PHILLY SPORTS CORNER- PHILLIES

RIP Phillies until 2019.

Fans never really bought into the team. No ne believed in the crazy analytics of Klentak and Kapler. Even while in 1st place in July the fans still didn't come to watch boring baseball.

When the front office failed to significantly help the team stay on top, by adding Manny Machado or Cole Hamels or Daniel Murphy, they failed. The fans aren't stupid. As Clint Eastwood once said "Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining..."

We can say the current Phillies are a bunch of losers, a bad baseball team that is boring to watch, poor with fundamentals, and have no real direction. We can say the front office is all talk, out of touch, delusional and clueless.

But I worry more about the Phillies future.

There is no Soto or Acuna Jr. in their system.

Do you have hope ownership will lure a significant free agent or two to Philadelphia/ Would a Harper or Machado still want to come to such a dysfunctional organization?

Do you have faith the general manager will make the necessary trades to improve the club?

Do you believe that the manager will learn from his frequent mistakes this season, such as relying too heavily on analytics, mismanaging the bullpen and constantly shuffling his line-up?

Finally, give me a good reason to buy tickets next year?

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Embarrassing week for the Phillies. First the Legend of the Blowtorch Infield fiasco. Then losing a doubleheader at home to division-rival Washington. The team falls to 6 1/2 games behind Atlanta. They are a mere 1 1/2 games ahead of third place Washington. They are now only four games above .500.  What a meltdown!

What will it take for Klentak and/or Kapler to lose their jobs? They will claim the team "improved", even though Pete Mckanin had the team playing better in the second half of 2018. They will claim it was all a process and a rebuilding year anyway.

Scary to think we still don't know if young players like Kingery, Crawford, Altherr or Williams can play everyday. Franco and Herrera remain enigmas. Only Nola and Hoskins look like stars for years to come.

Nola pitches tonight, going for win 17. The Mets and Marlins come into Philly before the two Brave series and four in Colorado.

 Will Middleton do the right thing, hire real baseball people and clean house on October 1st?

Is the only answer to get this franchise out of the doldrums Mike Trout?