Game 160 - Friday Night, September 29th in Philadelphia
Record - 65-95, 5th place, 32 games behind the Nationals
One Sentence Summary: Ben Lively finished up his season with a strong start as the Phillies rode three home runs to this 6-2 win over the Mets.
What It Means: With this win, the Phillies are 36-37 since the All-Star break, having started the season at 29-58 prior to the break.
What Happened: Lively scattered six hits over six innings of work while allowing only two runs. Maikel Franco hit a two-run home run (22) in the second, and Jorge Alfaro (5) and Cesar Hernandez (9) added solo shots in the sixth.
Featured Card: I, along with most Phillies fans and seemingly the entire Phillies team and coaching staff, was shocked on Friday afternoon when the announcement was made that manager Pete Mackanin would not be returning in 2018. Mackanin was given a contract extension in May and he was seemingly in place (along with his coaching staff) for the long haul to see the rebuild through to fruition. General Manager Matt Klentak had other plans. Mackanin will move into a front office role and the coaching staff will be free to pursue other opportunities following Sunday's season finale.
In an awkward and not entirely revealing press conference, Klentak said he had decided that now was the right time to make this change. This in spite of the team playing great together in the second half after dumping players Klentak had added and replacing them with players Klentak had not had a hand in acquiring or drafting. I'm skeptical of the Phillies' GM to say the least.
Mackanin was unexpectedly thrust into the position when Ryne Sandberg decided he wanted no part of a rebuilding process. He did an admirable job and to see him unceremoniously dumped when the team was seemingly coming together is jarring. I like the guy and I like his coaching staff, especially Larry Bowa, Juan Samuel and Mickey Morandini. To see those guys cast aside in favor of a "new and improved" manager and coaching staff is discouraging.
Of course I'll change my opinion on Klentak if his next moves ultimately lead to another parade.
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2009 Chachi #28 (with Milt Thompson and Davey Lopes)
2010 Chachi #27 (with Charlie Manuel, Rich Dubee, Mick Billmeyer and Sam Perlozzo)
2011 Chachi #27 (with Rich Dubee and Greg Gross)
2012 Chachi #27 (with Rich Dubee and Greg Gross)
2014 Chachi #31
2015 Chachi #31
2015 Chachi #46 - Interim manager
2015 Chachi #68 HL - Named manager through 2016
2016 Chachi #26
2016 Chachi Photo Day #8
2016 Chachi Special Edition #14
2017 Chachi #26
2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #2
2017 Chachi Photo Night #31
I heard this on CSN on Friday evening. I didn't catch the beginning of the report, only that Mackanin was let go. I thought "What a gutless thing for the Phillies to do! Why make a change with 3 games left in the season? What improvement can that possibly make now? Why not just let Mackanin finish out the year, seeing as how he as had to put up with the dreck supplied by Klemtak for 2 years?"
ReplyDeleteThen I later heard that he WAS finishing out the season, and that he was "kicked upstairs". That makes this move slightly more palatable.
Jim, a few days ago I was looking at your post about all the players that have come and gone in the past year. How interesting that for most of the players the Phillies CUT, the only work they could find was in the minors or Japan. Great job to Klemtak for finding such gems!