SO CLOSE, YET SEO FAR

Remember what I said about Brad Wilkerson? It goes double for Cornelius "Cliff" Floyd. Now there's a name I can ridicule. COR-NEEEEELL-YUSSSS!!! God, I hate that guy. He continued to kill us in every way possible last night, hitting another monster homer and robbing J-Mike of a tater, which ended up being the difference in the game. And who the hell is Jae Seo? The Mets are on the verge of sending this guy down to Norfolk, and he throws eight shutout innings. Unfathomable.

The game started out well enough. Wolfie looked pretty good until I left the game in the top of the third, otherwise detained. Soon after I stopped listening, Victor "only hits against us" Diaz homered. Yukon Cornelius singled in a run in the third, and then hit his ninth homer, seemingly his ninth off Phillies pitching this year, in the fifth to make it 3-0. Meanwhile, Seo was meeting little resistance. I know Thome and Lofton are out, but geez, guys, can't anybody here play this game? They managed a David Bell single and two Bobby Abreu walks until I picked the game back up in the top of the ninth. Braden Looper came on to close, and he's had a shaky history against the Phillies, blowing several games last season. Rollins was retired quickly, but the Chaser worked the count to 3-2 on a few close pitches the Mets fans were hollering about. Finally, Looper grooved one, and Utley clobbered it over Diaz for a home run to right. OK, that's one. Bobby followed with a blast on a 1-2 pitch to almost the same location to make it 3-2. Yes! Comeback! Looper is toast! Not so fast, little one. Burrell took a called third strike, and J-Mike was completely overmatched, going down on four pitches. Fuck me. Hello 12-16.

This afternoon's tilt doesn't look any more promising. Vicente Padilla, still in Spring Training mode, goes for the Phils against Kris Benson, who was just activated off the DL. Guess who made room for him? That's right, Mr. Expendable, Jae Seo, who the Phillies hitters just treated like he had the Marburg virus. Thank goodness we're getting out of this division after today and heading to the increasingly Friendly Confines, although we'll probably make the Cubs look good the way we're going. Marburg, anyone?