On the surface, there are several prime suspects in yesterday’s gut-wrenching 2-1 loss to the Dodgers.

Chase Utley threw away another sure double play.
Charlie Manuel overmanaged the 8th, using 5 pitchers after pulling Pedro after only 87 pitches.
When called upon to help shut down the 8th, Ryan Madson and J.A. Happ couldn’t get it done.
Feliz botched a grounder to third to open the 8th.
Park and Howard couldn’t get their signals straight during a sac bunt and wound up with 2 men on and no one out instead of a man on second and 1 out.

All of the goings on in the bottom of the eight could have been footnotes to another Phillies win had our heores found a way to get to the erratic but suddenly unhittable Vicente Padilla. This game never should have been 1-0. I suppose some credit should go to Padilla here, but did you get the sense that the Phillies hitters attempted to get Padilla off his game?

Padilla’s inning by inning pitch counts:

1st – 9
2nd – 13
3rd – 15
4th – 15
5th – 13
6th – 8
7th – 10
8th – 12 (lifted after 2 batters)

The Phillies didn’t have a single inning where they made Padilla throw more than 15 pitches. The Phillies took Padilla to a 3 ball count just once, when he walked Carlos Ruiz in the top of the 8th inning. That was the last batter he faced.

Now, I have to admit to not having actually seen the game , but I listened to every pitch, and I don’t recall hearing Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen discussing how the Phillies were trying to get to Padilla. If anything, it sounds like the plan was to be more aggressive, and a review of the pitch-by-pitch bears that out.

Ultimately, though, the Phils lost as a team yesterday. With the exception of Ryan Howard and Pedro Martinez, you’d be hard pressed to pick another Phillie who had a good day.

After the game, the Phillies said all the right things, and given their postseason experience, they deserve the benefit of the doubt that the 8th inning woes of yesterday will be left in Los Angeles as the team heads back to Philly for Game 3.

A split in LA is a good thing. The Phillies split in the NLDS at home and went on the road and won every game. Now, they split on the road and come home having stolen home field advantage from the Dodgers. Last year in the World Series they split on the road and never lost another game, winning the clinching game at home instead of heading back to Tampa Bay for a Game 6.

If this group of Phillies has taught us anything, it is that they are capable to overcoming pretty much anything thrown their way.