 consecutive at bats between Utley's phantom homer in the 2nd inning and his RBI single in the 9th inning in which the Phillies failed to get a hit with runners in scoring position, and 3 out of 14 as in the Phils went just 3 out 14 with runners in scoring position on the night and left a whopping 5 runners in scoring position with 2 out. Incredibly the phils had 13 hits on the night and yet scored only 3 runs. I mean, having a lot of runners on base is nice, but only if you can get them to cross the plate.

The Bottom Line Is......

This loss is an even tougher one to swallow for the Phils than last night's was. To make matters worse the Dodgers were playing tonight too and they won, so the Phils now trail them by 1.0 game in the wildcard with 5 games to play. If they still want to make playoffs, they may well have to win all of those final 5 games and that might just be to much to ask at this point. Well, happy trails everyone.