Exactly.

FTN wrote:having a hard time motivating myself to watch the games at this point. its not a good team.

I find myself with more time to watch TV shows that I know I like, so that's good. I know it's only been 10% of the season but unfortunately that's less encouraging than depressing.

what a disloyal fan base we are

If you don't like the team, then shut the fuck up and stop posting nonsense. I at least have the courtesy to disappear for a bit when I go full blown chicken little. You people are fucking miserable.

"The Phillies did this thing the other day where we came down through the bleachers for one opening game, and I don't feel comfortable doing that," Papelbon said. "I really, truly don't. Today's day and age has gotten so crazy, everything. You know, all this stuff going on. Shoot, man, Obama wants to take our guns from us and everything, you've got this kind of stuff going on. It's a little bit insane for me. I really don't know how to take it."

Jonathan Hawes

Papelbon can eat a dick too, while I'm at it.

wait, he didnt want to come down through the fans? why's he put himself out in the open on a freaking baseball mound where he's the #1 guy EVERYONE is looking at, then?

fans can't stab him on the mound

i figured out why he's afraid of the guns thing"

On April 17, 2010, Ashley gave birth to the couple's second child, a son named Gunner Robert.[33

The Dude wrote:what a disloyal fan base we are

don't worry, we'll pat ourselves on the back when things are going well

You guys are pansy asses. This team is like an all star team compared to the crap they ran out there in the late 90's

I have a lot of respect for Rube. I respect his intelligence, his determination and work ethic. I respect some of the deals he's done, e.g., getting Lee in 2009. I also know that GM's often dissemble in their public comments. But, if he's serious -- and his actions suggest he is -- if he's serious that he doesn't care about walks, that's a scary bad blind spot.

The Phils were 26th in MLB in BB last year and are at right about the same place this year. Their top 3 minor league affiliates were last, last and next-to-last in BB in their respective leagues last year. In filling his 3 position openings this past off season Rube acquired 3 hitters who were among the lowest in BB rate in the AL last year. So I don't think he was kidding when he said he didn't care about walks. Although it's hard to believe the organization has a philosophy of choosing low walk rate hitters over high, at the very least the evidence suggests there is no organizational emphasis on finding higher walk rate hitters. Considering how hard it is (if not impossible) to have a consistently good offense without some higher walk rate guys in your lineup, things are not very promising on the offensive front.

I know it's not easy to find high walk rate hitters and, thanks to Moneyball and better metrics, they're more expensive than they used to be. But, if you want a consistently good offense, you've got to find some higher walk rate hitters for your lineup, no matter what the cost and effort.

I often find myself thinking of the 1993 Phils team in this context. That team was not shut out until the final series of the season, by which time they'd already clinched the division. The lineup had four guys -- Dykstra, Kruk, Daulton and Hollins -- who consistently worked counts, got on base via the walk and wore down opposing hitters. Of course, not everyone on your team is going to be a patient hitter and that team had its share of hackers like Duncan, Eisenreich, Incavigila, Chamberlain, etc. But those kind of hitters (good average, but low walk rate) were made more effective batting behind the guys who got on base consistently because their hits tended to drive in more runs and keep rallies going, rather than just being hits with no one on base. And, when a walk was mixed into an inning, it took only 1 or 2 hits to get a run, rather than 2 or 3.

This is not rocket science. This is my 50th year as a Phillies fan and for the vast majority of that time there were no advanced metrics. But even 20, 30 or more years ago, you didn't have to be a genius to figure out that having guys who walked and worked counts really helped the offense. And that's what's so scary to me about the current Phils' philosophy: Getting on base as a component of a good offense is neither old school nor new school (to my mind at least). It's simply common sense from forever ago in baseball. A team that says it doesn't care about walks, only production, is kind of like a company that says it doesn't care about revenues, only profits. Without the former, it's pretty damn tough to achieve the latter.

Wheels Tupay wrote:You guys are pansy asses. This team is like an all star team compared to the crap they ran out there in the late 90's

Not a high bar there, sparky.

i believe there are a number of issues with the current squad, and i think most of them are amaro's doing.

1. after 2008 when he inherited the team, he shifted the allocation of funds toward pitching. he invested heavily in guys like halladay, lee, and now hamels. he spent huge money on a closer. pitching, as we've seen, is more fickle than hitting. every year, guys come out of nowhere and put up big seasons for the league minimum. the orioles signed miguel gonzalez as a minor league free agent prior to the 2012 season and no one cared. he somehow became a solid pitcher, posted a 3.25 ERA in 100 innings last year, pitching in the AL east, and pitched well in the playoffs. hes now in the middle of their rotation making the league minimum. hes just one example. the 2008 team that won the world series included these guys:

jamie moyer (196 innings)
kyle kendrick (155 innings)
adam eaton (107 innings)
clay condrey (69 innings)
rudy seanez (43 innings)
scott eyre (14 innings, 19 games)

we also get unexpected years from jc romero and chad durbin. our starting rotation ERA was 4.30. eaton and brett myers were our two most expensive starting pitchers, both made less than $9m per.

our offense was awesome. we scored 799 runs. winning 9-7 games was sometimes uneasy, but you knew the offense was capable of a big number at any time. With the emphasis now on pitching, we've neglected the lineup. lack of adequate backups, giving too many at bats to guys who don't deserve them, and targeting the wrong players (pence) in trades. and now we don't have the money to make a splash on offense because we have $86M tied up in 5 pitchers.

2. im not going to belabor the walks thing. but its not just about on base percentage. its about wearing down opposing staffs. our current lineup is horrendous in that regard. if you take a long swig of an adult beverage, you could miss an entire half inning when the phillies are batting. our lineup isnt balanced, we lack power, we lack patience, and outside of revere, we lack speed. so its a singles hitting team, and our most expensive player looks like hes playing at about 40%, regularly giving away at bats and running like a 75 year old man. yes, teams are now focused more on on base percentage and it is "more expensive", but it doesnt mean it isnt important. its vitally important. so you pay the premium. we're not a mid-market team, we have the money to spend. if rube does not want to overpay for someone like swisher, fine, i get that. but the options we are currently employing in the corners are not optimal.

3. charlie has forever earned himself a spot in phillies history. he deserves his plaudits. he has his strengths. apparently the players love him. which is great. there is value in keeping a team loose and making sure they are prepared. but it seems they might be tuning him out at this point. prior to last year, defense was one of our biggest strengths. natural aging is part of our decline, but sloppy baseball has now become a staple of this team. more worryingly, his in game management is horrendous. to be fair, it has been for most of his time here. but previously, we were able to bludgeon opponents, so his strange game management did not hurt us. now, our margin for error has been greatly reduced. the "give up 2 runs in the top of the inning, hit a 3 run home run in the bottom" formula doesnt quite work as well, since we really only have 2 guys in our lineup capable of hitting a 3 run home run with any kind of consistency. and one of them is the guy mentioned above in #2, who looks like hes on his death bed.

i think we've just reached the end of the run. most teams in baseball would have killed for our 5 year run. 5 divisions. 2 pennants. 1 world series. 100 win teams. packed houses. we were the cream of the NL crop. but all good things come to an end at some point. rube gambled on pitching being what would carry us. pitching hasn't carried us. we ran in to more timely pitching/hitting against the cardinals in 2011. it was unlucky. but it emphasizes again how no matter how good your pitching is, you still need to be able to score runs. i think we need to fix the budget allocation. we need to do whatever we can to add one or two elite bats to the lineup, whether its emptying out our farm system or spending more than we probably should via free agency. halladay either comes back on the cheap or he doesnt come back. having $50m tied up to 2 starters is still not good, but at least they are both great pitchers. we luckily have good middle of the rotation caliber arms in AA and AAA, so we should be able to fill a few rotation spots for the league minimum over the next 5 years. that money absolutely has to be plowed back in to the offense.

All your arguments are valid but I think your third argument, the one about Charlie, is one that too often gets swept under the rug, particularly by the Philly media.

Putting aside his in-game decisions, I've noticed a change in Charlie's demeanor this season. He appears to have an "oh well" attitude about things that, just a year ago, would upset him. Has anyone else noticed it?

Can't disagree with any of that. The 2009-10-11 playoff losses were more devastating because you could see this scenario unfolding, we had the ammo but misfired at the end. Now we're old.

RE: #3 - What can Chuck do though? Kratz, Young, Brown, Howard all are bad defensively. That is more on Amaro. I don't really see what Chuck can do.

Ryan Lawrence ‏@ryanlawrence21 4s John Lannan has been placed on the 15-day DL with strained quadriceps tendon in left knee. Corresponding move coming Friday. #Phillies

JFLY's and floppy's posts are very strong and fair, imo, but I take exception with this

pitching hasn't carried us. we ran in to more timely pitching/hitting against the cardinals in 2011. it was unlucky. but it emphasizes again how no matter how good your pitching is, you still need to be able to score runs

I still think the pitching focus was completely justifiable. The 2010 and 2011 teams were awesome and at least a little unlucky in the playoffs. In fact, the first year we lost to a pitching-rich team with waiver-wire heroes on offense. The second team was more hitter-focused, and we lost by one run. May have swept if Lee had held on to a 4-0 lead.

Moreover, what should he have done differently at that high level? Werth instead of Lee? That obviously wouldn't have resulted in fewer playoff series wins, but I don't think you can make a strong argument that was the more reasonable move.

Another consideration is Brown's slow development, and quicker than could have been forseen dropoffs from Howard and Utley