Coors Blight | It was rather gratifying to read in Marcus Hayes's game story in today's Daily News that the Phillies were "somber, dissatisfied, [and] glum" after yesterday's loss in Colorado dropped them a game behind Florida in National League East. The Phils' Western road trip has been spectacularly successful so far, and it wouldn't have been surprising to hear them brush off the defeat as just another minor bump in the road. But now that they've surged back into contention, it seems, they rightly view each loss as a wasted opportunity.

I saw little of the games in Denver over the weekend, but was able to catch up well thanks to the great work of the folks who maintain the sites noted in the right-hand column of this page. I'm Not an Athlete, in particular, has a nifty chart that maps out the Phils' improving offensive trend quite nicely.

The road trip ends today with an afternoon game at Coors; the inconsistent Randy Wolf goes against Aaron Cook. Then it's back to Philadelphia for a six-game homestand against Los Angeles and San Diego; I'll be at Tuesday's game against the Dodgers.