Phillies in the "Out"-Field after Disappointing Loss to Giants

My Fellow Phans,

I know it’s been awhile since the Phillies’ season officially ended at the hands of the pesky San Francisco Giants, but I needed some time to regroup and gather my thoughts for my closing thoughts on the NLCS.

Let me begin by explaining my title. I’m sure that many of you know the movie, Angels in the Outfield, a classic baseball movie and one of my personal favorites ever since I saw it in my younger years. For those who have not, and if you are a baseball fan, I would highly recommend this movie, It is the classic Disney tale when a young fan prays for his Angels to improve and they receive heavenly help from above to improve their play in the field.

 There is a scene in the very beginning after the Angels lose yet again and their manager, played by Danny Glover, is reprimanding the team for another bad loss. He says “You don’t even lose as a team.  You've all got your heads so far up your butts; you can't even see the light of day!”

I’m sure you can see where I am going with this one. As I watch the Phillies toss away opportunity after scoring opportunity, drop routine grounders, and bobble fly balls they should have handled, it seriously made me ask if they knew what game they were playing.

I, during numerous occasions, recall yelling at the screen telling some of our players to get their “heads out of their…. Well you know, let’s just say I wasn’t keeping it Disney-movie quality G-rated.

There were at least a half a dozen plays that if made here or there would catapult the Philies to victory in their particular games. Games 1, 4, and 5 all could have been won if certain plays had been made. I will spare you the painful details and my ranting on these plays, but I’m sure if you scroll back through the film, you can see exactly what I am talking about.

I’m not going to pinpoint any particular players as the questionable and un-Phillies like play seemed to stretch out to the entire team at one point or another. That is what made the serious so frustrating. We were watching a team that we didn’t know. This wasn’t the team that won 98 games this season. It wasn’t the same team that overtook the Braves after trailing by as much as 7 games this season and winning the division rather convincingly. I don’t know who the imposters were out on the field those 6 games, but it certainly wasn’t our beloved Phillies.

Going back to my refusal to name certain players, I know a lot of people are laying pretty hard solely into Ryan Howard. I honestly do not know why. He was the last one up, but he wasn’t the only player on the Phillies that struggled this series with guys on base.  How many players seem to get a hit with the bases empty and then come up with guys on and strike out or come up with guys on or ground out weakly to the pitcher and then single down the line later in the game?

In short, lay off Ryan Howard. If you blame him solely for this loss, then I can’t make any conclusion except that you are a band wagoner who only remembers his name because he was the last man batting the series so you recall his name clearer than the others.

That’s about all I have for this NLCS Wrap. I will post more on the Phillies offseason coming up soon.

Until we meet again Phillies fans; Happy Readings and Go Phillies!