Beat writers have their daily deadlines, columnists their weekly ones. I, on the other hand, can post whenever the mood strikes me. If our common theme is the Phillies, who among us is better off, the paid professional with his or her fixed public obligations or the amateur who has only his private ardor to satisfy? No matter who holds the advantage, I find myself at the keyboard once again searching for a way to express the profound disappointment felt by most of us throughout the region. All hope has been dashed; the Phillies fall from grace is nearly complete. A local radio station in town put it best this morning at the top of their sports report: “Well, the Phillies are a officially a mediocre team.”
A .500 ball club in the middle of August.
The excuses have been offered and the fingers pointed but there is little consolation to be found in those exercises. One is left struggling to explain how a team can win back-to-back series against the best clubs on the West Coast then return home and promptly lose six out of seven games. Even the manager, who is publicly prone to embarrassment, can only offer feeble explanations at this point though he didn’t let this latest opportunity pass to admonish his players about toughness, theirs and the local fans: "You have to be able to go through tough times, man. That's why you play in a city like this. You have to be mentally tough in this city. You know what? They're going to get you. One way or another, they're going to get you. If you don't have tough skin, you'll melt. You'll melt. You better be able to deal with it."
A .500 ball club in the middle of August.
No one is ready to acknowledge it yet but things could get worse. With so many pitchers disabled or erratic, with so many other players disabled, wounded or playing out of position, with so many expectations dashed, the Phillies could easily stumble further. They have six games remaining with Atlanta and the Mets and four with the Marlins, three of which are at Pro Players Stadium where the Fish have won twelve straight from the Phillies.
A .500 ball club in the middle of August.
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