THE ENDY IS NIGH

Why do I let them do this to me? They come back home after treading water on a very difficult road trip, and for some reason I think this year will be different. And then Brett Myers surrenders four runs before recording an out. Why did I not see this coming?

Last night's game was over after the third pitch. Houston's Willy Tavares dribbled a grounder to third, which David Bell, in his haste to throw out the speedy centerfielder, dropped out of his glove for an error. Craig Biggio walked, Morgan Ensberg singled home a run, and then Lance Berkman hit a screaming line drive into about the 12th row in right field for a three-run homer. All this from a team ranking 12th in the NL in runs scored. Andy Pettitte took over and completely bamboozled the Phillies hitters for five and two thirds innings, allowing three hits and no walks. The Phils did get to the Astros setup men in the seventh, scoring two runs off Chad Qualls and Mike Gallo before Michael Tucker ended the threat with a bases-loaded ground out.

The ninth inning was simply infuriating. Facing closer Brad Lidge, Kenny Lofton reached second with one out after Adam Everett threw his slow roller into the stands. Shane Victorino had a terrific at-bat to run the count to 3-2 before grounding weakly to first. Lofton advanced to third, and then scored the third Phillie run on a wild pitch. Ryan Howard, who had earlier pinch hit for the pitcher's spot and had been inserted in a double-switch, was the batter at the time, and he eventually worked out a walk. At that point Charlie Manuel put in Matt Kata as a pinch runner, and kept Endy Chavez on the bench. Why not pinch-run Chavez and let Kata take some hacks? Kata is a switch hitter, which really didn't matter since Houston had used Gallo, their only lefty, earlier, but still, is there something wrong with this guy that he can't swing a bat? Chavez is definitely the faster of the two, and he's been looking completely overmatched at the plate lately (including a dismal .466 OPS vs. righties this season). I mean, there are guys from the Stone Age frozen in glaciers in Greenland who knew that Endy wouldn't be able to touch Brad Lidge, but somehow, Charlie Manuel failed to see it. Of course, J-Roll came up after Howard and drilled a double down the right field line that bounced cleanly off the wall back to Jason Lane, forcing Kata to hold at third. This brought up Game Endy, who did manage to hit a foul ball after it bounced (I won't even go in to why he was swinging at a ball in the dirt, but at least he made contact!) and then waved pathetically at two sliders to give the Astros the 4-3 win and the wild card lead. Dammit!

Tonight, Roy Oswalt will no doubt confound the Phillies for 100 or so pitches as Jon Lieber gives up a few gopher balls. At least on Wednesday we have a chance against Brandon Backe. But then Vicente Padilla will revert back to his early season form and we'll have to slug it out and hope to hang on to a 10-9 lead, which we'll blow somehow. Then Florida and Atlanta will come in and sweep all of their games, and finally, I can stop writing in this wretched blog. I wish. What probably will happen is they'll win three or four games and keep hanging around, two or three games out until the final week, when they'll go to Washington and get stymied by John Patterson and/or Esteban Freaking Loaiza to be mathematically eliminated. And then Ed Wade will get his contract extended by Dave Montgomery until "the sun becomes a red dwarf." And nothing will ever change.