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).

Although this won’t make up for losing to the Phillies two NLCS series in a row, man, does it feel good. I mean, most of the regular players are on the DL, but WHATEVER. I’ll take what I can get.

James Loney hit the ball well, Elian Herrera continued to be really good, and Andre Ethier busted his slump with a screamer down the 1st base line that Mayberry ended up booting behind him. The hit was initially ruled an error, though the scorer changed it to a double later in the game.

Shawn Tolleson, one of the best relievers in the Dodgers’ farm system for the past year and a half, made his MLB debut in the 9th after the Dodgers increased their lead from 4-3 to 8-3 in the 8th inning. Tolleson’s best pitch is his cutter, so naturally, he didn’t throw it all today. He threw 10 pitches, 8 of the balls, good for two walks. He was quickly lifted in favor of Ronald Belisario, who shut the door (jello jiggling, butter getting cold, etc.).

The Internet was very excited that Tolleson got to pitch in the game, but was somewhat ambivalent about getting lifted so early.

Another farm player may get a chance to play soon, as AJ Ellis was reportedly still hobbling about after getting hit by a pitch. This may mean that Matt Treanor will become the starting catcher. He’s been doing well but it’s been in spot starts, so who knows how that would turn out if he had to play closer to every day.

Cliff Lee is very, very, very good at pitching. He demonstrated that fact today, fanning 12 batters through 7 2/3 innings. Chad Billingsley is also pretty good at pitching, depending on who you ask and depending on what time you ask it. He was very, very good today, allowing only 1 run while striking out 3. You can count me among Chad’s fans (what can I say, I love the drop and drive) but his performance thus far this season has been somewhat…infuriating.

Not, however, as infuriating as some people find Don Mattingly’s penchant for small ball. Tonight, in the 8th inning, the first two baserunners of the inning, Matt Treanor and Tony Gwynn, Jr., were thrown out at 3rd. Gwynn was gunned down by a particularly great throw by Hunter Pence in right field. However, Matt Treanor was thrown out at third after Tony Gwynn bunted to the 3rd base side. Bunting as a concept has not been greeted kindly by Dodger fans as of late, and because Treanor was thrown out as a result of one, people were seemingly irate. Here’s the thing, though: Treanor got an inarguably awful jump from 2nd. He was still around 2nd base when the ball left Gwynn’s bat, and gritty as he may be, Treanor isn’t going to be winning any races.

The worst part is that when Dee Gordon singled to right field to move Gwynn over (and subsequently get him thrown out), people believed that if Treanor had not run on the bunt attempt and stayed put on 2nd, then he could have scored on Dee’s single. Because apparently, and this is important, Matt Treanor would be able to go from 2nd to home faster than Tony Gwynn with a good jump can go from 1st to 3rd.

I don’t presume to know everything about baseball, nor do I really understand the nuances and intricacies of small ball. However, I do know that if you have a terrible jump off the bag on a play that has its entire success predicated on the fact that you are already running where you need to be, then you’re probably going to fail, and fail hard. Yes, a truly successful bunt would have been up the first baseline. Barring some major defensive errors, Gwynn would not reach 1st in this scenario and it’s likely that the Dodgers would have put up more runs in the 8th inning. But sometimes, I think people are already pre-inclined to hate bunting without really looking beyond the fact that someone is showing bunt in the batter’s box.

But that’s just my opinion; I could be wrong.

***

The Dodgers have a chance to sweep the Phillies in their game tomorrow, rebounding from several losses to both the Milwaukee Brewers and division rivals Colorado Rockies.