And He Shall Be Livan

A day after telling the Inquirer's Todd Zolecki that, yeah, now would be a good time to pick up some Ws, the Phillies strolled into Montreal and sleepwalked through a 5-2 loss to the last-place Expos. Livan Hernandez shackled the Phils, allowing just four hits in seven innings, and the hometown nine were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

They're just not going to make this easy on themselves. Brian at the Citizens Report's hit the nail on the head when he wrote yesterday, "Big two weeks ahead of us, we can either keep the NL East in it, or we can seperate from the back. If history serves us correct, the standings will be probably the same come two weeks, with the Fish up one or two." Whaddya know, the Marlins rallied in the sixth and seventh to edge the Braves last night and reclaim the division lead. As much as most of us thought the Phillies would win the East with relative ease, it is becoming more and more apparent that they simply do not have the tools -- or the will -- to run away with anything.