The Phils dropped the final game of their opening series to the Nats today. Kyle Kendrick struggled, and newly acquired Nelson Figueroa surrendered the game winning run on a Ryan Zimmerman double in the 7th inning.

Perhaps most frustrating in today’s game was the squandered opportunity presented by a lead off double in the 9th inning by Chase Utley, who was eventually stranded at 3rd when the final out – a Shane Victorino pop up – landed in Christian Guzman’s glove.

So the Phillies and their Five Guys eating, beer chugging, economy stimulating fans head out of DC, a 2-1 record to show for it.

What did we learn about the local 9 during this series?

1. Phillies fans know the way to the District of Columbia. And Nationals fans know how to bitch about being outnumbered at their own ballpark.

2. Raul Ibanez’s hitting woes are mildly concerned about after a lackluster spring training and an .091 batting average against a Nationals pitching staff that most of the Phillies batters manhandled. Last year, Boston’s David Ortiz had an abysmal start to his season, but his results improved as the campaign wore on. One of Ortiz’s issue was his bat speed, something that appears to be ailing Raul as well. Lucky for our aging leftfielder, he has a nice reservoir of goodwill built up with Phillies fans, and he’ll have plenty of support while he gets his swing right. It’s still too early to start burying Raul.

3. Placido Polanco is already showing exactly why the Phillies gave him a contract that raised eyebrows in the offseason. While Polanco may not be quite the defensive third baseman that Pedro Feliz was for the Phils, his ability actually make contact with the baseball and take a pitch once in a while make him a worthy upgrade. Add in the fact that he is batting .500 through 3 games is nice, too.

4. Polanco displaced Shane Victorino in the 2 spot in the batting order, and so far the Flyin’ Hawaiian is struggling at the plate, hitting .167 and missing an opportunity to tie the game today in the 9th inning with Chase Utley standing just 90 feet away.

5. Cole Hamels has the shortest leash of any Phillie, at least in the eyes of the fans if not the manager. Cole did not pitch poorly in the Phils 8-4 win on Wednesday, but he did run into some characteristic trouble after giving up a home run to Ian Desmond in the 3rd inning, walking both Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn on a total of 9 pitches. But Hamels mostly worked his way out of trouble, giving up 2 ER over 5 innings and being pulled after throwing 103 pitches.

6. No one can let go of the Cliff Lee trade, including Jimmy Rollins.

7. When he isn’t bitching about the Lee trade, Jimmy is trying to pull a stick out of Roy Halladay’s ass, to no avail:

(The Phillies have) been trying to lure Halladay out of his shell slightly, only to find that “well, Roy is Roy,” Rollins said, almost sadly. “We’ve been trying to tell him, ‘You can’t do that here. You’ve got to let it fly a little bit.’”

So far, not so good, it appears. But then again, it’s early.

“We’re trying to figure him out a little bit,” Rollins said. “I’m sure he’s trying to do the same. But we’re like, ‘Once you become a rock star, then you’ll really be good.’”

8. Kyle Kendrick did not have a good outing today, going only 4 innings and giving up 5 earned runs. Which made the news that Joe Blanton is on schedule as he recovers from an oblique strain. Good news.

9. The Phillies lead all of Major League Baseball with 24 runs through 3 games.

Next up is a 3 game series with the winless Houston Astros.