Charlie Manuel stuck his head inside the overflowing press room, hesitated, wiped his brow and shook his head.

The Phillies manager knew the questions were coming — questions about his bullpen, which imploded Monday afternoon, in front of 44,553 Opening Day fans in Citizens Bank Park.

After facing questions about his bullpen a year ago — in a season in which the Phillies won the National League East and advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 1993 — Manuel wasn't very keen on answering those questions again.

But alas, after watching Tom Gordon groove fastball after tasty fastball to Washington in the Nationals' five-run ninth inning, which led to an 11-6 victory, the questions about the effectiveness — or lack thereof — of the Phillies bullpen came fast and furious.

"Our pitchers have to get better, and I think they will," Manuel said. "But today wasn't a very good day."

Monday was throw-more-gas-on-the-fire day for the Phillies bullpen. Sans two good innings by J.C. Romero — by far the team's most reliable reliever at this point — and newcomer Chad Durbin, the Nationals took turns teeing off on oft-injured Ryan Madson and Gordon, who is filling in as the team's closer while Brad Lidge recovers from a knee injury.

Lidge is eligible to come off the disabled list on Saturday in Cincinnati. The Phillies are hoping he'll be able to close out games with his wicked slider like he did before the Cardinals' Albert Pujols took him yard in the playoffs in 2005.

Lidge hasn't been the same since, and lost his closer's job with the Astros before being traded to the Phillies this offseason.

The sad part about Monday's bullpen collapse is that the Phillies, who had a league-best 48 come-from-behind wins a year ago, had rallied valiantly, knotting the game at 6-all in the bottom of the eighth when reigning NL MVP Jimmy Rollins jacked a two-run homer to left and had the park hopping.

Enter Gordon, who simply imploded in the ninth with this lovely line: Single-out-double-walk-double-double. There was also a throwing error by catcher Carlos Ruiz in there, which didn't help matters much.

The carnage: Five runs on four hits in 20 unforgettable pitches in a third of an inning. And that nice comeback? History.

By the way, Gordon's ERA is an astronomical 135.0.

Clay Condrey relieved Gordon — mercifully — and dumped a little more gas on the fire, allowing another double to pinch hitter Dmitri Young and it was 11-6.

Cue the Philly boo birds, who gave Madson — who allowed Lastings Milledge's two-run laser shot in the sixth — and Gordon an earful on their way to the showers.

Not sure if they did it on purpose, but after Washington's five-run ninth-inning onslaught, the 70s hit "Disco Inferno" was blared over the loud speakers before the Phillies came to bat in the bottom of the ninth.

It was an inferno, all right.

"I trust Gordon," Manuel said in the postmortem. "He's a big part of our team and he's a big part of our bullpen. Today just wasn't a good day for those guys. When you give up 11 runs … our pitchers want to pitch better. I think it's too early to start getting worried or upset about it.

"We had a bad day. We had days like this last year and then we bounced back. Now we need to bounce back Wednesday and get a win."

This just in: The Phillies are going to hit. There is more than enough ammo in the everyday lineup for Philadelphia to score 1,000 runs this season.

But if the bullpen continues to implode, the more Rollins, Chase Utley — who homered and knocked in two runs Monday — and slugger Ryan Howard will be called upon to produce.

And producing down 9-6 in the ninth facing Billy Wagner is just a tad more pressure-packed than producing up 8-0 in the fifth against Florida's middle relief.

"It's going to come down to our pitching," Howard said. "Our pitching is definitely going to be the most important thing. I think our starting five is a bit underrated around the league, and I know those guys want to keep proving people wrong.

"I really think we have one of the best rotations out there, and when we get Lidge, we're going to have one of the best back-of-the-bullpens out there. I'm definitely confident in those guys. I'm confident in every guy in this room that we're going to go out and get the job."

Didn't happen here Monday. And unless guys like Gordon and Madson start getting people out, and unless Lidge is the hammer he once was, you better hold your breath from about the seventh inning on.

And whatever you do, keep any stray gas cans away from the Phillies' bullpen.

CONTACT US: jreinhart@LNPnews.com or 291-8777