Phils Lose; Myers Brutal

You had to know that once Brett Myers gave up two homers and a walk in facing his first 3 batters that it just wasn't going to be the Phillies' night. The Phils dropped the first game in their series against the Marlins by a score of 5 - 4.

Myers, who clearly did not have his best stuff on the mound, lasted 5 1/3 innings giving up 5 earned runs. The telling blow was the home run Myers gave up in the 5th innning to Mike Jacobs to make the score 5 - 2 came just a 1/2 inning after a Jimmy Rollins homer made the score 3 - 2.

Winning Marlins pitcher Ricky Nolasco pitched 6 strong innings and gave up no earned runs. The Marlins helped the Phillies on two seperate plays, where they threw the ball away in one inning (Hanley Ramirez) and another where Luis Gonzalez allowed a ball to clank off of his glove. The win is Nolasco's second win of the year against the Phils.

Offensively for the Phils, Pat Burrell went 2 for 4, including a home run in the 8th inning to draw the Phils within a run.

The series continues tonite with CMH going against Andrew Miller.

Did you Notice?

- Two straight at-bats, where Shane Victorino hit the ball very sharply towards the first baseman in the 7th and 9th inning. Both times it happened, there were men on base who were fast enough to score on an extra base hit. Either of those balls get past 1st baseman Mike Jacobs, and the outcome of this game is markedly different.

- The innings called on the local telecast by Tom McCarthy and Chris Wheeler were especially painful last night. Wheeler went on and on about how hard it is to see the ball in the outfield in Miami and how the outfielder should not get an error when they lose the ball in the lights. Even if I thought Wheeler was right (which I don't), there was no need to beat a dead horse with his point.

Fact is, outfielders at the major league level ARE SUPPOSED to be able to catch the ball in the lights. Yes, even in those parks where the lighting isn't great. It's their JOB. That Gonzalez play where the ball clanked off of his glove was clearly an error and whatever happened to using two hands to catch the ball if he was that unsure he could make the catch? I mean, what's next? Further lowering the standard for a quality start to 4 innings? How about gold stars for plays the outfielders DO make?

- If you're old enough, you remember the Phillies buried a time capsule on their 100th anniversary back in 1983 (yes, I remember it well). Apparently, they dug up the original time capsule early to move it over to CBP.

- Interesting stat on I heard during Jody McDonald's interview with Jayson Stark on Monday.....the Phillies are the only team in MLB to not have a starter miss a turn. Underscores that as good as the Phils have been this year, they've been a little lucky for once as well.