By RYAN LAWRENCE
rlawrence@delcotimes.com

ATLANTA —  On the eve of the Phillies unofficial trade day, the one-year anniversary of the day they acquired Hunter Pence, the two-year anniversary of the Roy Oswalt trade and the three-year anniversary of the first time they acquired Cliff Lee, rumors circulated around the press box at Turner Field like gnats at a summer barbecue.

Two scouts from the Los Angeles Dodgers were reportedly in attendance. The Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates, National League Central rivals, were both said to be in hot pursuit of Shane Victorino.

It’s probably as good a time as any to acknowledge that the Phillies will in fact be sellers before Tuesday’s deadline.

Oddly enough, Joe Blanton took the mound Saturday night attempting to keep the Phillies remaining hopes at turning the season around alive, but instead ended up looking like an ideal candidate to be traded away.

Blanton pitched seven sharp innings but was outpitched by Braves lefty Mike Minor in the Phillies 2-1 defeat.

The Phils have dropped two in a row in Atlanta after arriving in town with a four-game winning streak. Despite sporting an 8-6 record since the All-Star break, the Phils have lost ground in the wild-card race, sinking from 10 games to 11 ½ games back.

“It’s very disappointing,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “We know we have to win games.”

Blanton, a free agent at the end of the year like Victorino, looked exactly like the pitcher the Phillies acquired four summers ago. He looked like a proven vet who could help fill out a contender’s rotation.

Blanton, who pitched a three-hit shutout in his previous start at Turner Field, on May 3, held Atlanta to two runs on four hits in seven innings. He struck out seven and walked one; his 6.39 strikeout-per-walk ratio is the best in the National League.

After allowing five or more runs in five straight starts from mid-May to the beginning of June, 

Blanton has a 3.55 ERA in his last eight starts.

With the current state of pitching around baseball — the first-place Yankees traded for Chad Qualls a month ago — there’s no doubt that a contending team will try to pry Blanton from the Phillies in the next three days.

“It is what it is,” Blanton said. “That’s the business side. I guess that’s the fortunate thing about my career is that I’ve been in the trade rumors a few times. I’ve had to deal with it, so it’s nothing new for me and I realize that, like I just said, that’s the business part of it. You try not to think about it”

After failing in an attempt to land CC Sabathia in July of 2008, the Phils settled on a trade with 

Oakland that brought Blanton aboard. Blanton went 4-0 with a 4.20 ERA and the Phillies won nine of his 13 starts en route to their second straight National League East title. In a postseason that ended with a parade, Blanton went 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA in three starts.

He’s been a fixture in the Phillies rotation ever since.

“It’s been phenomenal,” Blanton said. “I came, we won the World Series and went back again. 

We’ve been to the playoffs every time I’ve been here. It’s one of the best places to play. Good fans and everything.”

Blanton used his assortment of pitches to keep the Braves off the bases after the third inning. He retired 14 of his last 15 batters.

The only trouble for Blanton Saturday night was that he couldn’t match Minor.

The 24-year-old Minor entered the night with a 5.49 ERA in his first full season in Atlanta’s rotation. But he did his best Tom Glavine impersonation against the Phillies.

Minor held the Phils to one run – a Chase Utley home run – on four hits in eight innings. He struck out nine and walked none.

“He threw a lot of strikes,” Manuel said. “We had some right-handed hitters on him; we had two left-handed hitters in the lineup. We all the right-handed hitter we could have possibly on him. I felt like we had a chance to get him. We didn’t get him.”

When Minor’s work was through, Craig Kimbrel set the Phils down in order in the ninth to send the Braves to victory and plot the “For Sale” sign back on the front door of the visiting clubhouse at Turner Field.

“It’s difficult to understand how we got here from there,” said Hunter Pence, who has seen the Phils go from the best team in baseball to a last-place team possibly selling off parts since his arrival a year ago today.