Swing and a Miss

The Sixers signed a new power forward on Monday, name of Furkan Aldemir.

On Friday they announced his plantar fasciitis is worse than previously believed.

They're kidding, right!?

You mean the Sixers signed yet another big man who is injured?  Are  they really telling us that after all the miserable experiences of the last few years signing or acquiring big men who could not and/or did not play, the Sixers did it again?

After the Sixers lost yet another game to a lousy team, bowing to the 8-14 Boston Celtics by 18 points, their coach had this to say:

"It's a fact that you do lay an egg from time to time in the NBA over 82 games.  And tonight we laid an egg."

An egg?  Did you say "an egg"?  Are we talkin' "an egg"?

How about an entire Tortilla Espanola, Brett?

Be happy for Jimmy. He's in a much better place.

OK, Sixers, enough already.  You already ruined the only reason to check the scoreboard.  Now, you've gone and won another game...in OT no less!!

That's it.  I ain't gonna' check Yahoo Sportacular on my phone any more.  No, better than that, I'm gonna' delete the Sixers from my Favorites so I don't even have to avoid looking.

That's what you get for ruining the only drama around these parts by winning not one but two games in one week.

Just be forewarned, if you guys with the NBA championship, I'm not going to the parade.

Aw, Jeez, why did the Sixers want to go an spoil the only excitement of the season by winning a game???!!!!

And why, oh why, did the Timberwolves tank by playing without three starters and their reserve center?

Now there's nothing to look forward to during the long winter months.

Thanks, Sixers!  And thanks to you, too, Wolves!

$39.25.  That's the average price for a ticket to see your Philadelphia 76ers.

There have been too many articles to count whose subject is the impatience of the average Philadelphia sports fan.  There have been even more articles (including a NYT sports section page one item) concerning the 76ers "plan" to build a winner through patient (management version) drafting and [unstated but hardly a secret] tanking in order to secure high draft picks.

The Sixers have acquired or drafted three big men in the last few years one of whom never played a minute in Philadelphia, one of whom missed his entire rookie year recuperating from an injury, and a third who is also likely to miss his entire rookie year because of injury.

The Sixers have been losing at a prodigious rate for two years and have begun the current year 0-11.

Every single article on the Sixers in the Inquirer contains citations of statistics for the franchise's worst start and the NBA record for worst start.

Ah, but the worst was yet to come...until today.

A former Kentucky player was quoted as saying his college team could beat the Sixers in a series with the latter winning perhaps a game.

So, what's with you impatient Sixers' fans, eh?  Why can't you shell out an average of $39.25 to see one of the worst teams in NBA history?  And, by the way, that $39.25 doesn't include transportation to the game, parking if applicable, food and (just kidding on this next one) souvenirs.  On second thought, some people might be hoarding souvenirs for these losers because, you guessed it, they might be valuable artifacts of a record-setting team.

Boy, you Philadelphia fans sure are impatient!!!

In case you were wondering just how low the Phillies could go, here's a hint:

They signed Jeff Francoeur.

Now, if that ain't the bottom, folks, it must be nearby.

Wake up, dear readers (all three of you).

I haven't watched a single pitch of the World Series, but that doesn't stop me from opining.

The Giants are one win away from winning their third title in five years.  Normally, that would constitute a dynasty, but go ahead, name four or five players on the Giants team.  I don't know if their run is the result of luck, poor opposition, the dilution of major league talent in general or they just know how to peak at the right time.

The Giants have had good pitching and timely hitting, but there aren't names like Jeter, Bench, Brooks and Frank Robinson et al.  The Giants remind me most of the great Oakland teams of the early to mid '70's.  Few Hall of Famers but a lot of solid players who always peaked at the right time.

The Phillies, meanwhile, are going to be on the outside looking in for a very long time.

* * * * * * * *

The Sixers are going to be on the outside looking in for a long time, too.  Go ahead, name more than two players on the team.  Take all the time you want.

They have a strategy, or at least that's what we continue to hear, but by the time they can see if it worked there will be more ushers in the stands than paying customers.

The NBA probably rejected any changes to the lottery system, at least for next year, because the Sixers, who will benefit from the current setup, must have told the powers-that-be that the franchise would have to move in a few years if the system changed because no one in Philadelphia would listen to chicken little any longer.

* * * * * * * *

The Flyers started out this year like last year, that is, losing.  They looked set to dig themselves another 1-7 hole, especially with a tough road trip coming on the heels of their winless start, but, lo and behold, they beat some damn good teams, returned home and beat Detroit, and now they are back at even though down in the standings.

Meanwhile, Steve Mason, who was allegedly going to break out this year, has stunk and Ray Emery, his backup, who stunk last year, is the guy who's been in the next for this admittedly very mini winning streak.

As for their defense, well, it was suspect to begin the year, worsened due to injuries and was so depleted the Flyers brought up their top prospect on defense after saying he had to get more seasoning as a pro before they would let me make his NHL debut.

Who knows with this team?!

* * * * * * * *

And then there are the Eagles.  They began the season with Nick Foles at quarterback.  The debate as to his true value was intense.  He did well when he came on last season, his first as a starter (at the midpoint of the season) but worries persisted he wasn't ever going to be a franchise quarterback. When the Eagles won five of their first six games, several by hanging on for dear life, his legions of detractors howled that Foles looked shaky at best and his supporters, many of them in the same locker room, said, "Hey, we're 5-1 and he's had something to do with it!"

Well, they lost their next game, which they led with less than two minutes remaining on the road and were driving as time expired, and the headlines said Foles bore much of the responsibility.

So, what should we conclude?  Foles could win most of his starts for the second half of the season, the Eagles could make the playoffs but bow out early, then the alleged brain trust would make noises about needing this defensive back or that one and when the draft rolls around grab the first quality QB available.

For you see, Nick really isn't a franchise QB.

* * * * * * * *

For many of my 35 years in Philadelphia, Penn had been a power in Ivy League football and basketball.  The basketball team has been lousy for a few years running but the football team was still among the elite until this year.  Penn is 1-5, their only win coming against perennial doormat Columbia.  I guess as the schools intellectual reputation has risen even higher over the last many years, its athletic prowess has moved in the other direction.

* * * * * * * *

Temple, meanwhile, started off like a ball of fire but has cooled considerably since then.  It seems like we are always waiting for Temple to put it all together.

Given up for dead, and rightfully so, in this space and elsewhere, the Phillies have mildly surprised the faithful by winning three straight series from teams likely to make the post-season.

Don't get your hopes up, faithful.

This modest streak comes on the heels of the following developments:

1.  Their number two pitcher is lost for the remainder of the season by July.
2.  Their number one slugger is flirting with the Mendoza line.
3.  Their manager has angered rookies and veterans alike by his quick hook or lack of playing time.
4.  Their GM only recently allowed for the possibility that his team, on a pace to lose 90 games, would not make the post-season.

Make no mistake about it, this modest streak will be halted shortly (perhaps as early as tonight) when the Phils start losing to teams with losing records.

More than a few pundits who get paid to write about the Phillies have raised alarm bells about the discontent simmering in the clubhouse.  When rookies and under-performers complained about the manager, some of this pundits advised the youngsters to shut up and put up, not necessarily in that order.  When veteran star Cole Hamels stormed off the mound, however, these same pundits began wondering whether or not the problem rested in the manager's office.

It's difficult to really measure Ryne Sandberg's performance given the crappy team his was furnished, but one conclusion is emerging:  a player who gave his all and made the Hall of Fame as a result is not likely to be impressed by or care much for anything but what happens between the lines.  Show him the performance, and then and only then can we assign some blame.

Spoiler alert!!!

Last night at Citizens Bank Park nearly everything wrong with the Phillies was prominently displayed.

On the field, the bats were silent again wasting another fine outing by Cole Hamels, the only reliable starter on the staff.  For the second time in a week Hamels' mates were AWOL as he stifled the opposition.  Hamels has two no-decisions to show for his outstanding efforts.

Also on the field, the Phillies celebrated the induction of former manager Charlie Manual into the teams Wall of Fame.  It was all folksy and joyful as befitted the inductee.

Off the field, we can look at the events cited above and find nothing to celebrate with the Phillies' alleged brain trust.  Indeed, Hamels' plight can be laid directly at the feet of GM Ruben Amaro and whichever of the myriad owners actually has a say in the day-to-day operations.  Amaro took over a squad that was at its peak and tried to squeeze a few more titles out of it while emptying his farm system.  Injuries and age undermined his goal, but not nearly as much as his ruinous trades, reckless contracts, and general inability to judge talent did.  Until as recently as two months ago Amaro insisted the Phillies could be competitive.  Right now they are...as long as the Houston Astros provide the opposition.

But the night really revolved around Manual.  After leading the Phillies out of the wasteland and to consecutive World Series appearances and one win, Manual was saddled with these aging, injured and overpriced players and could no longer work miracles.  Was Manual a genius?  Hardly.  He had his issues with in-game strategies and was less than impressive as a judge of pitchers.  But Manuel was a players' manager and was successful in getting the most out of those players while he could.  So, what was his ultimate reward (Walls of Fame notwithstanding)?  He was fired late in the season with a little over a month or two to go.  Instead of telling Charlie they were going to let him go at the end of the season, they fired him with time remaining.  It was a decision not only lacking in class, it sent a message that this alleged brain trust had little regard for its valuable employees.

We should not forget Dallas Green here.  Green was no genius.  On top of that, he was a loud-mouthed jerk.  But he won a World Series after an even longer period of wandering the wilderness and was rewarded with a lifetime job, even after he left briefly to head the Chicago Cubs and succeeded in fleecing his former employers by wrangling Ryne Sandberg from them.  What goes around.....   Sandberg had a Hall of Fame career in Chicago and then returned to the Phillies organization only to become the manager who succeeded, you guessed it, Charlie Manual.  Meanwhile, Green has some senior advisory role with the Phillies, possible Loud Mouth For Life.

I'm not quite finished.

In addition to firing Manual instead of seeing him gracefully retire, the Phillies also fired long-time television and radio commentator Chris Wheeler.  In Wheeler's case the Phillies allowed him to finish the season, but after signing a huge new deal with Comcast, the alleged brain trust decided to unceremoniously cut Wheeler loose.  Wheeler had his detractors.  He made the phrases "middle in" and "no doubles defense" raise more than a few hackles among listeners; but, he was informed and passionate and devoted.  For this he was dumped very unceremoniously and replaced by two media neophytes, Jamie Moyer and Matt Stairs, who are charitably the worst commentators in the booth this viewer has ever endured.  I haven't tried this duo as the cure for my chronic insomnia but I might force myself to tune in late one night for a trial dose.

So, there you have it.  The Phillies' alleged brain trust has screwed up the product on and off the field, and they have done it without apology.  They aren't good at their jobs and they have no class in the process.

The July trade deadline passed quietly in Philadelphia.  Very quietly.  The only momentous event of the day came later that evening when a few unnamed clubs who'd possibly been considering acquiring Cliff Lee breathed huge sighs of relief when the veteran left-hander left the game in the third inning with a recurrence of the elbow strain that had already sidelined him for two months of the season.  Lee is done for the year if not career and his trade value is nil.

Indeed, nil was the watchword in Philadelphia.  The Phils had nothing especially valuable to trade and potential partners had even less they were willing to offer.  The Phillies' alleged brain trust has finally come to the conclusion reached unanimously elsewhere that the rebuilding must begin.  The trouble is a team cannot rebuild overnight, especially not these days when free agency isn't what it once was with most teams locking up potential free agents with lucrative long-term deals.  The Phils are going to have to rebuild slowly the old-fashioned way, by developing players.  They did it within recent memory, developing Cole Hamels, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz, but they didn't do it after that bumper crop and now the farm system is bare.

The danger that looms, and thus the watch noted above, is the Phillies will make an especially desperate move and trade Cole Hamels for prospects.  To be sure, these prospects will be highly touted, but prospects are prospects, for all that, as Robert Burns never said.  Without Hamels, the Phils will not have one certified front line pitcher.

The counter argument is that Hamels will be the lone member of a pitiful staff come next year and will find even less run support from the cast of has-beens and never-weres surrounding him than he has the past two seasons.  Hamels soldiers on, but he has allowed in public he isn't thrilled with the Phillies' offense.  It won't get better in the foreseeable future.  How much losing can Hamels endure?  For his sake, I hope he is traded to a winning team.  For our sakes I hope he remains; as Matt Gelb pointed out the other day, at least every fifth day should provide some hope with Hamels on the team.

Ruben Amaro has shown a strong willingness to overspend for and misjudge talent, so one can hardly be sanguine about the prospects he would acquire by trading Hamels or any other commodity of value on the current roster.  Some in town are giving him credit for not panicking last week and making some bad deals.  If these people want to keep score, Amaro's sudden caution hardly evened his ledger.

The three readers of this space may have missed it, but I Reversed Cursed Cole Hamels a few months ago and, sure enough, he responded with a string of stellar performances worthy of the title "Ace"!

If rumors are to be believed (need I remind you they aren't?!) Hamels' name has been bandied about a great deal as the July trade deadline approaches.  If the Phillies were to trade him, they would be signaling they not only are finally going to begin the rebuilding process, but they want to do it overnight in one fell swoop. Now, it wouldn't surprise me if the Phillies' alleged brain trust thought they could undo years of incompetence overnight, but I doubt seriously they are willing to shed the only pitcher on this squad capable of, as Matt Gelb of the Inquirer so eloquently put it this AM:  "But every fifth day, Hamels makes everyone associated with the Phillies forget their current predicament."

How bad are the Phillies?  They can't even get rid of people!

The pitchers most likely to be traded by Thursday have been lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree in their last few outings diminishing their value to everyone including the team for which they currently ply their trade.

The Phils have reached the heart of the Wilderness and they will be wandering around in it for years to come.

If Ruben Amaro acquires Matt Kemp the Phillies will spend another decade in the wilderness.

The annual meeting of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Reality-Check Club of America, Ruben Amaro presiding, will meet this week at Citizens Bank Park.  Poll watchers have been speculating for weeks how the membership will vote but as of this date no consensus has been reached.

What should be clear to those card-carrying diehards who still cling to the notion the Phils can still make a run at the playoffs in 2014 is that this past Sunday's thrashing by the Nationals proved the Phightins [sic] are only headed in one direction and it is due South!

The week before the Phillies brought home some fools' gold from Milwaukee.  Learned observers knew it would only take a series at home to put the boys back on track, and, sure enough, the friendly confines proved anything but as visiting Washington took two of three.

The case for rebuilding is really a simple one:  the Phillies are so bad and have so many problems to correct they had better get started without further delay or the good people of the Delaware Valley are looking at another lost decade...or two.

The first step in the right direction would be a coup d'etat, firing General Manager Amaro.  Rube has been on the job long enough now to demonstrate his lack of judgement.  He has saddled the franchise with ruinous contracts, depleted its farm system, and shown little acumen when evaluating talent.

Inquiring minds will be watching the vote tally closely.

The Phils have won five straight.  Whoopee!!

I'm hardly one to minimize taking four in a row from the Brewers in Milwaukee (OK, I should point out Milwaukee was already tumbling back to earth when the Phillies arrived, but, hey.....).  Then they come home at stomp Washington (which also has been less than impressive of late).  It should be noted the Phillies hate home cookin' this season.

Anyway, the streak lifts the Phils from 14 games under .500 to 9 under.  (Math was never my strong suit but even I can figure this one out.)

So, if you, let alone Ruben Amaro, are tempted to think maybe these guys shouldn't start unloading a lot of veterans at the trade deadline, I have a suggestion for you:  DON'T!!!!!

Amaro isn't much of a judge of talent despite all those years watching the game.  He made a lot of foolish decisions about talent and money over the past several seasons desperately trying to go all in with the core of players held over from the glory years.  The problem has been four-fold:  the core has aged dramatically, the acquisitions have been less than stellar, the team is saddled with some crushing contracts, and the farm system is pretty much empty.

Now Amaro and Phils have arrived at another crossroads.  Five straight wins (forget the miserable series in Pittsburgh just before that when the Phils were themselves swept) may tempt Amaro to try and squeeze one more playoff appearance out of the core and bits and pieces he surrounded those players with.  It won't work.  The Phils aren't mathematically out of it, yet, because the rest of division has its own problems.  But make no mistake, the Phils aren't good and they need to begin the rebuilding immediately.

Amaro probably doesn't get that.  He's like the gambler who thinks the big pot is really just one more hand away.

Let's face it, Jonathan Papelbon isn't overburdened.  No, I do not refer to his comment the other night that it is a "no brainer" to want to play for a contender.  Papelbon has been making it clear for more than a year he wants out of Philadelphia.  Once you have $50 million in the bank, winning IS everything.

Instead, I refer to his statement a day earlier regarding rumors circulating the Phillies were trying to trade him:  "I don't have a crystal eight ball," Pap replied to a reporter's query.

Now we know language isn't one of Papelbon's strong suits.  Heck, he probably just made it out of high school English as a first language.  For the record, Johnny boy, what you uttered is a mixed metaphor.  You see, it goes like this:

One is "behind the eight ball" or one does/does not possess "a crystal ball".  Not both.  Eight balls are decidedly black, Johnny, while crystal balls are clear.  One refers to the game of pool; the other to the game of chance.  Now, in his defense, Papelbon was probably recalling the Magic Eight Ball he owned as a high school senior.



According to Wikipedia, Johnny, here are the possible answers to that reporter's question:

● It is certain

● It is decidedly so

● Without a doubt

● Yes definitely

● You may rely on it

● As I see it, yes

● Most likely

● Outlook good

● Yes

● Signs point to yes

● Reply hazy try again

● Ask again later

● Better not tell you now

● Cannot predict now

● Concentrate and ask again

● Don't count on it

● My reply is no

● My sources say no

● Outlook not so good

● Very doubtful

It's no fun watching the Phillies play.  As a matter of fact, it hasn't been fun to watch them for two seasons and counting.

They are an incomplete team on good days and an spent team on bad ones.  In between they get either good starting pitching, good relief pitching or the occasional offensive burst...but never all three and certainly not all three on the same day.

How much fun is it to watch Ryan Howard step to the plate with his .235 batting average?  How many more times will be treated to Dom Brown taking a route around his elbow to get to his thumb?

Chase Utley started off well.  Indeed, on the strength of his early season performance he will be elected to the All Star team, probably as the starter.  But Chase has slowed down considerably over the last five or six weeks.  His average has plummeted to a still respectable .288 but hardly the robust .333 of earlier days.  He's tired of playing his usual all out game and he's probably tired of losing.  The other night he dropped two balls.  Never a great fielder, he nonetheless was never prone to mental mistakes.

Cole Hamels pitches up and down...literally.  He gave up three home runs the other night.  Last night he walked four batters in five innings.  He has a losing record...again.  He has pitched well enough to have a winning record, but that would require he pitched for a team that had not been shut out 11 times before the All Star break.

The Phillies cannot pitch consistently.  They definitely cannot hit period.  And they do not field well.

They need to begin rebuilding without delay.

They won't

Soccer fans of the domestic persuasion point to the enthusiasm for this year's World Cup as evidence their favorite sport is finally catching on broadly throughout the land.

Yesterday's loss to Belgium should correct that misconception.

The US side was badly outplayed and out-coached in yesterday's game.  Belgium controlled the ball for an overwhelming portion of the game and was thwarted from winning in regulation time by the heroics of US goalkeeper Tim Howard, who was sensational.

Otherwise, the US could not control the ball, move the ball or threaten much.  Commentators like to point out the Americans play excellent defense...and for the most part they do.  But let it be said by this viewer, hardly an expert but, hey, this is the internet, defense is easier to play!  There, I said it!

It's much harder to control the ball and mount an offense then it is to head a ball away from your goal or kick it out to who-knows-where.  And in this regard, control, the Americans were absolutely inept versus the much more skilled Belgians.  Without Howard's heroics the game could easily have been 4-0 in regulation time.

The Americans played an extraordinarily dull game...again except for Howard.  They gave the ball up at midfield easily.  They were one and done on their few advances deep into Belgian territory.

Were viewers going to remember Howard or the ineptitude of his teammates?  The bet here is they will remember the latter.

The Ron Hextall era has begun and we can be excused if we blinked and thought it looked a lot like those of his predecessors Paul Holmgren and Bobby Clarke.

Hextall's first roster move was to reacquire J.R. Umberger, whom the Flyers traded away several seasons ago.

What is it about the Flyers' front office that compels them to reacquire players they jettisoned?  I don't have the official figures in front of me (and I am not going to spend a single nano second digging them up) but if they aren't professional sports' all-time leaders in sellers' remorse I don't know what franchise is!!!

* * * * * * * *

In today's Inky the estimable Bob Ford suggested the Sixers would be smart to draft recently injured and operated on center Joel Embiid.  Embiid was projected to be the first pick in the upcoming draft and thus off the board by the time the Sixers made the third pick, but he fractured a bone in his foot, had surgery, and is on the shelf for at least six months.

Were the Sixers to draft Embiid they would be in position to set an all-time NBA record that will never be broken...guaranteed!  They would be the first and only team to ever acquire through a trade or draft pick three starting centers in three consecutive seasons who could not, and in two cases and counting, did not play a single game that season.

The Sixers' front office cannot be that stupid.

Can they?

* * * * * * * *

Through seventy-five games this season the Phillies have been shut out ten times.  Despite their ineptitude, some commentators are still suggesting they should not be sellers at the trade deadline.   What a great idea.  To follow such a course would not be postponing the inevitable because the inevitable arrived two seasons ago.  The Phils are old.  They cannot hit.  They pitch erratically.  They have nothing down on the farm.  They have plenty of examples not only of what some teams have done to rebuild but what they themselves have done in the past to avoid it.

Many years ago I took a graduate seminar with the most famous photographic historian in the world.  That statement isn't an exaggeration.

When I finished my degree I returned to the East Coast and landed in Boston.  There I met a number of photographers and historians who asked me about my background.  When I mentioned this historian and my admiration for him I was often taken aback when told, "Photography left him behind in the '50's!"  My reply was always the same:  "I'd rather judge someone for what he accomplished, not what he didn't accomplish."

I feel the same way about Jimmy Rollins.

Yesterday J-Roll tied Mike Schmidt for the franchise record of total hits.  As early as this afternoon, Jimmy could be in sole possession of the record.  Along the way Jimmy has earned an MVP, four gold gloves and the admiration of his peers.  He is one of the best all-around shortstops ever to play this game.  He has over 400 stolen bases and over 200 home runs.  His range is impressive, his hands sure and his arm strong.

J-Roll has also endured the wrath of fans who lament his failure to draw enough bases on balls, hit the ball on the ground more and in essence perform like the lead-off man he has been most of his career.

For my part, I'd rather judge him for what he accomplished.

Wake me up when they win.

So, who had June 3 in the pool?

Who had the date Larry Bowa would publicly spew his trademark "He's killing us" tirade?

Does a team that has been shut out seven times in its last 27 games derive any benefit from Larry publicly scolding them?

So, will the winner please step forward.

Inevitably the morning papers around the nation trotted out all sorts of variations on the words "no", "nothing" and "nada".

What did you expect?

The Phillies celebrated their descent into the nether lands of the NL East by going hitless in a 6-0 loss to Josh Beckett, one of the genuine jerks in baseball.

The shutout was the fifth the Phils suffered in the last few weeks.

They landed in the basement on merit.

Managers like to talk about certain pitchers giving the team a chance to win every fifth day when they take the ball.

Kyle Kendrick is never mentioned in that conversation.

Kendrick always has a bad inning or two somewhere along the way.  Some times he implodes right out of the chute; other times he is sailing along and then it happens.  The proverbial bottom line remains negative. Kyle, it seems, never gives his team a chance to win.

* * * * * * * *

In the interest of full disclosure, I've watched very little baseball this season.  I've read a fair amount and watched replays and wrap-ups, but it isn't much fun to sit there inning after inning listening to the most boring three-man commentary in baseball today describing a team that isn't much fun to watch...and hasn't been for a few seasons now.

The Phillies manage to take three out of four in Los Angeles, never an easy place to play for any East Coast team and then find all sorts of ways to lose more than they win ever since.  One night (or three) they just don't hit.  Then they kick the ball around.  Then the bullpen implodes or a starter gets rocked.

They already look like the tired, veteran team they are.

Of course they do have some youth on the squad, but there isn't much infusion from that group including Domonic Brown, who has all but disappeared this season, and Ben Revere, who should.

Cody Asche has shown some life (but not leather) with the bat lately, no doubt a nominee for Reverse Curse of the Month award from yours truly.

The venerable Reverse Curse is alive and well.  (See Burnett in post below).

Meanwhile, in the Not So Alive Nor Well Division, I give you Domonic Brown.  From Phenom-in-waiting to Mediocrity-instead, Dom Brown has been a bust. Apart from the first half of last year, Brown has been invisible.  His outfield mate Ben Revere came to Philadelphia with a reputation as a slap hitting base stealer who could play some defense (minus throwing).  Revere will cost the Phillies as many runs with his glove as he might produce with his bat and feet.  He's been a complete bust, too.

I am all for giving Cody Asche a chance to prove he can hit in the big leagues.  I'm just not going to hold my breath.

Add high fastballs to the stuff with which to get Ryan Howard out.

Chase Utley has come back to earth.

Jimmy Rollins is again hurting.  The injuries aren't major but they keep on coming.  Age will do that.

The Phils probably aren't close to giving up on Antonio Bastardo, but that's only because they don't have someone to take his place.  Bastardo has been given plenty of chances to nail down a variety of roles.  In the end, he's flubbed them all.

The pitchers didn't like Rich Dubey but they pitched well despite him.

When A.J.Burnett is your only reliable pitcher you know the Phaithful are in for a long season.

Cliff Lee pitched last night in Toronto and it was a vintage performance, 2014 edition.  He was brilliant; he was awful.  Breezing along, he suddenly imploded in the seventh inning and the Phils were shellacked by Toronto, 10-0.

Another shutout of an offense that does as good an impersonation of Jekyll and Hyde as the pitching staff.

Cole Hamels was awful Tuesday night.  It's time to admit Hamels will never be the dominating pitcher we expected.  Indeed, despite possessing a change-up commentators love to love, Hamels has never been the kind of pitcher teams fear to face.  No one in, say, Milwaukee, looks at the schedule a few days hence and starts to worry about facing Hamels.  They don't start thinking about him until they are in the on-deck circle.

Kyle Kendricks will always be a mediocre back-of-the-rotation guy.

The bullpen is awful.

The aging stars are showing their age.

Take away Cody Asche's grandslam home run the other night and the offense has been worse than anemic.

Those three wins in L.A. might as well have happened years ago.  The future is dim and the bulb is flickering.

Jonathan Papelbon blew the save Wednesday night as the Phils dropped the finale of their season-opening series against the Texas Rangers.  The Phils won the first game of the set but the bullpen blew the next two games.

Papelbon was horrible.  All of the questions about his velocity and command from last year resurfaced in one ugly inning in which seven of eight batters he faced reached base including the final hitter, who drew a bases loaded walk.  After the game Papelbon complained about the defensive alignment in that fatal ninth inning. Interestingly, not one of his teammates or coaches had anything to say about his pitching.

Then, again, what could they say?

What's all this hand-wringing about?

Too old?  Too impatient?  Too selfish?

Stop worrying, Phillies' fans, there's much to be happy about:

Cliff Lee finally got run support.

J-Roll leads the league in rbi's.

Ryan Howard's OBP is great.

Cody Asche can hit.

Marlon Byrd's revival continues.

Jonathan Papelbon can pitch in a non-save situation.

Ryne Sandberg pulled all the right levers.

So, why worry?

For nearly sixty years I've noticed an inverse correlation between Spring Training fortunes and Regular Season success.  (Don't ask me to provide the data because I can't.  This conclusion is strictly a hunch.)  If a team stinks down south in Feb and March, my reasoning goes, they will smell as sweet as a rose up north April through October.

All of which means your 2014 Phillies should be playing post-season baseball.

Of course, there are exceptions to the "rule" and the bet here is your 2014 Phillies will qualify on that score.

The Phillies don't look like they can pitch, hit or field as well as a number of teams in their own division not to mention league.

In no particular order we are being treated to:

1.  The now annual Cole Hamels won't be ready for the start of the season warnings;
2.  The question of who will start in the middle let alone back of the rotation;
3.  Can Ryan Howard hit lefties;
4.  Can Ryan Howard hit righties, for that matter;
5.  Is this the year Jimmy Rollins' fielding follows his bat down hill;
6.  Can these guys catch the ball; and,
7.  Will Ruben Amaro survive the year?

There are lots of other questions at nearly every position.  The Phillies don't have a Mike Trout, who you pen into a spot in the batting order and don't think about it for the rest of the year.  Everyone is suspect in this lineup for one reason or another.  Heck, even the broadcasters are suspect!

Fourth in the division...at best.

* * * * * * * *

The newspapers have been full of stories wondering aloud if the Sixers' alleged brain trust really has a plan to turn things around and, if so, is it going to work.

I certainly don't know...nor, really, do I much care.  Professional basketball is a boring game on a good night.  What is clear to me is that while this process unfolds (or implodes), the Sixers are such a miserable assortment that there is little wonder no one is turning out to watch them.  Heck, even the players can't stand to watch.  Those players fortunate enough to be traded couldn't wait to depart.  None has publicly trashed the team upon arrival at his new destination, but, then, what would be the point?  Everyone knows they are pitiful.

I have to laugh a the notion they may deliberately tank to get a better lottery pick position.  Tank?  Deliberately?  That would suggest the Sixers have options.

You have to hand it to the former and current owners and coaches of the team.  This sorry excuse for a professional sports franchise didn't burgeon over night.  It took years of ineptitude to run the Sixers into the ground.