Road To 10,000 Losses: Replay, Replay

Road to 10,000 Losses is a countdown to the Phillies’ 10,000th loss, coming sometime later this year. With a4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks last night — the last of a three-game sweep by Arizona — the Phillies stand at 9982 losses, only 18 away from 10,000.

Hey, the Phillies played the same game they previously played against the Diamondbacks again! (Ow. That sentence made my head hurt.) Point is, though, last night’s game against the D-Backs was pretty much the same as Monday’s: Phillies trail by a run or two most of the game, let the game get out of hand late and then rally but lose in the end.

Monday, the Phils were down 3-1 going into the ninth. Ryan Madson gave up 2 runs. The Phillies scored three in the bottom of the ninth but lost, 5-4. Last night, the Phils were down 1-0 going into the eighth, Jamie Moyer stayed in to pitch and gave up three runs in the 8th. The Phillies scored three in the bottom of the ninth, but lost again.

Last night’s goat was Michael Bourn, who pinch ran after Pat Burrell singled home Jimmy Rollins to make it 4-3. Bourn stole second on a 2-2 count with Ryan Howard at the plate pinch hitting. Howard lined the 3-2 pitch right to second baseman Orlando Hudson, in shallow right field with the “Howard shift” on. Bourn was running on contact and got doubled off second to end the game.

Of course, this team makes a lot of mistakes. A lot of stupid mistakes, mental ones, ones that shouldn’t happen once a player gets to the, oh, I dunno, major leagues. An observer might call them “the stupidest team in baseball,” but that would probably be a little nice. (Incidentally, “the dumbest collection of 25 individuals in history” is a bit harsh.)

But whatever. Shane Victorino is a guest DJ on XPN tonight at 8! Yes!