Girardi Out

We all saw it coming, but will it do any good? The Phils have fired manager Joe Girardi and replaced him with bench coach Rob Thomson.

The Phils have alternated between disappointing and terrible this season. They have baseball's fourth-highest payroll and are seven games under .500, 12 games out of first place. The main problems have been bad defense, another bad bullpen, and an inconsistent offense. 

How much of that is Girardi's fault? Maybe the bullpen, based on some of his decisions. Maybe the offense due to lineup construction. But the construction of the team falls on Dave Dombrowski, who was brought in to bring the Phils back to the playoffs. That's not working out so well right now.

Something had to be done, because it can't be business as usual when a team is underperforming as much as the Phillies are. I thought it might be a trade, but firing the manager is an easy move. Girardi's contract was up at the end of the year and Dombrowski, who didn't hire him, had given no indication of Girardi would be back.

Incidentally, this is the second time the Phils have fired a manager on a day when I have tickets to a game. I have tickets for tonight against the Angels. I also had tickets to the game in Chicago in June 1987 when the Phils fired John Felske and replaced him with Lee Elia. It was my first time at Wrigley and I was staying with cousins who lived in the suburbs. It was great seeing my cousins, visiting the historic ballpark, and seeing a terrible manager get canned. The Phils lost the day, BTW.

I guess Thomson is a good pick an interim manager, since he's familiar with the team. I would have loved to see Charlie Manuel get the job, but I doubt the 78-year-old legend wanted anything to do with this crazy time shitshow. 

There are 111 games left in the season, so there's theoretically time to turn things around. But this looks like the Mets' year. Is a wild card berth possible? Only if Thomson can find a way to make the defense, bullpen, and offense better.