WOW. LAst night was one of the worst meltdowns I have seen by any team all season. What is going on? Do you think that the Phillies are coming apart for the season?

Yes.

If that is the case, then are you surprised by this or have we been overachieving all year long?

Wow. I know Philly fans are cynical and jaded, but come on.

They're still tied for the wild card lead, despite their play of late. Yeah, there are a lot of teams chasing them, but that's the good part about it. The other teams are chasing the Phillies. That means it's entirely in the team's hands what happens. They don't need to hope for other teams to lose, as long as they take care of business.

The fact that September is here in a few days and Phillies games still have meaning is a good thing and I'm happy with how things are going, all things considered.

Yes, they're still in it, but this road trip has been just too painful to watch. They lost again this afternoon, by the way, 4-0. They're 1-9 on this trip.

The sad truth is that this is the way Philly teams work - they build up your hopes and then collapse in the eleventh hour. Think the Eagles last season.

Even if they somehow squeak through with the NL wildcard, how can a team that's been playing this poorly possibly have a chance to go anywhere in the playoffs?

I'm not a pessimist by nature, but Philly sports teach you to expect the late-season implosion. Flyers fans, you know what I'm talking about too.

Do you think that Bowa's blow-up after the game last night will do any good? I know that Thome has called a players only meeting tonight before the game vs. the Mets.

I don't know, I think this whole issue goes way beyond one coach or player or even one team. It's a metaphysical thing, really. There's something intangible about Philadelphia sports - it exerts a dark pull, kind of like a black hole. Star athletes elsewhere come here and go into slumps; slumpers with potential leave and flower elsewhere (think of Scott Rolen or any number of Eagles - for a while in the late 90s the Minnesota Vikings were like a refugee camp for ex-Eagles, but they all played better once they left here).

Some might attribute a lot of this trouble to the Vet, but of course these losses were on the road. Nevertheless, maybe there's some kind of toxic waste or old Indian burial ground or something under the Vet that has an evil influence.

If not the whole team, have we seen Jose Mesa melt down for good?

It sure is looking that way, isn't it? I haven't been following the team as closely the last couple weeks, but yesterday was at least the second time Mesa's been yanked in the 9th since returning from his hiatus.

If there's any defense for the front office not getting a top-tier closer is I don't know where they would have gotten one. All of the best closers are on contending teams, so those guys are out of the picture. Can anyone else think of a closer on a terrible team the Phillies could have gotten? Can we still get them? Please? Pretty please?

As for the team as a whole, that game yesterday was absolutely terrible. The only thing worse than watching it on TV would be having to sit through it live, at the stadium. Ugh.

Mesa's collapse is a real shame. For a long time he was a very fine closer. Last season he did a good job overall. I finally felt like we had a reliable closer (first time since - what? - Mitch Williams? And even he couldn't exactly be called "reliable").