Sometimes it's all about the funnel cake, as it was for this young fan at an early season game in Reading.Nothing sweet, though, about last night's 2-0 loss to the Cards down at the ballpark in Philadelphia, the 9th Phillies home loss in 11 games. Cole Hamels vs. Joel Pineiro. And sure enough, once again Hamels sparkled and got no (as in zero) run support. It's happened too often in Hamels' starts. Maybe he should pull a Johan Santana and throw his teammates under the bus. But Hamels hasn't done that, though the offense is just awful. For a month now it's been just awful. So what if Ryan Howard leads the league in RBI and Chase Utley in homers? Since his ankle injury, Rollins has not been right and is rarely on base. Maybe it's the swirling trade rumors that are keeping Victorino more off than on. Without those two setting the table, not much happens. It's been a month of dismal play. And now Flash is lost to the DL with a tender elbow, J.C.'s got a nagging groin pull, and the team is in sore need of some R&R. They need to find that "fun" Brett Myers says he's looking for. Everyone's jumped on Myers for that comment but I'm assuming he's talking about winning.
Tough luck for the A's, maybe even worse luck for the rest of the NL. Charlie Manuel called Harden's shutout effort against the Phillies last month the best game pitched against them all year. Isn't it a tad surprising, though, that the A's seem to have given Harden up for nothing much in return? The recent megabucks signing of Michel Inoa, the hot Latin pitching prospect, though, should make A's fans happy. So much of baseball is about living in hope.
