5/16 -- Postgame thoughts

Greetings from Milwaukee, home of bratwurst and Miller beer (I'll be sampling both before I leave here Friday).

A few observations from tonight's game, a 3-2 Phillies loss in the ninth inning.

* It's hard to be too critical of a team that has won 12 of its last 14 games, but here goes: The Phillies have scored six runs in their last three games, not nearly enough even though they've been getting great starting pitching. As I see it, the Phils are too reliant on home runs. When they don't hit the ball out of the park, they have trouble scoring. If they don't learn how to better manufacture runs (hit-and-run, steal bases, move runners over and get timely singles), the Phils won't be able to avoid prolonged offensive slumps.

* Ryan Franklin made the right play tonight. He just made a bad throw, and it cost the Phillies the game. But Franklin, a stand-up guy, was sitting by his locker after the game to talk about it. That's accountability.

* Pat Burrell won't make a better defensive play than in the eighth inning when he bare-handed Carlos Lee's single to left field and threw a strike to home plate to nail J.J. Hardy. That said, Burrell is 1-for-12 with six strikeouts in the last three games. He struck out three times tonight, and manager Charlie Manuel indicated he may need a day off to rest his gimpy right leg and refocus his mind.

* The famous "Sausage Race" in the seventh inning at Miller Park is a sight to behold. I'm also waiting to see Bernie Brewer scoot down the yellow slide in left field after a Brewers player hits a homer.

* Miller Park is nice, as stadiums with retractable roofs go. But when the roof is closed, as it was tonight, you feel like you're watching the game in an airplane hanger.

... and one non-baseball note ...

* The series finale of The West Wing was fabulous. What made the show so great during its long run was the writing and the dialogue. Aaron Sorkin knows how to write characters better than just about anyone. Any other fans sorry to see The West Wing go?