I'm blaming Jack McCaffery.
Two weeks ago, the best sports columnist in Philly suggested it was time for Ruben Amaro Jr. to back up the truck and start selling off the remnants of this once-great Phillies team.
And Jack meant everyone. That includes star pitchers like Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee, and, yes, outfielder Domonic Brown.
At the time Brown was hotter than the Colorado wildfires. He had been named National League Player of the Week two consecutive weeks and the Player of the Month for May.
Since then Brown has come back to Earth. He looks a lot more like the guy who has disappointed so often in the past. Jack said Brown's value would never be higher, a stance that earned him a fair bit of derision in several media outlets.
As for the rest of the Phils? They continue to muddle along, four games under .500 and seven and a half back of the first-place Braves.
In other words, they're going nowhere.
Actually, right now they're headed to the West Coast, where they will start a 10-game road trip tonight in San Diego.
Yesterday they got walloped by the lowly Mets, 8-0. They looked overmatched against Mets starter Matt Harvey. As he always seems to do, David Wright tortured the Phils and used Citizens Bank Park as his own personal playpen.
The Phils covered all the same ground again yesterday that has been the hallmark of this team, inept hitting, poor decisions and spotty defense. Did I mishear it, or wasn't Ben Revere supposed to be a standout centerfielder? Yesterday his miscue in juggling a fly ball (which admittedly still should have been ruled an out) opened the door for a big inning for the Mets. They never looked back.
And the disinterested Phils never seemed to look up.
The Phillies need to use this road trip to put it together, instead of their recent penchant for pointing fingers. If they can scratch their way back to the .500 mark when they get back after spending the the July 4 holiday in Pittsburgh, they might have a shred of hope.
If not, if they continue to linger several games under .500 or sink even farther, it will be time for Amaro to pull the trigger.
Just as Jack said a couple of weeks ago.
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