What comes first, World Series title for Phils, or U.S. winning World Cup?

Here's the question of the day: What do you think will happen first, the Phillies will win another World Series title, or the U.S. will capture the World Cup?

Keep in mind that, with Germany's thrilling 1-nil win over Argentina yesterday, the World Cup now is not contested again until 2018.

Still, I'm not sure I don't like the USA's chances more than the Phightin's.

That's not because I know a lot about soccer.

It's because I'm so frustrated with this Phillies team. They have proved to be the ultimate tease.

Last week they managed to go into Milwaukee, which sports the best record in the National League, and sweep the Brewers in four straight. They even came home and won Friday night vs. the Nationals at Citizens Bank Park, where they have not played well this year.

It got people - including me - thinking about whether this team had turned a corner, and maybe all this talk of blowing up the nucleus of Utley, Rollins, Howard and Hamels was premature.

Then they fell apart over the weekend.

Yesterday they put an exclamation point on it, with Kyle Kendrick once again proving he is allergic to the 1st inning. Kendrick gave up a three-run bomb to our old pal Jason Werth and the Nats never looked back, crusing to a 10-3 win. That along with Saturday night's 5-3 loss in 10 innings sends the Phils into the break with a sour taste.

So the question remains: What should Ruben Amaro Jr. do? We're now two weeks away from the trade deadline. Every time I think it's time for Amaro to push the plunger and blow this team up, they managed to pull off another little streak that makes me think they're not dead yet.

Then, of course, they promptly roll over and play dead, as they did yesterday.

So what do you say, what are the chances of this Phillies team doing anything in the second half. They will get Cliff Lee back in the rotation next weekend.

I say, in the immortal words of Bill Parcells, they are what their record says they are.

Their record says they are 11 games under .500, at 42-53, 10 games behind the Nats and Braves. Sounds about right.