The Phillies won seven games in a row and improbably found themselves in the thick of the Wild Card race in the National League. Then, the Phillies lost to the Houston Astros, a team 41 games out of first place in the National League Central. The win was just the 46th of the year for Houston, who is two games away from hitting the 100 mark in losses. Complicating matters was St. Louis winning 1-0 against the anemic Los Angeles Dodgers. For many, the loss was deflating.
Of course, it was indeed unreasonable to expect the Phillies to win out. "But at the same time", as Charlie Manuel often says, this game felt very winable. I personally question the use of Jake Diekman over Antonio Bastardo in the 8th inning. The plan was, Bastardo 7th inning, Aumont 8th inning. But of course, Aumont did not work.
The weakest link then became Jake Diekman. Diekman's problem during his first callup was that he was too often placed in high-leverage situations instead of being allowed to ease in. Having inherited two runners with a one-run lead in the 8th, Diekman ended up in a high leverage situation once again and failed.
Of course, if the Phillies got more than three innings out of starter Tyler Cloyd, they would have had more flexibility in using the bullpen. Cloyd was pitching on short rest and the Phillies declined to bring a minor leaguer aboard to start the game. Personally, I would have preferred to see Ethan Martin get a start, 5-0 at Reading and still warm from pitching in the Reading playoffs over the weekend. At least Cloyd on short rest was better than the bullpen game of before, which I still feel was one of the low points of the season.
Still, it's important to remember that even though the Houston Astros are one of baseball's absolute worst teams, their 46 wins had to come from somewhere. Even the worst teams still win 1/3 of their games and the best teams lose 1/3 of their games, often against each other. This was just one of those 1/3 for both sides.
The Phillies should keep focused and bounce back. Remember, the Phillies won nine of 11 after one of the absolute worst losses of the season, the walk off Chipper Jones three-run home run when the Phillies had appeared to lock things up. Expect the Phillies to rebound nicely.
There are 18 games left, and the Phillies sit at .500. They probably need to win 15 of them to lock up the wild card, possibly 13 or 14 to hope for a tie. Last night's game is not going to make or break them.
Keep enjoying the Phillies; the rest of the way. The rest should be fun, and for now, don't count the Phillies out.
