No, it was not Moses Malone night at the ballpark last night. Nor were any predictions of postseason wins in sight. Rather, on Thursday night the Phillies had four hits in a 5-2 loss to the Giants; on Friday, four hits in a 1-0 win over the Nationals, and last night again four hits in an 8-1 loss to those same Nats. That also adds up to exactly four runs in three games. The opposition, meanwhile, has been rapping out the hits, and often the runs, too.
I caught bits and pieces of this game on radio, while drifting in and out of a feverish sleep. Kyle Kendrick's clunky start (three walks leading to three runs in the 1st) was pretty much enough to put me in a coma.
I happened to be awake, though, when Nats' starter Steven Strasburg injured his elbow/arm and I immediately switched to the Nats' broadcast. Those two guys are among the more clueless on the air, but I was stunned to hear that they were a step behind the Phillies' duo on the Strasburg injury. I'm not talking time lapse here. Franzke and Andersen had immediately twigged to Strasburg's elbow discomfort and plea for help. The Nats' guys, meanwhile, were speculating about his shoulder and looking at the replay. That's when they finally concluded that it was his elbow.
An injury to a budding ace or to any player is nothing you ever want to see or hear. Strasburg later maintained that he was fine but really the Nats should think seriously about shutting this kid down for the season.
Ryan Howard was activated yesterday afternoon and Ross Gload was put on the 15-day DL. So last night was the first time the starting line-up was, theoretically, intact for the first time in months. Because of the righty Stasburg, Manuel loaded the line-up with lefties. Domonic Brown was in right for Werth and Brian Schneider behind the plate for Ruiz. Howard had a single and an RBI. And that was all she wrote.
