Houston ... and plenty of problems

It's as hard to tell what to make of the mercifully-over four-game series with the Mets as it is of the 2001 Phillies. After all of the talk in spring training about what a glut of starting pitching the team had, it's hard to stomach their lack of starting pitching now. How can you expect to beat the Mets even once with three minor leaguers and an unrefined Cole Hamels? A split would have been a miracle. Taking one game was about the best you could expect. I thought that game would have come at the hands of Hamels, but those hands just keep throwing home run balls, which is why Kyle Kendrick was left with the task of slaying the Mets.

So, now that the NY dogs have finally gone west in search of other meat, what do we have? Eighty-two games in the books, five games back of the division lead, only four back of the wild-card-leading Dodgers. Considering the slings and arrows this team has suffered so far this season (losing two closers, two starters and 2006 NL MVP Ryan Howard for a couple of weeks) it's not an awful place to be. Sure, this team could be leading the division by a couple of games, especially considering how many games the Mets were giving away a few weeks ago. But the other side of the coin says the Phils could be 12 or more out (they were 8.5 out on May 31).

Since the Phils began the latest grueling stretch of their schedule, they're 7-9. Not great, not awful. Now they have a six games on the road against two teams oddly similar to the good-hit, no-pitch denizens of CBP -- Houston and Colorado. These are the series when the Phillies, especially when coming off a clunker, often sputter to life.