Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Team To Beat

J-Roll was correct. The Phillies are the team to beat...and everybody's doing it.

They are playing the least inspired ball I've ever witnessed, worse than teams who are thirty games out in late August. Occasionally a player will roll his eyes or cock his head slightly at a call that didn't go his way but there is little if any fire.

The youngsters on whom the Phillies rely heavily are scuffling badly. Nearly all the veterans with the exception of Rollins appear helpless to pick things up.

The long-awaited debut of Freddy Garcia went pretty much as expected, that is to say, unimpressive in the main.

The good-natured but impotent skipper is baited into a shouting match by Howard Eskin, one of the least estimable so-called reporters on the local sports scene.

The GM is silent.

The season is slipping away.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's hard to imagine that last night wasn't the very bottom of the ocean floor for the Good Ship Phillies. If it gets any worse, there's going to be a riot or something. This has to be the most dysfunctional franchise in baseball. I remember the weekend after Myers had been arrested and it feels a lot like that, all over again. It is truly mortifying to be a Phillies fan.

Tom Goodman said...

I cannot recall being more disappointed in a team at this juncture of the season than ever before. I'm sure if they reeled off seven straight wins and Utley, Howard and Hamels returned to last season's form a lot would be forgiven, but if that were to happen -- and I am not holding my breath -- I wouldn't be tuned in to see it in real time.