Inflamed

So the Phillies were beaten, at home, by long reliever-turned-spot starter Burke Badenhop and the Florida Marlins on Wednesday night. They had an opportunity to win the series from Florida, and opted to sleep-walk through an almost lifeless loss. Their only two runs in the 6-2 loss came on solo home runs, by catcher Carlos Ruiz and pinch-hitter Matt Stairs. It wasn't until the last two innings that the Phillies' offense was rustled from their slumber, but despite getting the tying run to the plate, couldn't complete the comeback. For whatever reason, the team is just not performing at home. It might be necessary to switch up some of the players' at bat songs, in an attempt to get some of their CBP "fire" back. A drastic measure, yes, but these are increasingly drastic times. Only Clay Condrey (two and a third scoreless innings, 2.00 ERA) and Matt Stairs (433 ft. HR) should be immune from these measures, after Wednesday's debacle.

Phillies' starter Brett Myers had been pitching well recently, at least heading into Wednesday. He continued pitching well, silencing the Marlins through three innings. Then he reverted to his early season form, giving up hits and runs by the bushel. He surrended two home runs, and left with two outs in the sixth inning, and the Phils trailing 5-1. Even worse, Myers complained of inflammation in his right hip, and is scheduled for an MRI on Thursday. The hip pain may have made it difficult for Myers to control his pitches, with the poor command making his offerings quite hittable. Considering that Myers is the second-best starter, in a questionable rotation, the Phillies can ill-afford to lose Myers for any length of time. The best option, currently in the organization, to cover for a Myers DL stint, would probably be AAA starter Kyle Kendrick. And Kendrick is just not a very good option.

The Phillies have Thursday off, before starting a weekend series at home against Washington. Perhaps the last-place Nationals, whom the Phillies swept two weekends ago, will be a panacea for the Phils' home woes. Thursday will be a good day to vote Phillies onto the All-Star team, and consider some options for a new Brad Lidge entrance song. While daydreaming of trades for Doug Davis and Josh Willingham. Or, perhaps, Roy Halladay. Trading the whole Lehigh Valley team for Halladay seems like it would be a good move right now.