Barely Afloat

The good ship Phightins is listing badly. The pumps are working overtime but she keeps taking on water.

A mere two games stand between the Phillies and absolute mediocrity though truth be told they've been a lot worse than mediocre these last few weeks.

Yesterday they suffered another manhandling by the Boston Red Sox, a 10-2 pounding to go along with Friday night's 12-2 humiliation. Starting pitchers have now yielded nine runs on consecutive nights.

Joe Blanton was yesterday's hurler. Ever since signing his new deal in the off-season Kentucky Joe has been a lousier investment than BP stock. The returns have been so awful the bullpen is thinking of filing suit.

Speaking of the bullpen, they are getting themselves quite a workout. Apart from blaming the starters, perhaps they should sneer in the direction of toe-kicking Ryan Madson. The only guys who should be getting any kind of break are the closer-types but even they have to put in an occasional appearance in non-save situations to save their own corps from complete overwork and exhaustion.

The players called a team meeting prior to yesterday's game and, naturally, it was as useful as these things normally go. Management tried that route earlier this month with equal success. It's quite clear something must be done and equally clear nothing can be done. They either hit and pitch their way out of this mess or continue to sink.