The best sports columnist in the region – that would be our own Jack McCaffery – created a bit of a stir yesterday with this column. He followed it up with an appearance on Sports Radio 610 WIP.
In it Jack put for the opinion that Phillies fans have lost their edge, that they now blindly accept what the Phils put forth on the field, in no small part due to those World Series rings they sport on their hands.
The place was packed again last night, with another 44,906 jamming into the soup-bowl-like conditions inside Citizens Bank Park. It was the team’s 169th straight sellout at home, even with a game-time temperature in the low 90s and the threat of thunderstorms, which rumbled across the stadium and caused an hour rain delay.
Bottom line is this: This Phillies team is not hitting. And it has not hit for awhile. This is no longer a slump. This is not a trend. This is what it is.
Has anyone else wondered if this simply is not going to hit, that maybe this is it, that there is the distinct possibility that age and injuries have caught up with much of their lineup.
The response has always been that this is just the latest example of the media being negative, after all the team did have the best record in baseball.
Not anymore. Last night’s loss in 11 innings dropped them below the Cardinals.
After a Jimmy Rollins homer spotted them to a 3-0 lead, the Phils went almost the equivalent of a full game without a hit, exactly eight and two-thirds innings.
Their pitching remains the best in baseball. Their offense? My response to that is: What offense?
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