Sue The Bastards!

Being the 4th of July, how about a round or three of that All-American pastime of suing people?

The position players could not be faulted if they brought suit against the Phillies' bullpen following last night's painful defeat versus the Astros when in the thirteenth inning Jose Mesa served up a first-pitch walk-off home run to rookie Hunter Pence. Had I been substitute manager Jimmy Williams, Charlie having been tossed in the 9th inning, I would have made my way through the crowd of Astros awaiting they conquering hero at home plate and handed Mesa his unconditional release right on the spot. Why wait? Jose didn't!

The pitching staff would be well advised to consider a counter suit against the position players for batting 5 for 24 with runners in scoring position. The Phillies had numerous chances to win this thing and never put together the clutch hits.

And the entire team would be well within reason to sue first base umpire Lance Barksdale for blowing the call at first base that made the aforementioned suits even possible. Replays clearly showed Carlos Lee was out at first on the back end of a double play that would have ended the ballgame and given the Phils a 4-3 victory.

As is always the case in these matters, only the lawyers would be happy.

The box score will show that starter Adam Eaton pitched a "quality" start in allowing three runs over six innings and departing with the lead. Of course it won't highlight that right after the Phils took a one run lead in the top of the second inning against Roy Oswalt, Eaton immediately gave up his three runs in the bottom of the frame. If nothing else he is the picture of inconsistency and unreliability, the occasional "quality" start notwithstanding. Your team gets a lead on the road against one tough pitcher and you go right back out there and hand it back to them in spades. Therein lies the limitation of statistics.

Nor will the box score really show how many hard hit balls by the Phillies either bounced right back to fielders or right over the fence for a ground rule double limiting the number of runs scored in regulation time. And only the highlight film will show that Ryan Howard crushed a ball to the most distant spot in Minute Maid Park and the very same Hunter Pence who killed them a few innings later hauled it down. As Todd Zolecki said in the Inquirer this morning, that ball would have been out of Fairmount Park.

Not lost in all of this futility is the stark reality that the Phils have dropped five of their last six games and find themselves once again at the beginning, or as it is expressed in baseball, .500. They will call on Cole Hamels, who has been less than dominating his last few outings, to salvage the final game of this series and some degree of their dignity. Right now they haven't got much else to play for.