Inauspicious Debut

Well, the Phillies lost their real season opener back in early April, and they lost tonight as I attended my first game of the year at Shea Stadium. The Mets claimed a 5-0 victory and moved to within two games of the Phils and Marlins for the N.L. East lead. Worse, I had to sit through the agonizing Steve Trachsel, on a night when the Phils put plenty of guys on base--prompting Trachsel to shift his working pace from "deliberate" to "glacial"--but couldn't get anyone across. The team's problems hitting with RISP resurfaced, at least for one night.

That said, it was about as impressive an offensive performance as you're likely to see without scoring any runs. (How's that for faint praise?) Mostly due to long, if not always productive, at-bats by Abreu, Thome, and Burrell, the Phils made Trachsel throw some 120 pitches before he was lifted with two outs in the seventh, following a Ty Wigginton error that loaded the bases with two outs. (Jimmy Rollins ended the threat by striking out, on a full count, swinging at a pitch that looked to come in around eye level.) David Bell and Chase Utley turned in repeated good at-bats.

Phils starter Eric Milton was pretty annoying to watch in his own right, issuing walks up and down the lineup. But for the most part he avoided trouble aside from chronic Phillie-killer Mike Piazza (who's not so bad against other teams, either). Milton racked up 7 or 8 strikeouts, relying mostly on a well-located fastball. With this team, allowing three runs in six innings should lead to good results more often than not.

A couple other enjoyable moments from the tail end of the game: I caught 21 year-old pitcher Elizardo Ramirez, fresh from single-A ball, making his big-league bow with a 1-2-3 inning that included a strikeout of ex-Phil Eric Valent, and saw former Met and Shea favorite Todd Pratt get a rare pinch-hitting opportunity, which also gave the Mets fans a chance to show "Tank" some love. A rare classy move by Larry Bowa.

Back tomorrow (sitting behind the Phils dugout, thanks to the generosity of my former employers at NBC), hoping to see my first in-person win of the year.