Phils-Dodgers: This Is Baseball. Shake It Off and Man Up.

While we all relive the 9th inning of last night's loss to the Dodgers, watching that stupid double make SportsCenter's top plays, I imagine the Phillies themselves have already shelved it. An 8-game winning streak would have been a juicy bit for a Saturday morning post, losing a close game to LA, in LA, is not the end of the world, nor does it say anything about anyone or anything. No blame should really be assigned to anyone. Lidge was just fine. Feliz has now "cost" the Phils two games with late errors, but how many amazing plays has he made at third? Much less the contributions at the plate... He gets a huge pass. Expecting perfection is folly.

LOBs are the other element of frustration from last night, and a few recent games overall. More frustrating, however, would be getting three-hit by Eric Milton. At least they got some hits, and some runs. Looking at the scores from the past two weeks, there are greater failings than putting up three runs in a road game. 
It's not easy for us to look at it that way. Counter to our breeding I guess. But the pros in the clubhouse are probably able to see it for what it is—a stumble in a 162-game series against, oh by the way, the best team in baseball to date. At least, that's what we should hope. Maybe take a little motivation from it, but overall, fixating on a close loss will just have them pressing too much, when overall, they've been a pretty amazing team lately. There isn't much need for changing anything. 
The best thing about baseball is there's almost always a game the next day. 
Joe Blanton, originally uploaded by Harpo42.

Today at 4:10PM Phila time, last night's loss just a memory. Joe Blanton will try to win his fourth straight, facing Hiroki Kuroda. After spending most of the season on the DL, Kuroda returned on June 1, when he was the hard-luck loser in a 3-2 Diamondbacks' victory. He struck out six and walked one, allowing just two earned. But uh, we won't taunt him with over/unders like we did Milton last night. Kuroda did beat the Phils in the NLCS last year. 
In the intro, we were pretty easy on the Phils after last night's loss. Most are playing well enough to earn that. One guy we still really need to see more from though is Jimmy Mays Rollins. I won't pretend to be an expert on swing mechanics or who is or isn't "pressing," but something's clearly wrong with Jimmy at the plate. In the field, no problem. As good as it gets. But he's been awful in the batter's box, sending weak fly after weak fly up, ending rallies that have been sustained by the bottom of the order. There are flashes of the old J-Roll there, but not as often as the Phillies need it. Something's gotta give here.
Should be a great game today, if you find yourself inside to see it. The weather in the tri-state area is perfect, so it might be best to just have a few out back with the sweet sounds of the radio broadcast.