Do You Know Where Paul LoDuca is?

Well, it isn’t every night you get to kick the holy crap out of a first ballot, no doubt about it, Hall of Famer. So you could relish it a little this morning. And while this stretch of seven games with the Mets over the next week and a half might be the last “brutal hard” portion of the schedule- it is, well, brutal hard- so certainly, getting off to a good start against Pedro is gratifying. Don’t want to see the Phillies turn this four-game deficit into a six-game deficit coming out of August.

Obviously, they MUST now split this four-game set with the Mets at a minimum. Philadelphia has now been given a third chance in their last three series this month against decent (Cincinnati) or quality opposition (New York)- due to winning the opening game- to build some momentum against teams they really could afford to build some momentum against. The Phillies have to come out of this 2-2- and rely on the mediocrity of Houston, San Diego, et al. to allow them to hang on until the schedule softens noticeably in September.

Get to September just two-three games back is my goal- and take my chances with Florida, Chicago, and Washington. No more Mets- just three early games with the Braves.