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Throwing in the towel

Yancy Street Gang Jun 26 2006 04:36 PM

How about a thread that will show evidence of other teams' fans or correspondents (or players) giving up on the NL East race for this year. Here's one to kick it off. This is from the Philadelphia Inquirer: ] Time is running out for a Phillies playoff run By Jim Salisbury Inquirer Columnist BOSTON - Good news, Phillies fans. Your team didn't lose yesterday. Things have become so bad for the local nine that a rainout now passes as a positive development. Sad. Maybe the Phils can salvage one today in Boston, but will it really matter? There's a stench emanating from this team. Even Charlie Manuel's nostrils have picked it up. "We haven't been playing good baseball," the skipper said as he watched the raindrops fall from the visitors' dugout at Fenway Park, shortly before the game was postponed. "Actually, at times, we stink." Can't argue with that. OK, maybe we'd remove the "at times" qualifier. The Phillies, who lost the first two games of this series, might have won Saturday had they not gone 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position and let a bunch of good offensive chances slip by in the late innings. The bad clutch-work culminated with Boston rookie Jonathan Papelbon's firing three pitches past a bewildered-looking Pat Burrell with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning. Burrell went into the at-bat 2 for 36 with runners in scoring position and two outs, and you can bet the computer whizzes who run the Red Sox knew that. Manager Terry Francona ordered an intentional walk of Bobby Abreu to get to Burrell. Hitting with runners in scoring position (.241, 15th in the National League) has been a big problem for this clunker of a team. So has starting pitching, in which the Phils rank last in the league with a 5.52 ERA. That's an exacta that can kill a team, and it may already have killed this one. Organization officials still believe the Phillies will get better in both areas. Jon Lieber and Randy Wolf are due back in the rotation in the second half, and the hitting tide, the Phils hope, will reverse itself. Despite all this wishful thinking, it is very difficult, almost impossible, to imagine this team ending a 13-year playoff drought this season. Even with Lieber and Wolf, the Phils may not have enough quality pitching to make a run at the NL wild card. And the way the Mets are playing, that's probably all that's left. The Phillies are five games out of first in the wild-card chase, but the scary number is eight. They are in eighth place in the race and must scale nearly half the NL to win the wild card. Do you have any faith that this club, which has welcomed summer by losing 12 of 15, can make a run at the wild card? "We've got to become a better team quick to make the playoffs," Manuel said. Quick is the key word. Right now, this team is walking the fault line that all mediocre teams walk in late June. Will the Phils try to acquire pieces to make a run at the playoffs, or will they sell off pieces and set their sights on next year? Manuel was asked whether it was getting close to the time when the Phillies would turn the season into a rebuilding effort. His response: "Ask Pat." General manager Pat Gillick admitted that there could be a time when 2006 becomes a preparation for 2007. "But we're not close to that yet," he said. How do you know when it's time to pull the plug on a season and set your sights forward? "It's an instinctual call," Gillick said. Gillick has been in the game forever, and deep down inside his instincts have to be telling him this is not an October team. In November, he said the Phillies were five wins away. They look more like 15 wins away. The GM was asked whether getting the Phillies over the hump was a bigger job than he initially thought when he joined the club. "Um...," he said with a lengthy pause. "I wouldn't say it's a bigger job. I still think that when we do play well, when we execute right, and you look at us in that light, it's not that big of a job. On the other hand, when we don't play well, it appears to be a bigger task." Gillick could be a busy man if he pulls the plug on this season in the coming weeks. He could have two lefty relievers to deal in Rheal Cormier and Arthur Rhodes. Heck, Tom Gordon might bring a pretty price if the Phils were ready to look for another closer this winter. Some team could find Cory Lidle or David Dellucci attractive. Abreu and Burrell remain available, but both are expensive. Abreu recently has drawn interest from Detroit, and the Red Sox would love to have him, too. How Gillick spends the rest of his summer will come down to these next few weeks. If the Phillies somehow right their ship, they might add a piece. If the swoon continues, he'll be selling and getting ready for 2007. Right now, though, he'd settle for a win in Boston. A lost weekend has been extended into the work week thanks to the best news the Phillies have gotten in days - a rainout.

OlerudOwned Jun 26 2006 04:46 PM

I can't copy and paste because the left button on my mouse doesn't work, but here's [url=http://www.ajc.com/sunday/content/epaper/editions/sunday/sports_44e9e27473a1c0550081.html?COXnetJSessionIDbuild142=EgGuGjuNl6NnZL27itbSreoV75YYsuUDkrOmiwXHJ1MRmoZZ868o!-1992909848&UrAuth=%60N_NUOaNZUbTTUWUXUWUZTZUbUWUbU^UZU%60UZUcTYWYWZV&urcm=y]"Abandon hope all ye who enter Turner Field in '06"[/url]. (Registration required, use this login account I found on bugmenot.com: ajc@pookmail.com password: huzzah)

Yancy Street Gang Jun 26 2006 04:53 PM

Here it is. Furman Bisher! Wow! I remember reading him in The Sporting News when I was a kid. Nice to see that he's still around. ] Abandon hope all ye who enter Turner Field in '06 Furman Bisher - Staff Sunday, June 25, 2006 In the throes of misery, there can sometimes be found a ray of hope. Not so in the case of the Braves of 2006. Having said that, let me illuminate you as to just how bad things really are: They're so bad even an outfielder (Kelly Johnson) had to have Tommy John surgery. They're so bad that they've even raided the Australia national team in search of pitchers. They're so bad that only Milwaukee has a worse ERA. They're so bad that their pitching roster leads the league in asterisks (that indicates wounded or in surgery). They're so bad that John Schuerholz might as well disconnect his line to Richmond and Pearl, Miss. That's just for openers. Friday night, playing Tampa Bay (in St. Petersburg?), John Smoltz throws something out of joint and leaves after two innings. Then one of the Australians, Phil Stockman, stubs his toe on the pitching rubber and pulls something. I'm sorry I don't remember what, but there is one thing the Braves lead the league in: bruises, contusions, pulled groins, pulled hamstrings and assorted strains. Aren't these guys in shape, or are they just brittle? When a club starts sending its stars to the body shop for help, you know it's trouble, and that starts with T and that rhymes with P and that stands for pool, for all of you who missed "Music Man." The clubhouse is beginning to look like a bus station. A lot of strange (unfamiliar) names over the cubicles. Some guys just passing through. They recalled one player from Richmond and he was on his way back before he could unpack. The best pitching "find" they came up with this year has been in pro ball since 1993, had pitched for 13 different teams, had pitched 11 innings in the major leagues, is 31 years old. Heaven knows what they'd have done without Ken Ray. His ERA is the best on the staff and he hasn't yet blown a save. That's just the minor stuff. Get this: Chipper Jones was hitting .270 last time I looked. Smoltz was 4-5 and couldn't win because somebody out of the bullpen was blowing his leads. Tim Hudson hasn't been living up to his wages, and I wouldn't exactly call his season of '05 up to par. Winning 14 is fine, but he was paid a 20-win salary when the Braves traded for him. Chris Reitsma, closer by appointment, took the ball for weeks and got blasted before he finally admitted he wasn't feeling good. In fact, not at all in part of his pitching hand. You remember how it was last season. It's getting to be a different story now. When trouble struck, all they had to do was call Richmond or Mississippi, and presto! They came up with a Kyle Davies or a Brian McCann, or a Jeff Francoeur, or a Blaine Boyer, or a Macay McBride. Each time a star was born. Everybody was ready last season. This year they're dragging bottom. "Nobody left down there," Bobby Cox said. It's one of those in-between seasons. Nobody on the farm is hot, or ready. The best-looking hitting prospect in the spring was James Jurries, who can play first base or outfield. He was hitting over .400. Then he's farmed out to Richmond and gets hurt. In his stead, Scott Thorman, another first baseman, is called up and everything he hits gets caught. Something else bothers me. Two of the brightest prospects are sitting on the bench, or being platooned, Adam LaRoche and Ryan Langerhans. Somebody needs to build a fire under LaRoche, not just referring to that embarrassing play when Washington was in town. Casual is fine, but it seems he's overdoing it. Langerhans? He has all the tools, great defense, strong arm, sharp baserunner. My idea: Put Andruw Jones, Francoeur and Langerhans in the outfield and leave them there, no matter, right-hander or left-hander pitching. You never suspected that a Braves bullpen would take such a pratfall. Roger McDowell can do just so much. He is developing a streak of gray down the middle of his locks, and don't bring up the name of Mazzone. Leo is having troubles of his own. The Orioles' ERA is next to the worst in the American League. I guess that's about all I had on my mind. But who can complain? After 14 years of prosperity we're due some hard times. On the other hand, here's to Brian McCann, who has handled all these cranky pitchers, old or young, has swung a competent bat, and never faltered.

MFS62 Jun 26 2006 06:20 PM

Furman Bisher, Gordon Cobledick, Shirley Povich - some really historic baseball writers in those days. Anyone remember who the first writer was to cover the Mets for TSN? Hint: He had been a longtime Yankee writer. Guesses? Later

Johnny Dickshot Jun 26 2006 08:20 PM

If I know, may I still guess? B.K. -- A decent chronicaler for the "paper of record" but not much of an investigator.

MFS62 Jun 26 2006 08:58 PM

Johnny Dickshot wrote: If I know, may I still guess? B.K. -- A decent chronicaler for the "paper of record" but not much of an investigator. Nope. Right paper (I think) wrong person. EDIT: He wrote for another NY paper or two (that don't exist any more). Later

TheOldMole Jun 26 2006 09:12 PM

Dan Daniel?

MFS62 Jun 26 2006 09:28 PM

Bingo! The man who had more of his words printed in the Sporting News than any other writer. He worte the first dozen or so weekly articles about the Mets before their first season. Later