Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Look Out Below

Join the crowd, Roy.

The Phils' most reliable starter faltered badly last night in New York, yielding three home runs to match his season total prior to the game, and losing for the fifth time. With his poor outing the picture the defending NL champions present in their rematch with World Series foe New York is pathetic: they aren't pitching, hitting, catching the ball or running the bases with anything approaching authority. They've lost 15 of 21 games, almost all of them ugly.

The Phils ceased being fun to watch a month ago. It's probably worse from the players' perspective. Their manager hasn't a clue how to fix things. Their GM has even less of one and, if honest, should lay some of the blame at his own feet for trading away Cliff Lee and assembling a bench that is, charitably, no better than the one they have at AAA.

Every time the Phils score a rare win the fans and writers wonder if they are about to revert to form. The answer is a resounding NOPE! The next day they're right back out there stinking up the joint.

Where will help come from? Not from outside, that's for sure. No trade, call-up or release can solve their collective problems. Either they start pitching, hitting, catching and running or the continue to fall further behind. If I were the Phillies, I'd be worried about finishing fourth or fifth in their division. You read that correctly: or FIFTH.

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