RANGERS IN THE NIGHT

Back in last place, and it only took one loss. This is going to be an emotionally draining summer.

Cory Lidle was pounded hard and early by the D'Backs, who put up seven runs in the first two innings. I was forced to watch most of it on the ESPN.com GameCast. Those little blinking dots are no substitute for Harry Kalas, but one does what one must. Lidle made it through three innings before Geoff "White Flag" Geary came in. He allowed a homer to Jose Cruz, Jr.in the 5th, and his successor Aaron Fultz gave up what would be the deciding runs in the 7th, the last of which was driven in by relief pitcher Lance Cormier, who is no relation to Rheal nor would he want to claim to be right now. To their credit, the Phils battled back into the game, scoring three in the fifth on a Burrell double and an Utley sac fly, and four more in the bottom of the ninth on a Rollins double, and singles by Lofton and Utley. Last-man-off-the-bench Todd Pratt left the tying runs on base by succumbing to a 2-2 fastball from Javier Lopez to leave the final score at 10-8. This leaves us at 30-28, tied with Florida at 1.5 behind the confounding Nationals, who have to tank pretty soon, don't they? Please? If I keep saying it, it has to happen.

Interleague plays beckons again. We get the AL West this year, starting tonight with the frightening lumber of the Texas Rangers. It sure would be nice to see the "keep the ball down" Jon Lieber we were promised when he was signed. Otherwise, there could be some sore arms in the bleachers from throwing all those home run balls back. The Rangers have four players (Soriano, Texiera, Hidalgo, and Mench) in double figures in HR's, with Hank Blalock and platoon outfielder Dave Dellucci sitting at nine. It looks like we're going to avoid the methusalan Kenny Rogers and his sub-2.00 ERA, but we will see the 6'10" Princeton grad Chris Young, who is sporting a 3.02 ERA and a 5-2 record, in game 2. That game looks like a sacrificial lamb, since we have Robbie Tejeda making his first major league start, occasioned by the rainout Friday night. Sorry about that. Padilla goes to the hill in game 3 against Pedro Astacio, who I seem to recall gives us fits from his days as a Met (well, not fits necessarily, but he did beat us twice in 2002).

Somebody beat the Nats!