Gomez (2-1) melted down in the ninth inning Wednesday against St. Louis, giving up three hits, two walks and two runs en route to a blown save and his first loss of the year.
Considering Gomez came into this game 9-for-9 in save chances with a 1.69 ERA, the Phillies will surely cut him some slack for one bad outing, but it's worth noting that we're talking about a guy who's had a career-long tendency to put too many men on base -- not a good attribute for a closer. Meanwhile, Hector Neris pitched a perfect eighth inning and has a 0.63 WHIP that's exactly half of Gomez's. Considering his lack of a closing track record, the leash can't be all that long for the 28-year-old Venezuelan, so his owners should look into scooping up Neris on a speculative basis.