After hitting a three-run homer in the top of the fifth inning, seemingly putting the Phillies in control of a game in which they caught Cubs ace Mark Prior on a really bad day, Bobby Abreu returned to the dugout, exchanged high-fives with his teammates, removed his helmet, and was promptly hit in the back of the head by a foul ball off Jim Thome’s bat.

The Phils, of course, went on to lose the game 10-7 after giving up five runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Now 4½ games behind the Braves, it was time for Ed Wade to make his annual Kelly Stinnett memorial trade, acquiring Reds reliever Todd Jones – a mediocre closer for the Tigers back in the mid-1990s – for Josh Hancock and shortstop prospect Anderson Machado. In a much better deal, the Phillies also acquired set-up man Felix Rodriguez from the Giants for Ricky Ledee and a minor league outfielder.

While Rodriguez is a decent pitcher and the Phils desperately need bullpen help, trading away Ledee only exacerbates their problems in center field. Does that mean a deal for Lofton is coming today?

Meanwhile, the Mets made big moves to get Benson and Zambrano, but these are the Mets, and it will probably backfire on them. The Marlins also boosted their sagging offense and bullpen (against everyone but the Phillies) in a six-player deal with the Dodgers.

Once again, it looks like too little, too late.

Collateral

Directed by Michael Mann

Synopsis: A hit man (Tom Cruise) hires an unsuspecting cabbie (Jamie Foxx) to drive him around L.A. to make five hits. Circumstances force the hit man to hijack the cab driver until he completes his rounds, and the cabbie must play along while trying to find a way out of his predicament.



Review: Similar to his cops and robbers drama Heat, Collateral features Mann’s penchant for deep character studies and gritty realism. Unfortunately, what it carries in those attributes, it lacks in suspense. The film’s final act is a forgone conclusion from almost the beginning, leaving the viewer no choice but to indulge the story’s “hit man/cab driver as philosophers” premise, which eventually wears thin as well. Mann and cinematographers Dion Beebe and Paul Cameron redeem some of these shortcomings with their stark visual approach to late-night L.A., while superb performances from the cast (Cruise is unexpectedly excellent as a villain) help the film rise above its predictable storyline.

Grade: B-

Well, it’s all over but for the shouting. Like Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, the Phillies struggled mightily with the huge Marlin on their line. Unlike the old man, however, the Phillies were completely unable to reel the fish in. That’s 23 losses in their last 26 games against the Marlins.

Another embarrassing loss (to use the words of the Phils beleaguered skipper) puts the team 3½ games behind the Braves. Some will say the season is far from lost with 60 games remaining, but the Phillies are currently a meager two games over .500; and anyone who thinks this squad is capable of stringing together an eight-to-10 game winning streak (which is what good teams do at a least a few times over the course of a season) is delusional.

No trade can possibly help at this point. Firing Bowa and/or Kerrigan is the only possible cure, and even that probably wouldn’t do enough (it’s not going to happen anyway).

Stick a fork in them. They’re done.

Picked a good time to start a blog focused on the Phillies. Geez.

So the massacre that is Phillies vs. Marlins continued last night. The Phillies look like Apollo Creed getting pummeled by Ivan Drago in Rocky IV – hopeless, reeling, and soon to be dead.

Most of the newspaper accounts you’ll read are harping on the fact that this was the Phillies’ 13th straight loss at Pro Player Stadium (they’re still a long way from the franchise record of 22 consecutive losses in St. Louis from 1930-32), but the more disturbing record is 3-22. That is the Phillies’ record over the last 25 games with the Marlins.

No team should play this poorly against another. Even the Yankee dynasties of the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s probably didn’t beat up on the lowly Washington Senators and St. Louis Browns this badly.

The July 31 trade deadline is approaching fast. Will Ed Wade panic and mortgage the future, giving Pittsburgh one of the untouchables (Utley, Madson, Hamels, or Floyd) for Kris Benson, or Houston whatever they want for Carlos Beltran? That’s definitely a concern. This is a team built to win now, but also built to win consistently over the next five or six years with the young, aforementioned talent joining what will be a nice group of veterans in Thome, Bell, Abreu, and even Burrell.

Perhaps the more appropriate move at this point would be to fire rumple-faced manager Larry Bowa (and pitching coach Joe Kerrigan – word is none of the pitchers like this guy) and remove the pall of gloom that surrounds this club. Bowa is a smart baseball man, but it seems obvious that the players just don’t respond to his Lombardi-esque approach to managing. But Wade probably won’t go that route, because if the new manager doesn’t improve things, guess who’ll be next to get the ax. If he waits until the end of the year to fire Bowa, Wade gets to pin all the blame on him keep his job a little longer.

Following another probable loss to the Fish this afternoon, the Phillies could find themselves 3½ games behind the Braves in the NL East. Is it time to wait until next year?

So here it is, my new ‘blog’ (web log, for those of you unfamiliar with the format). It’s just my feeble attempt to do some actual writing for a change; and you, poor souls, get saddled with reading it.

Why PhogLights? Well, the world is kind of a foggy place these days, and like so many people, I’m just trying to see through it all.

“Gee, that’s deep,” you say, a strong hint of sarcasm permeating your breath. “But you misspelled fog, dumbass.”

One of my long abiding passions is sports, especially the exploits of my “hometown” teams, the Philadelphia Eagles and, even more especially, the Phillies. It’s a painful existence to be sure, but such is my lot in life. At any rate, during football and baseball seasons you’ll find posts about these ignominious franchises almost everyday, thus the “Ph”.

But don’t fret; if sports are not your cup of tea, there will be plenty of observations, rants, and raves on other completely immaterial topics like movies (my other strong passion), music, and pop culture in general.

You might see the occasional post addressing the news of the day or politics, but I’m trying to keep this blog light and easy. So if I do address these topics, I promise to keep it in line with my overall centrist viewpoint and add just the right amount of mockery.

Well, there you have it. If you enjoy reading this little chronicle, I hope you’ll come back on a regular basis. If not, I never liked you anyway.