Bleh: Braves 4, Phillies 1

Well, the Phillies lost. And it sucked. They lost 4-1 to the Braves, which made it suck even more. But there were some good things to take from this game.

Nick Pivetta was, well, the Nick Pivetta we always knew was lurking inside of him somewhere. He pitched just five innings, and gave up four runs on six hits. He could have regressed a lot harder than he did, so we should be thankful.

And then, of course, there’s Odubel Herrera’s catch. It was stupendous. Glorious. Amazing. Heaven sent. You can read all about Odubel’s magnificent catch in Paul Boye’s completely correct post titled “Odubel Herrera Made One of the Greatest Catches in Citizens Bank Park History,” but here he is reining it in through the hedges in dead center field.

And that led to this.

AND THIS!

Tell me right now that Odubel Herrera isn’t one of the best parts of this team. Tell me and I’ll sock you one right in the kisser! Sorry, I turned into a 1920s gangster for a second there. But seriously, he’s just phenomenal. I love watching him, and his presence makes every single game better.

The bad part, of course, was the offense. They had just five hits on the night, and they weren’t able to squeeze out more than one run. Not that they didn’t have plenty of opportunities, of course.

And then there’s J.P. Crawford.

That makes me deeply unhappy. And I’m sure J.P. isn’t too thrilled either. And he’s probably in a little pain. Let’s hope this heals soon, with or without a trip to the DL. The most important thing is that he be healthy. So get well soon, J.P. Let’s hope that MRI on Monday is kind to us.

The Phillies lost, and it was frustrating. But I ended up watching two of my all-time favorite movies tonight. And along with the Odubel catch, it could have been a lot worse.

(It’s “The Birdcage” and “Sense and Sensibility,” by the way. I can’t recommend them highly enough.)