The bloom may be off the Eovaldi rose. Or maybe, he was never a rose after all. Although Nathan Eovaldi came up throwing gas (that’s his calling card, after all), he also demonstrated that’s about all he could do. Tonight, he got tattooed for three runs, two of which were home runs. However, three runs is still not that many, so to return to my flower analogy, perhaps he’s more like a…tulip. Really pretty, but the wind totally messes it up.

Tolleson finally lived up to his hype by delivering two scoreless innings.

I need to work on this imagery thing.

Anyway, the Dodgers lost to the Phillies 3-2, despite the fact that Blanton is not that great of a pitcher. The Dodgers are now 2 games out of 1st place, which is currently occupied by the San Francisco Giants. The game was notable, though, for its TOOTBLAN demonstration. Shane Victornio attempted to steal third and then, for some reason, decided not to do that halfway there. So he got thrown out. Mark Ellis got called out for running out of the basepath as he tried to avoid being tagged by Carlos Ruiz – a tag, by the way, that wasn’t a tag, since Ruiz had the ball in his throwing hand and touched Ellis with his ball-less glove.

Notably, though, Shawn Tolleson pitched two perfect innings of relief.

Now, the big questions revolve around the trade deadline – will the new ownership group make a splash by bringing the Dodger fanbase a nice new pony to win our love – and Chad Billingsley, who was scratched from his most recent start with elbow tenderness. Two MRIs confirmed that it was elbow inflammation. Billingsley is set to start tomorrow, but I would not be surprised if someone from the minors, either Steven Fife or John Ely, is called up to take Billz’s place.

Regarding the trade deadline, though, it seems as those the Dodgers are in on everyone (and who can blame them), but hopefully, they will make sure not to overpay for someone performing above their head who is about to be a free agent (Dempster, I’m looking at you).