Jamie Moyer’s 250th career win yesterday was more proof that the reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.

The Washington Nationals may be a mess on the mound and fumbling on the field, but they can hit. The Nats are 4th in batting avg in the National League and 3rd in OPS, so this was not some feckless batting order that Moyer could plow through effortlessly. With Nick Johnson, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham representing the meat of the Nationals’ order, there were plenty of opportunities for Moyer to get himself in trouble.

Instead, the Phillies veteran lefty pitched 6 effective innings, giving up just 3 hits and 1 earned run, a solo homer to Willingham.

While a couple of recent, encouraging starts do not a comeback make, Moyer’s recent success is a great sign for a rotation still looking to find its mojo.

As May winds to a close, it’s clear that the second month of the season was far kinder to the Phillies’ starting rotation than April was. The Phillies played 20 games in April, with only 6 quality starts from their starters for a 30% quality start rate. In May, they played 28 games, and 14 were quality starts. 50% is a step in the right direction for the Phillies, although Brett Myers’ season threatening hip injury with test the Phillies’ ability to continue to lighten the bullpen’s load.

After the game, Jimmy Rollins coordinated a champagne toast to Moyer before the team headed off on a crucial 10 game road trip that will certainly test the Phillies’ road mettle.

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Perhaps this reflects poorly on me, but I cannot help but agree wholeheartedly with Lebron James when he talks about not staying on the court after a crushing loss to congratulate the victors.

“It’s hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them,” (James) said. “I’m a winner. It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them. That doesn’t make sense to me. I’m a competitor. That’s what I do. It doesn’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand.”

The practice of basketball and football teams congregating after losses and enjoying a joke or just catching up with an old teammate is a disturbing new trend in sports that just should not happen. The tradition behind hockey teams lining up to shake hands after a playoff series is over is any entirely different matter and one that I have no issue with.

It is this crap you see after football and basketball that is so annoying. I do not want to see one of my favorite team’s players shooting the breeze with an old friend after they shit the bed in a critical game. Grab your gear and head to the locker. I get it that sports is just a game, and that we should put wins and losses in perspective, but the emotional toll that following a team for the entire year is costly, and the last thing we want to see is one of our heroes laughing with a bud from the victorious team.

I like the way it goes down in baseball – the victorious team celebrates on the filed while the losing team gathers their crap and heads for the showers. There is no commiserating, period. Some of the players will sit in the dugout in a near catatonic state, taking in the celebration on the field, lamenting lost opportunities. That’s how you lose. Not with fist bumps.

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With his huge Saturday game, including his Phillies franchise record 8th career grand slam, Ryan Howard got the 3 points toward the 2009 Bennett Award. Jamie Moyer gets 2 points for his 250th career win on Sunday, and Brad Lidge’s 3 saves over the weekend snag him the last point. Ryan is now just 1 point behind the cooling Raul Ibanez.