Before I begin, I’d like to acknowledge the superlative performance of Jayson Werth today: Three for four with two solo blasts and four RBI’s. Werth beat the Cubs all by himself. Sterling work, young man!

P.S. Your mom is hot.

As Charlie Manuel watched from the visitors’ dugout in Wrigley Field, while Brett Myers gave up one run on three hits with no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning while trying to protect a 5-1 Phillies lead, the put-upon manager had to be thinking just one thing:

“What the fuck do I have to do to win a ball game nowadays?!?”

This afternoon’s near-catastrophe resembled a classic “damned if you, damned if you don’t” situation: in three straight losses, all late-inning comebacks by the enemy, Manuel had to suffer through criticism and second-guessing about his decision to pull his starters. True, the Phillies’ bullpen has been the gold standard of the National League, and has helped to shrink the team’s impressive 3.87 ERA, but lately that same group of relievers has looked… well, kind of tired.

After Philly’s heroic 8-7 comeback to beat Pedro Martinez and the Mets, which followed an exciting extra-inning victory over the Dodgers last Sunday night, who could blame the bullpen for emerging from these dust-ups a bit fried? Still, the losses to New York and Chicago began to dish out some major psychological damage to the Phillies faithful: No lead was safe once the starter got pulled. (If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear the Mets and Phillies bullpens pulled some kind of Freaky Friday-like body switch before Wednesday’s game.)

Today’s 5-2 victory against a never-say-die Cubs offense, in one of the most difficult ballparks to get a road win this year, J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge combined to end this mini-schneid with authority: Romero pounded his chest after striking out catcher Geovany Soto, and Lidge made his ninth-inning appearance look almost too easy. He remains perfect in save opportunities, 32 for 32.

There is still a chance to leave Chicago with a series split, which in my humble opinion would be pretty fucking impressive. Unfortunately, the Marlins aren’t much help handling the Mets for us (as of this post they are down 3-0 going into the sixth inning). Who knows? With the Phils’ bullpen returning to its old form, maybe New York’s will revert to theirs as well. Just in case, NOBODY TOUCH THE FORTUNE COOKIES!

• Heathcliff Slocumb on September 29 Game Recap: Phillies 7, Astros 4
• Phylan on The Word “Panic” Ain’t Even In Charlie Manuel’s Vocabulary
• Ozzie Virgil's Beard on September 29 Game Recap: Phillies 7, Astros 4
• Heathcliff Slocumb on The Word “Panic” Ain’t Even In Charlie Manuel’s Vocabulary
• Heathcliff Slocumb on The Word “Panic” Ain’t Even In Charlie Manuel’s Vocabulary