Charlie Manuel Rips Into Phillies

It has not been an enjoyable season to date for Phillies fans like myself. Beginning with the lack of hitting in the early weeks of the season, to sloppy play in the field, and a pathetic effort putting together a big league bullpen, there has not been much excitement this season. Last night the hated Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Phillies, the Mets first sweep of the Phillies in six years.

I have wondered for a few weeks now when Charlie Manuel was going to have enough and finally rip into his team. Apparently enough was enough last night for Uncle Charlie, as reports came from the Phillies club house that Manuel unloaded on his team in a closed-door meeting after the loss.

I give Manuel credit for having patience this long. By the end of the first week of the season, I was already pissed off and extremely frustrated with this Phillies team. I consider myself a rational fan and knew coming into this season it would not be like years past of crushing home runs and putting teams to sleep in the early stages of the game.

Many blame Manuel for the team's early struggles. I do not understand how he can be the one to blame. The blame should fall directly on the most loved GM here in the city, Ruben Amaro Jr. Other than trading away the entire farm system to acquire Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and Hunter Pence, what has he provided Charlie with this season? Ty Wigginton and Laynce Nix. Impressive Ruben, I'm sure Brian Cashman would approve of your tenure as a GM.




Phillies fans should have realized, if they haven't by now, the absences of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard really prohibit this team and now do not strike any fear into the opposing teams starting pitcher. I realize that when both of those guys do come back, this team will continue to struggle hitting breaking balls and will go through cold spurts, nothing new since the 2009 season.

What I did not expect and will never accept is a proven professional major leaguer hitting less than .250. It is not acceptable and honestly unless that player is mashing 25-30 home runs a season, he should not be playing in the majors. Enter Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino. Rollins is hitting a whopping .230 and Victorino is hitting .244. Both unacceptable from proven players who more so now than ever before are looked upon to carry this team on their shoulders.

While the season is still a little over a month the Phillies are sitting are 5.5 games out of first-place, I am not in total panic mode. I am not afraid of any of the teams in the NL East, the Nationals will come back to earth, the Braves starting five does nothing for me, the Mets are the Mets, and the Marlins have a weird fountain that displays dancing fish when they hit a home run. If the Phillies do not turn it around soon it may be too late for them to crawl back into this division during the dog days of summer.

Even worse, free-agent to be Cole Hamels who has publicly stated he wants to stay in Philadelphia may have a change of heart after seeing this type of shitty performance from the lineup and with no elite prospects in the farm system.