Jimmy Rollins has always been my favorite player on the team – he plays the game with a swagger; he not only excels in the big moment, he looks forward to it and embraces it. I can’t say I knew Rollins was going to hit that game winning hit, but I wasn’t surprised. (My neighbors will probably tell you I was – but was jubilation and excitement – not surprise.)

These Phillies are something special.

About that 9th inning: the opposite of red light player is Jonathan Broxton. He pitches around Matt Stairs, a .194 hitter. Before this series Broxton stated that he was looking forward to getting Stairs again – and this was what he does? He’s throwing 101 MPH, and he pitches around a guy that has done nothing, nothing except embarrass Broxton. On the other extreme let’s give Brad Lidge a ton of credit. He comes in and keeps that game in check, giving the offense a chance to come back. Six closers have blown saves this postseason – not one of them is Lidge. Who’d have thunk?

As for Wednesday’s game – bring on Vincente Padilla. He is in no way Cliff Lee, someone who you fear seeing a second time in a series. I don’t think Padilla can repeat last Friday’s performance. Give me Padilla at Citizens Bank Park and we’ll see what happens.

If the 11-0 loss Sunday night was hard to forget for the Dodgers – how do they put tonight’s loss out of their heads?

I keep hearing how the Phillies have to keep him as closer because they don’t have a better option. Wrong. Right now Lidge is the worst option. It’s time for the bullpen by committee. Maybe Ryan Madson can’t do it day in day out – but one day at a time Charlie Manuel and Rich Dubee can select a pitcher based on the situation. When Romero and Myers are back – forget the “Bridge to Lidge” – that bridge goes nowhere. Here’s another crazy idea – how about Chan Ho Park?

The Phillies are too close to another World Series to let it slide away because of misplaced loyalty. We have enough time to figure something out and at least patch things together for the playoffs – but sticking our heads in the sand isn’t going to work. The worst thing we can do is nothing.

After losing Brett Myers, Brad Lidge, Scott Eyre (running in from the bullpen), and Raul Ibañez, now they will be losing Clay Condrey to the 15 day disabled list. I should have written this a week ago, but now my point is even stronger; it’s time for the Phillies to make a trade. No offense to Sergio Escalona, who will replace Condrey, but I have little confidence if you’re behind Jack Taschner on the depth chart. The rotation that Charlie Manuel is running out there is not a World Series rotation at this point.  Far from it. Prior to losing Myers, the distance between Cole Hamels starts was great – now it’s insurmountable.

The ripple effect of having sub-par starting pitching is killing our bullpen. And if we’re going to lean heavily on the bullpen, as we can see, it will buckle. I’m not calling on Ruben Amaro Jr. to make a trade for trades sake; but it is obvious that this team needs bolstering. The longer we wait, the harder it gets. For instance, now that Daisuke Matsuzaka is on the DL in Boston, you can count Brad Penny off the list of available pitchers. Jake Peavy is on the DL and so is Erik Bedard.

If we wait until the trade deadline we may end up hoping to bring Adam Eaton back.