Pressure mounting on Joe Girardi in Philadelphia after Phillies slow start
Phillies’ play-by-play announcer Tom McCarthy signed off on Thursday by saying, “baseball is an unforgiving sport,” leaving a pause between the second and third words long enough for Philly fans to remember all the other times their team has let them down.
Having just watched Philadelphia blow a six-run lead in the ninth inning, losing 8-7 to the Mets at home, McCarthy delivered another gut punch.
“As stunning a loss by the Philadelphia Phillies that we have seen in more than a decade,” he added.
Here’s the thing, though. Losses like this have been pretty standard for the Phillies since 2012, the first year of their ongoing playoff drought. Maybe not losing a game where they entered the ninth inning up by six (and still had a three-run lead with two outs), but losses where the bullpen staged a mutiny against the rest of the team.
The Phillies were the National League’s dominant force in the back half of the 2000s. They made the playoffs in 2007, won a championship in 2008 and won another pennant in 2009 before falling short in the World Series to the Yankees. Two more postseason appearances followed in 2010 and 2011 (a season where they won 102 games), but the team couldn’t reach the Fall Classic.
A rebuild followed, first slowly, then all at once. Brad Lidge was the first member of the championship core to leave, then Shane Victorino, and in 2013, manager Charlie Manuel was fired with the team sitting at 53-67. As Ryan Howard and Roy Halladay sharply declined and the losses piled up, the writing was on the wall. Beloved Philadelphia icons Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels and Chase Utley were all traded within a nine-month span, and the Phillies bottomed out in 2015, limping to a 63-99 season that earned them the first pick in the draft.
That pick, outfielder Mickey Moniak, has made just 55 plate appearances in the major leagues since getting drafted nearly six years ago. While the franchise has had some success stories since being the worst team in the league — signing Bryce Harper, developing Aaron Nola, swiping Zack Wheeler in free agency — the overall experience has been pretty bad.
And about that bullpen.
Since their last playoff appearance, the Phillies’ bullpen ranks 22nd out of 30 teams in Wins Above Replacement, 26th in walk rate and 28th in ERA, WHIP and opponents’ batting average. By WAR, their best reliever during this span is Jonathan Papelbon, who has not been a Phillie since 2015. Jeanmar Gomez, Hector Neris, Seranthony Dominguez, Brandon Workman and Ian Kennedy shared custody of the closer role from 2016-2021, none of them displaying exemplary competence.
Right now, the Phillies are going with Corey Knebel, who peaked in 2017 and has struggled to stay healthy since. Knebel was responsible for the final three earned runs in Thursday’s meltdown, getting his first blown save in Phillies’ red. Perhaps worst of all, the most promising reliever the Phillies have had since Papelbon (the fiery Ken Giles) was traded away for five players. Only two of them ever played in an MLB game for Philadelphia.
Tthe Phillies are 11-15, hanging out in fourth place of the NL East standings. Their season has thus far played out in a similar fashion to how prognosticators expected: solid hitting, awful defense and a bullpen with a 4.50 ERA.
Underachieving has been the main theme of the Phillies’ last decade. Even with suspect fielding and relievers, the talent on this team is undeniable. As always, that leads to questions about the manager. Joe Girardi is now in his third year at the helm. The Phillies have been a sub-.500 team in his tenure. If the Phillies axe Girardi during the season, he’ll be the fourth manager since Manuel to be let go before reaching their fourth year. His predecessor, Gabe Kapler, is the hottest thing to hit dugouts since bubble gum, making Philadelphia’s dismissal of him all the more painful.
It’s certainly possible that Kapler was never going to work in Philadelphia. But right now, Girardi sure ain’t working either. The calls for his head grew louder and louder after Thursday’s debacle, and the pressure is enough to make any person long for a different gig. Girardi basically has to turn this ship around pronto and steer the Phillies to an unlikely playoff berth, which would mean either evading the hyenas in their own division or beating out some equally menacing NL teams for a Wild Card spot.
Girardi told reporters on Thursday that the catastrophic loss was “probably the toughest one since I’ve been here.” This raises the question of whether being complicit in another potentially draining Phillies season is tougher than not having a job at all.
