WHA' HOPPENED?

Quickly for the record, here is a rundown of the games I missed while vacating in Kollie-forn-e-a:

June 24th: Red Sox 8, Phils 0. Tim Wakefield's knuckler was knuckling.
June 25th: Red Sox 7, Phils 1. Whatever Padilla's pitches were supposed to do weren't doing it.
June 26th: Red Sox 12, Phils 8. The Phils battled back from 8-1 to tie it at eight, then Cormier gave four right back.
June 28th: Mets 8, Phils 3. Robbie Tejeda had a rare bad outing, and Geoff Geary made it worse.
June 29th: Phils 6, Mets 3. Thank God for Cory Lidle.
June 30th: Mets 5, Phils 3. Pedro, Pedro, Pedro!
July 1st: Braves 9, Phils 1. Smoltz toyed with us again.
July 2nd: Phils 6, Braves 3. Myers went eight and change, nearly blowing a 6-0 lead, but Wagner closed.
July 3rd: Braves 4, Phils 3. Heartbreak. The Phils lost in the ninth after leading 3-0 on Ryan Howard's homer in the fourth.
July 4th: Phils 12, Pirates 1. Finally, a laugher. Bobby got voted to the All-Star team and hit a slam.

Ten games, 3 wins, 7 losses. We're now 42-41, 8.5 games back of T.F.N. and four games out of the wild card, now held by the Braves. Florida is also standing between us and the wild card. When I left, we had the wild card lead by a half game. I'm going to upstate NY in three weeks for a weekend with my high school friends. At the rate my vacations are going, we should be buried in last place by the time I get back from that one.

It isn't completely over yet, but it's getting very close. These last two series before the break could determine a lot. If the Phils continue spanking the Pirates like they did last night, and carry that over against Washington at home, we still have a shot. If they revert to recent form, the season is done. You really can't expect them to make up 12 or 13 games (7 or 8 on the wild card) without Thome and Wolfie and with Padilla stinking up the league. Any shot of trading Howard for a starting pitcher is toast, not that that's such a bad thing. A healthy Howard should be able to outperform an obviously useless Thome, which may be the permanent state of things as far as we know. Had Wade dealt Howard for someone of the caliber of Barry Zito, we'd really be in trouble.

About the only chance we've got is if 1) Howard plays about as well as his AAA numbers suggest, 2) either Gavin Floyd or Cole Hamels comes up and pitches well, 3) everybody else plays about the same as they are now (except for Lieberthal, who needs to pick it up), 4) Charlie permanently fixes the leadoff spot by using Lofton and (if he stays out of jail) Michaels instead of Rollins, and 5) the Nationals collapse as expected and we help them do it.

It would be nice if Wade could swing a deadline deal for a starting pitcher, but we all know he won't deal Hamels or Floyd, and he can't deal Howard, and nobody wants anything else we have. So everybody, don't be bitching when we wake up on August 1st and Wade hasn't made the transactions wire. It simply isn't going to happen.

Photos of McAfee Coliseum are coming shortly. Or, more precisely, when I get off my ass. They aren't that impressive anyway, believe me.