The second place Phillies had the lead by one run in tonight’s game up until the 8th inning when Ryan Madson stepped to up to the mound.  To give you an idea of how that went, here is an illustration for you (right).   When Madson left the game, the Phillies were down by one run.  Not good.  In fact, I’ll let Charles Schultz describe how I feel about Madson’s outing in the form of his Peanuts cartoon:

Schroeder: “One finger will mean a fastball which
isn’t very fast anyway. Two fingers will be your
curve which doesn’t curve at all. Three fingers
will be your changeup which hasn’t fooled anyone yet.
Four fingers is a pitchout, but we won’t use that one.”

Charlie Brown: “Why not?”

Schroeder: “Because everything you throw looks like a pitchout.”

But really, this game can’t be laid on Madson.  Nor can it be blamed on Jamie Moyer, who was once again spectacular, giving up only 1 earned run over 6 2/3 innings.  Both the offense and the defense played poorly tonight.  A Chase Utley throwing error in the 6th inning gave the Nationals their first run of the game.  He tried to make up for it by hitting an RBI single in the bottom of the inning that scored Jayson Werth, but in the end it was not enough.  Once again, the only ones producing were Victorino who went 2 for 4, Utley going 2 for 3 with the RBI and Greg Dobbs pinch hit and collected an RBI on a sacrifice.  The only big surprise was a rare home run by Carlos Ruiz in the 7th. 

Everyone else simply failed to hit in key situations or at all.  Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard both went 0 for 4.  Burrell, with one hit on the night, left 2 men on base when he hit into a double play in the 8th to end that inning.  And once again, the last man standing was Victorino; he was left on third base in the 9th as he led off the inning with a single and stole a base.  But could anyone bring him home?  No.  Eric Bruntlett stood there and watched as strike  three went by; Ruiz grounds out; Chris Coste grounds out – game over.  Can I get a collective “AAUGH!” please!  The Mets won their game tonight and the Phillies fall further and further behind…  Can they turn this mess around before it is too late?  Your guess is as good as mine.