SUN STROKE

"Thank you, Pierre L'Enfant!" is what Esteban Loaiza and Brett Myers should be saying this morning. The master planner of Washington D.C. layed out the National Mall and the Capitol Building in an West-to-East fashion, and left a perfect spot due east of the Capitol for RFK stadium. Of course, yesterday's starters should also thank the more recent architects of RFK itself, the calendar, the schedule maker, and the weatherman for conspiring to leave a bright patch of sunlight out behind the centerfield wall directly in line with home plate and the pitcher's mound for at least eight innings, making it nearly impossible to pick up a pitched ball. Home plate ump C.B. Bucknor's enormous strike zone didn't hurt either. It was all goose eggs, and a whole lot of called third strikes, yesterday afternoon as the Phils and Nats wrapped up their three game set. I didn't tune in until I was making a chicken run to KFC after coming home from work and then going to the gym. I'm not even going to try to explain why I work out regularly and then eat fast food, because I couldn't if I wanted to.

Anyway, I didn't miss a lot of offense. J-Mike had a couple of singles, and Myers gave up a couple of safeties, but nothing of any importance occurred until the top of the ninth. By then, I had settled down in front of my 30" High Definition screen, drunk on Extra Crispy. Up stepped J-Roll against a tiring Esteban Loaiza, who had struck out a career-high 11, thanks in part to Bucknor, who was starting to raise his hand about the time Loaiza was starting his windup. I don't think he could see the ball either. Jimmy worked the count to 2 and 1 before Loaiza hung a cutter on the inside corner, fat as Bruce Froemming (speaking of umpires). By that point, the shadows had covered just a fraction of the batter's eye, making the ball look extra juicy to Rollins, and he didn't miss, depositing it in the Phillies bullpen for a 1-0 lead. Kenny Lofton followed with a single, and then Frank Robinson brought in lefty Joey Eischen to face Abreu, who singled to right to send Lofton to third. Thome then hit a sharp grounder to first, where BRAAA-AAADDD Wilkerson was filling in, and he caught Lofton straying too far off third for the first out. Damn. With the batter's eye rapidly darkening, and Wags-killer Vinny Castilla due up, we needed more runs. Eischen was still pitching, so Charlie Manuel sent David Bell in to pinch hit for Chase Utley, which forced Robbie to counter with righty Luis Ayala. Bell came through, hitting a broken bat single over third, which Abreu read beautifully to enable himself to score from second with a crucial insurance run. After J-Mike popped out to center, Polanco put the game on ice with a lined single to center, scoring Thome for a 3-0 advantage. Daddy Wags came on for a K-K-flyout ninth, getting his nemesis Castilla for the final out and his fifth save.

All in all, it was a good series, capped by an exciting win in the rubber match. We're back at CBP after an off day for three with the first-place Marlins, and then head to Shea for a three game set before finally getting outside of our piranha-tank-like division for a while. We still sit alone in last place, but only three games back of the Marlins, who could very easily have put us in a hole the size of Tom DeLay's ethical problems if they had hit more. Myers looked good today, although Gavin Floyd could have looked like Curt Schilling in today's conditions. We need to take two of three at home against the Fish. Any worse, and last place could start getting comfortable.