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The past few weeks haven’t been all that kind to the local baseball nine. As a chart in the Daily News helpfully notes today, the Phillies were 22-15 and one game out of first place in the NL East on May 14. Today, they’re 35-40, 12 games back (and eighth, 5 1/2 back in the Wild Card).
I’m not quite sure what I have to add to the general sense of malaise on all the Phillies blogs and messageboards a”nd talk radio, but here’s a go: They stink. All of them stink. Every single player, coach, front office exec, ticket taker, parking lot attendant, webmaster, anyone in any way shape or form associated with the Phillies absolutely freaking stinks.
Hmm. That wasn’t all that helpful. Let’s go to aspiring model and Phillies blogger Jason Weitzel, who wrote something in a comment on his blog I found summed up the way this team works:
To summarize and hypothesize: The Phillies have lost 13 of 16 games. Two of their wins came with two bench players starting. The last game they won was the 4-2 game against New York in which the manager was buried for sitting Howard and Abreu. The last game they won with the “regular” starters, including Fasano instead of Coste, was over two weeks ago in Arizona.
There’s a pattern, and it’s crystal clear why this team underperforms for Charlie Manuel.
It would be a travesty to trot out Jon’s lineup [Rollins-Utley-Abreu-Burrell Howard-Rowand-Victorino-Bell-Fasano] tomorrow against the left-handed pitcher, but that’s precisely what Manuel will do. He will play Burrell, who went 0-3 with 4 men left on base [Editor's Note: After coming in as a pinch hitter!]. He will play Bell, who stranded 4 men on base and hit into a rally-killing DP in the second inning.
This will reinforce to players that failure is acceptable, and success is meaningless. Yet this has been Manuel’s pattern for two seasons.
When you lose at the rate the Phillies are losing, you don’t sit the few players who show you something.
Now take a look at this again: This is the lineup I would go with tomorrow, rewarding all the top performers of [yesterday] and sitting the flunkies:
Victorino
Utley
Howard
Dellucci
Rowand
Rollins
Nunez
Coste
Hamels
Once again, there’s no doubt in my mind they would smoke the O’s [tonight] with this lineup. And if they would, I’d start ‘em the next day.
Too long? Here’s the abridged version: If the Phillies are going to lose like they did yesterday, at least let new players lose rather than the same ones we’ve seen lose since around ‘01.
Comment on Game 3 in progress, Bell DP kills early threat [Beerleaguer]
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