Short circuit

Interleague play may be great for the fans, but the Phillies would be happy to do without it.

After dropping yesterday’s series finale to Minnesota, they are 5-7 against the AL this season. That’s better than in recent years, with Charlie Manuel’s team only 6-12 vs. the Junior Circuit last year and 4-11 in 2008. Since the advent of interleague play, the Phils are a woeful 101-128.

“I don’t think we’re doing anything different,” said Shane Victorino, “but the last two, three years we’ve struggled against those teams. It seems in June we always go through this. But I don’t see why we can’t beat every team we play.”

Saturday’s stunning 13-10 loss in which they blew a 9-4 ninth-inning lead certainly didn’t help matters, stopping a three-game winning streak. The Phils are 5 games behind Atlanta in the NL East. But no one’s about to panic.

“Who cares?,” said Victorino. “We came back from seven games in September [2007]. We’re trying not to build on negatives. We’ll find the answer. We’ll find our team.”