True Colors

Drivin' down the road tryin' to loosen his load, he's got 7 lineups on his mind. Take it easy, Gabe.

My kids, mostly my youngest daughter Clare, were real obsessed with the animated film Trolls there for at least 6 months. I saw the movie, or had it on in the background, a good 100 times no lie. The voices are Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick so it is basically a musical, if you’re not familiar. Anyway, they cover a Cyndi Lauper tune called True Colors in it. It’s a sappy song about someone showing another person that they are someone they can count on by showing them “their true colors”. And that's why Cyndi loves them.

I’ve had that song stuck in my head since Friday August 10^th it seems because time and time again Gabe Kapler’s bunch has shown us their true colors during this stretch run of baseball. And that’s why I can’t stand them.

That was the day I wrote my only post of the season and put the mother of all jinxes on our hapless bunch of regular ass achievers.

The Phils could not have played more deplorable baseball since that day and I’m here to rehash the gory details with you.

Jesus H Christ it’s hard to know where to start but we’ll begin in South Philadelphia on August 28^th.  On that brutally hot Tuesday night, my father-in-law Pete and his buddy Don, a Nats fan, and I descended upon Citizen’s Bank Park for what was expected to be a sweltering pitcher’s duel between Aaron Nola and Max Scherzer.

We got there early and beat the traffic taking the Blue Route over the Schuylkill. The three of us surveyed our options in Ashburn Alley and ultimately decided on cheesesteaks from Campo’s. I went wiz without. I almost always go with The Heater at Campo’s, essentially a buffalo cheesesteak, but when you run as hot as I do there’s no need to torture yourself at a game where an actual priority is trying to avoid visible swamp ass.

We got to our seats, about even with the third base bag 15 rows up, and the night was going along beautifully.  Aaron Nola dominated and the Phils tagged Scherzer for two home runs to chase him out after only 5 innings. I’d tell you who hit the home runs but it doesn’t matter. With the score 3-0 in the top of the 7^th the Phils went to work on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Buckle up.

With men on second and third and one out after a Ryan Zimmerman double (Zimmy had 3 of them that night – that mattered), some dude hit a hot shot grounder to Carlos “oh I’m adding so much value but I can’t get my &*^ing batting average up above 230” Santana who proceeds to step on first to get the second out and then little leagues one off the backstop trying to cut the run at home. Okay, no big deal got the second out probably weren’t going to get the guy at home anyway. Nope. This bush league squad doesn’t have anybody backing up this play correctly. Mark it down folks,  a routine groundball to the first baseman that produced an out at first base also produced two runs scored due to an overthrow that stayed in the infield. Trash. 3-2 Phillies after 7.

Kapler’s crew was far from done on making mental errors beyond comprehension for guys that were, at the time, 9 games above .500 in a battle for first place in the division. By the 8^th inning we took advantage of the sparse crowd and were sitting directly behind the Nats dugout and watched Tommy Hunter throw 11 pitches, all strikes, and get a 1-2-3 inning. I’m not looking it up but Seranthony had given up a walk off home run to Zimmerman the prior week. Gabe was determined to not let that fate happen again as he stuck with Hunter to face Bryce Harper to leadoff the 9^th. After a tough at bat Harper walked on a questionable call and out popped Gabe. In came Pat Neshek. The sidewinder had been incredibly reliable to that point. Cue Anthony Rendon and an immediate two run homer for the Nats to take the lead 4-3 in the top of the 9^th before this sad sack bunch could even record a goddamn out. Nola takes a no decision, 1 earned over 7, scattered 4 hits struck out 8.

The fun didn’t stop. Zimmerman hit that 3^rd double, he was called out in live action, the Nats challenged, the Nats won. Okay, 1 out, man on 2^nd with Matt Wieters at the plate. You know I’m looking this stuff up at this point. I came to find out Wieters actually hit the grounder to Santana in the 7^th too. He would have a chuckle about these Phillies if he ever got to read this. Sorry, okay, 1 out man on second, Wieters at the plate, a left handed batter the Phillies employ a shift for because you know, he’s Matt Wieters. Zimmerman notices that Asdrubal Cabrera is playing a god knows where 3^rd base and has his thumb directly up his ass while employing this shift that is so helpful to the Phillies. Zimmerman takes off, he’s slow, but so is Cabrera and I’m watching this thing unfold and this is gonna need to be a dead strike to a moving target that’s lumbering right next to another moving target and then you need to tag the guy on top of it. YOU EAT THAT BALL JORGE!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON’T THROW THAT SHIT!!

5-3 Nats half way through the 9^th after the second overthrow leading to run(s) in 3 innings.

They had to tease us then. After a one out double from Nick Williams the Phils used their last position player in pinch hitter Wilson Ramos. Ramos had an incredible at bat that featured several deep foul balls and he wound up doubling deep down the right field line to knock in Nick. 5-4 Nats.

Maybe Alfaro doesn’t throw that ball into left field after Rendon went deep this game is tied. Maybe not.

Alright, so Alfaro is now at bat with 1 out and the Phils need a pinch-runner and Gabe already ran through everyone because of course he did. So up steps Vinny Velasquez, “I can run coach.” “Grab a helmet, Vinny!”

Alfaro skies one to fairly deep center, I wanna say it was the first pitch. Don’t quote me. I’m watching this thing come down and Velasquez is right in my view of it. Oh shit, this idiot left early and I could see it. Velasquez slides in making it to second with two outs. Not a meaningless accomplishment but certainly not a necessary one given the risk reward of it. What do the Nats do? Well they saw it of course. They throw the ball in and step on second base. It wound up having to be reviewed but we knew. Oh, we knew. Game over just like that 5-4 Nats win.

Don was happy with it. Pete and I were not.

In perhaps a bit of schadenfreude we listened to the postgame and man it was the turning point for me as to what this nit-wit Kapler had to say. “Vinny gave us a valiant effort out there tonight.”

Really Gabe? That’s what ya got for us? You can’t say something along the lines of “Listen we’re major leaguers, pitcher, position player or not, you can’t make mistakes like that.” Nope, Gabe just placates us in an effort to deflect blame from the guys who deserve it. I get why he does it, it just rubs me the wrong way the way he does it. I’m not done with Kapler, but I sure as shit am done with him this season.

Okay, long intro but a necessary anecdote to provide a window into the life of the Phils (and their fans) if you haven’t been paying much attention. There’s more against the Nats. The Nats have had a fun month against the Phils.

About three weeks later near the drain of this toilet bowl end of the season the Phils held a 6-3 lead in the 9^th in the nightcap of a double-header they were hoping to avoid being swept in. Here are the results in the bottom of the 9^th with Serathony Dominguez attempting to complete a 2 inning save:

Walk

Wild Pitch – Runner on 2nd

Walk, passed ball: Runners on 1^st and 3rd

Strikeout – 1 out - runners on corners

Single – Run Scores, runners on 1^st and 2nd - 6-4 Phillies

Fielder’s Choice – Runners at the corners - 2 outs

Single – Run scores, runners on 1^st and 2^nd - 6-5 Phillies

Walk – Bases loaded

Luis Garcia replaces Seranthony Dominguez

Walk – Tying run scores, bases loaded - 6-6 Not The Phillies

Strikeout – Inning, season, life over

I won’t go into detail but yada yada yada they got swept in that double-header.

So what is it that makes them so bad? At least right now? It’s a combination of things of course but to me it is the less obvious more nuanced aspects of baseball where they lack any cohesion. It starts on the defensive side of the ball where everyone seems to be shaky at best getting their job done for the Phils staff. The Phils are 14^th out of 15 NL teams in both team fielding percentage (.980) and errors (115). Here are some quick numbers for you on the Phils every day players. Errors are easy to understand. Defensive WAR (DWAR) is not and I don’t pretend to understand but I trust these stat guys know what they are doing so I have that number listed as well. These are all per espn.com.

Carlos Santana – First Base – 10 errors (12^th out of 12 qualifying 1^st baseman) and  -.9 DWAR (10^th)

Cesar Hernandez – Second Base – 11 errors (tied for 7^th out of 9 qualifying 2^nd baseman) and -.07 DWAR (9^th)

Maikel Franco – Third Base – 15 errors (8^th out of 9 qualifying 3^rd baseman) and -1.1 DWAR (9^th)

Franco has only 117 games played and that many errors. Yikes.

Scott Kingery – Shortstop - 7 errors (1^st out of 12 qualifying shortstops) and -.2 DWAR (10^th)

Kingery only has 112 games played so the errors are skewed some. He’s one of only 3 every day shortstops in the NL with a negative Defensive WAR.

Rhys Hoskins – Leftfield – 6 errors (8^th out of 8 qualifying leftfielders) and -3.5 DWAR (96^th out of all 96 qualifying fielders – Bryce Harper is 95^th at -2.9)

Men lie women lie, Rhys, numbers don’t.

Odubel Herrera – Centerfield – 2 errors (Tied 4^th out of 10 qualifying centerfielders) and -1.0 DWAR

The Phils did not have a “qualifying right fielder or catcher” but I tracked down old Nicky Williams and he clocked in at -2.5 in 114 total games. Jorge Alfaro led (if you wanna call it that) all NL catchers in errors with 11 but his cannon for an arm must have saved him as far as the DWAR stat is calculated as he registered the only positive mark in this stat for a Phils everyday player at .2. Per this stat nobody but Alfaro has added value to this team defensively this year and I watch enough to know that Alfaro is allowing far too many wild pitches which do not get marked down as an error.

It’s a lot of errors. It’s a lot of playing in a spot or a position you are unaccustomed to because Kapler shifts his starting lineup as often as he shifts the players on the field. Once Asdrbual Cabrera became part of the everyday mix it was anybody’s guess what the infield structure would look like from day-to-day. Santana has played his share of 3^rd base with Hoskins taking a break from being the worst outfielder in the game at 1^st base.

Another glaring weakness, at least compared to the hey-day of Philadelphia Phillies baseball is stealing bags. For the goof I looked up the 2008 squad. Holy shit Jimmy Rollins went 47-50! Jeez, we tended to take Rollins' talent for granted when you look back at a stat like that. The 2018 version has gone 65 for 90. Haha. I realize that "oh the game has changed, its just home runs and walks now", but tell me having an extra 71 bags around wouldn't be helpful to a team who can't score runs because they don't hit the ball. The 2008 squad also got caught 25 times, but they stole 136. That's 85% completion compared to 72% on 71 more attempts. Sounds about right.

One of my main beefs is Kapler’s insistence to put his imprint on the game. Over managing can be effective, see Tony LaRussa and his resume. Gabe goes beyond that. He’ll bring in Seranthony Dominguez in the 6^th or 7^th just because he likes a matchup or two in that inning. He’ll change the batting order daily to the point where Aaron Altherr is batting third in a must win series opener against the Mets when he spent the summer in the minors and / or on the bench. He’ll use three pitchers in an inning like that’s something smart to do.

In one of the very few positive games for the Phils in the last month Gabe managed to make a fool out of himself, at least from my perspective. With the Phils leading the Marlins 11-1 in the top of the 7^th at home Kapler allowed Zach Eflin to warm up for the 7^th as Eflin was cruising along with 83 pitches and a 10 run lead. After the throw down to second, out pops Kapler. Huh?!? The ump stops old Gabe as he crosses on to the diamond seemingly to ask him, “What the fuck are you doing?” Gabe addresses the ump. Walks out to Eflin, says one thing, walks back to the dugout. Eflin gets the first guy to fly out and Kapler pops out and removes Eflin in the middle of the inning with a 10 run lead at 85 pitches. Call me old school or call me what you wanna call me but that is just a remarkably stupid thing to do whether you want to get your beleaguered bullpen work or not.

One more gem was Kapler pinch hitting back-to-back players in the second inning of a game! He’ll talk in the press conference after the umpteenth “worst loss of the season” about how he “believes in the talent of the ballplayers in that clubhouse.” Oh yeah Gabe? Then why you pinch hitting for Scott Kingery before he even gets an at-bat?

 Get over yourself Gabe, or the team will not win.

We’ve addressed the defense and the managing. Then of course there’s pitching and hitting. Two things the Phils seemed to forget how to do for the last 6 weeks.

The Phils have played 41 games since I published the only Hitter’s Count of the season when they were in first place at 64-51. Since then they have gone 14-27 to fall precipitously to .500 with 6 games remaining in the season. In those 41 games they have been outscored 223 to 165 a run differential of 58 runs. They are averaging losing 5.4 to 4.0 every night. Their opponent scored 8 or more 11 times in that stretch. That’s pretty hard to do.

Aside from Hoskins hitting home runs, there has not really been one guy to get consistent hits this year and that may be the biggest issue of them all. The Phils are hitting .236 as a squad. They are 13^th out of 15 teams but the two teams below them are both hitting .235. With a stat like that, we should be happy they are a .500 baseball team but they gave us too much of a taste this summer of what they could be. 

As I sit and think about it I really place a lot of blame on Odubel Herrera. And I may have turned on my favorite player over the past month. I hope I am wrong but the optics on the guy are just terrible. If there is a chance to make a bone-headed play on the basepaths, it will be made. If there is a chance to appear as if his head is somewhere else while in the middle of the game, the chance is taken. And then there's his goddamn instagram account. This guy has ramped up his tourist like activity, and selfie game, and overall blase attitude before and directly after nearly every crucial loss the Phils have had. I don't mind if you're not Chase Utley on the diamond as far as intensity is concerned, but please don't advertise that you could seemingly care less about your team becoming a dumpster fire when it had a real chance to make some noise in a less than top heavy National League. As Odubel's play turned, the Phillies play seemed to as well. Here are his batting averages by month for the season:

April - 367
May - 283
June - 236
July - 253
August - 205
September - 164

He has found himself in and out of the lineup. Odoobs, along with basically everyone on the roster outside of Hoskins and  Nola, have to be on the hot seat with management this winter. There isn't a bat in that lineup that could not be replaced as far as I'm concerned.

Truth be told, in April most of us would have been pretty happy if I told you this team would be 78-78 with a week left in the season. If we were told the Phils would have a chance to sweep the Braves in the penultimate weekend of the season to be a game out of the division we would have jumped at that. LOL as to what happened.

But if I told you that on August 10^th you’d have said, man, I guess the Phils showed their true colors the last quarter of the season.