How can the Phillies lose 2 of 3 to the lowly Chicago White Sox, at home, in the middle of a playoff race? They did just that, and in embarrassing fashion, going down 10-5 on Sunday afternoon. The three pitchers lame GM Matt Klentek purchased around the trade deadline- Smyly, Morin and Parker- all contributed to the loss.
The Pale Hose came into this series losers of 16 out of their last 20 games. They righted the ship a bit against the Phils, who are clearly underachieving.
It's too late now to make a manager change. The Phillies' history is to wait until after the season to make a switch. Looks like it will be up to owner John Middleton to pull the plug on Kapler. It sure won't be Klentek or team president MacPhail. They don't want to acknowledge their mistake in hiring the rookie skipper in the first place.
It may also be too late to fire the pitching and hitting coach. This needs to be done immediately after the season is over. Too many home run balls allowed. Confusion in the bullpen. Too many strikeouts by the batters. No .300 hitter on the club.
The team goes west to play Arizona and San Francisco. Unbelievably, they are still in the wild card hunt.
I have been a Phillies fan for over 60 years. I'll always be a Phillies fan. But if losing the rest of the season means changing this manager and hopefully general manager too, I'd rather lose.
Along with frustration over the Phillies demise, they demoted third baseman Maikel Franco to AAA Lehigh Valley yesterday. Franco is done in Philadelphia. Instead of using Franco off the bench as a power pinch-hitter, Kapler and the front office determined that Franco isn't a bench player. Look for him to be traded after the season.
Although I agree that Kapler needs to be fired, so does Klentek. This team isn't any closer to a World Series then it was last summer.
If Middleton wants his trophy back so bad, he needs to clean house and put some real Baseball men in charge.
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