I want to break this to you loyal readers (all three of you) as gently as possible. Ruben Amaro has announced he thinks it unlikely the Phillies will make the playoffs this year.
There. I've said and I hope I didn't upset you.
I know. I know. It's a bitter pill to swallow. Heck, all they have to do is jump four teams ahead of them in the standings...in their own division. We won't even speculate about the Wild Card. Who knows, they could run off a winning streak of, say, twenty-six straight games beginning tonight on the West Coast in San Francisco, where they are always at the top of their game. Piece of cake.
But, no, Rube dashed our hopes. He looked at our aging veterans, most of whom are hitting twenty to forty points below their career averages, and just couldn't figure out how these guys could make the post-season. He signed a starting pitcher last week who'd already been let go by two other lousy teams this season. He had Roy Halladay throw out the first pitch of a game last week. I think it was a strike, but I wasn't there. He inducted Charlie Manual into the Wall of Fame after canning the winningest manager in Phillies history late in last season, which was probably going to be his last anyway.
He actually began the season convinced this team would contend even though the trend, sabremetrically and old-school-wise, continued its steady decline.
Rube's gotta' believe.
Frankly, Rube's gotta' go and if this announcement doesn't convince the alleged brain trust of the Phillies, nothing will.
I
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