Lights Out

When A.J.Burnett is your only reliable pitcher you know the Phaithful are in for a long season.

Cliff Lee pitched last night in Toronto and it was a vintage performance, 2014 edition.  He was brilliant; he was awful.  Breezing along, he suddenly imploded in the seventh inning and the Phils were shellacked by Toronto, 10-0.

Another shutout of an offense that does as good an impersonation of Jekyll and Hyde as the pitching staff.

Cole Hamels was awful Tuesday night.  It's time to admit Hamels will never be the dominating pitcher we expected.  Indeed, despite possessing a change-up commentators love to love, Hamels has never been the kind of pitcher teams fear to face.  No one in, say, Milwaukee, looks at the schedule a few days hence and starts to worry about facing Hamels.  They don't start thinking about him until they are in the on-deck circle.

Kyle Kendricks will always be a mediocre back-of-the-rotation guy.

The bullpen is awful.

The aging stars are showing their age.

Take away Cody Asche's grandslam home run the other night and the offense has been worse than anemic.

Those three wins in L.A. might as well have happened years ago.  The future is dim and the bulb is flickering.