If I owned the Phillies...

[Marcus Garvey]

With all the Delaware Valley people on this board, I know there are a lot of Phillies fans here. So, the Phillies are sucking again. What changes would you make if you owned them? I have several ideas.

1) Fire Manuel. He never should have been hired. Jimmy Leland wanted the job, but instead, Ed Wade hires the guy who was recommended by himself!!! Did Manuel even win a playoff series in Cleveland? When one of the best managers in baseball says he wants to manage your team, why hire a hack?

2) Fire Ed Wade. There's already a website that details reasons for this: http://www.fireedwade.com/

3) DO NOT TRADE Ryan Howard! They've already pissed away a bunch of prospects and draft picks in recent years. I can just see Ryan Howard being the next Ryne Sandberg if the Phils let him go. Besides, with Thome's injury bugs, he might get a chance to start regularly sooner than everyone thinks.

4) Develope their farms system and maintain it. This needs no explanations...

5) Move the fences back in that band-box stadium! I'd blast the first 10 rows out of the left field stands and move the fences back. Cheap home-runs will kill them. They'll be like the Rockies where no decent free-agent pitcher will want to sign with them.

[Ivytalk]

Good ideas all, Marcus. Actually, the farm system as a whole is probably better now than it was 10 years ago, but your point is that the Phils need to maintain the quality. Another flaw, which nobody can do much about, is the ownership. The Montgomery-led group seems content to lie back and watch the money roll in from the new stadium. Well, I've got news for them: if the team stinks, people will stop coming. That trend has already started this year at "the Cit." The new parks in Pittsburgh, Detroit and Cincy -- all inhabited by mediocre teams or worse -- aren't exactly packing them in.

[ChickenMan]

The Phillies will continue to flounder until the current owners sell the team and unfortunately... with the new stadium in place... I don't see much hope of that happening.

[Baldy]

You Phillies fans could always pray.







Pray you were Braves fans. :lmao: :p

CM, from a Braves' fan perspective, AOL-Time Warner is one of the worst owners in baseball, but it's offset it by one of the top 3 farm systems, the best front office, and probably best group of coaches in the league.
Ted Turner is not one of my favorite people, but he was a great owner who put all of these things into place.

[blukeys]

5) Move the fences back in that band-box stadium! I'd blast the first 10 rows out of the left field stands and move the fences back. Cheap home-runs will kill them. They'll be like the Rockies where no decent free-agent pitcher will want to sign with them.

There is a theory that the band boxes are a negative for the home team. The teams go after home run hitters who put up good numbers and are liked by the fans but then can't win in a big park that requires pitching and defense and where long fly balls are just outs (anyone see the Oakland series)

In addition a pitcher who gets a lot of fly ball outs has to think twice about going to Philly or any other band box park. Teams that play in hitters parks seem to go a long time between world series wins. Cubs and Red Sox come to mind.

Other suggestion. Bring back Ruly Carpenter.

[ngineer]

I agree with all of Marcus' points. Especially Ryan Howard. Thome is already sliding. Yesterday there was a 'pop fly' grand slam into the front row of the right field stands. Poor Harry Kalas can't get used to when he should go into his signature home run call. Routine fly balls are landing in the first five rows with too much regularity.

[MR. CHICKEN]

EVERAH-BODY IS PARKIN' 'EM IN DUH PETUNIAS.......'CEPT........THOME!.......:rotateh: ........BRAWK!

[Ivytalk]

Charlie Manuel -- one of the few guys in baseball who could make the legendary Danny Ozark look articulate -- probably won't last past the trading deadline if the "Fightins" continue their current funk. Wade will throw Charlie overboard to save his own sorry azz.

[blukeys]

Wade will throw Charlie overboard to save his own sorry azz.
That's one part of routine Wade has down pat.

[eaglefan452]

It sucks for the Phillies in that they can't even blame Larry Boa for their bad play anymore.

[Go...gate]

They still have a decent shot. Robinson is a great manager but it's hard to believe that Washington wins the east. I think it will either be Atlanta or the Phillies.

[Baldy]

They still have a decent shot. Robinson is a great manager but it's hard to believe that Washington wins the east. I think it will either be Atlanta or the Phillies.

Everyone in the East had their chance to take the division lead run away and hide. 3/5 of the Braves starting rotation is on the DL, Chipper and Eddie Perez are on the DL, Mondesi tanked, Furcal and Giles have been hurt, and the bullpen has been atrocious. Once everyone gets back healthy the Braves are going to walk away with the pennant, again.

Sorry... :(

;) :p

[Marcus Garvey]

Everyone in the East had their chance to take the division lead run away and hide. 3/5 of the Braves starting rotation is on the DL, Chipper and Eddie Perez are on the DL, Mondesi tanked, Furcal and Giles have been hurt, and the bullpen has been atrocious. Once everyone gets back healthy the Braves are going to walk away with the pennant, again.

Sorry... :(

;) :p

Everybody in the NL East plays "down" to the Braves in a weird way. In this streak of winning seasons/divsion crowns that the Braves are on, their worst season was '01, when they only won 88 games. They still won the division by 2 games over the Phils. Seemed like when the Braves won, the Phils won. When Atlanta lost, the Phils lost. Nobody want's to play better than Atlanta. The last 5 years, there have been teams with the talent to beat them, but it's like they don't want to. Frustrating as all hell.

[eaglefan452]

Once everyone gets back healthy the Braves are going to walk away with the pennant, again.

Sorry... :(

;) :p

And then lay down in the playoffs, again.

Sorry... :(

[Baldy]

And then lay down in the playoffs, again.

Sorry... :(

No arguement there.

[MR. CHICKEN]

IFIN' AH OWNED DUH PHILLIES...AH'D MOVE 'EM TA STATESBORO!....;)......AWK!

[Ivytalk]

They'd lose there, too, Chicken!

I have tickets for tonight's probable loss against the Braves. Lucky me!

[GSUAlumniEagle]

And then lay down in the playoffs, again.

Sorry... :(

I'm willing to bet all the Phils fans on this thread would be willing to trade.

[Marcus Garvey]

I'm willing to bet all the Phils fans on this thread would be willing to trade.

Dunno about that. Remember, the Phils lost the NLCS 3 years in a row in the 70's ('76, '77 and '78). In '77 they were easily the best team in the NL, and in '78 they were "arguably" the best team in the league. Losing in the playoffs repeatedly is tough to swallow. I'll bet most Phillies fan, myself included, would rather miss the playoffs than lose in them year after year after year!

[Ivytalk]

Another good effort last night by Robinson Tejeda was wasted as the Phils' bullpen gave it away. I'm sticking with my July 31 "death watch" date for Mumbles Manuel. And now Jason Michaels has punched a cop. Great. :mad:

[89Hen]

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Art/SPORTS/LOGOS/MLB/Logo_Nationals.gif

[Ivytalk]

Enjoy it while it lasts, Hen! I still think Florida or Atlanta will take it. It's amazing how those Braves keep reloading with good young talent.

[blur2005]

You Phillies fans could always pray.







Pray you were Braves fans. :lmao: :p

CM, from a Braves' fan perspective, AOL-Time Warner is one of the worst owners in baseball, but it's offset it by one of the top 3 farm systems, the best front office, and probably best group of coaches in the league.
Ted Turner is not one of my favorite people, but he was a great owner who put all of these things into place.
We Braves fans should be praying, too. Praying that our massive number of players on the DL get healthy so we can beat the crap out of the damn Nationals.

On that note, I hate the Nationals...and I only live two hours away from D.C. It's mainly because I'm a Braves fans, and also because a bunch of people I know have jumped on the Nats bandwagon...yet know nothing about baseball. I hate the Nats.

[blur2005]

And then lay down in the playoffs, again.

Sorry... :(

Yeah, I hate that...

[89Hen]

a bunch of people I know have jumped on the Nats bandwagon...
This town is famous for that. Even the Redskins, who have diehard fans, have been up and down with every single win/loss over the past 5-10 years. None will admit to saying that when Spurrier came he was going to lead the team to greatness. If Gibbs doesn't turn the team around, people will be claiming that they said he was too old to coach. As for the Nats, I jumped on the bandwagon on opening day.

[Ivytalk]

I actually like the Nats, but I think of them as the "old Expos." That takes the Beltway Bandwagon gloss off of their success, at least for me.

[89Hen]

I actually like the Nats, but I think of them as the "old Expos."
I surprisingly don't see them that way at all. Maybe it's because they had no real success as the Expos or because the people of Montreal had completely given up on them.

[89Hen]

And then lay down in the playoffs, again.

Sorry...


No arguement there.
How about the irony of ironies. The Braves fail to win the division, but win the World Series?

[Baldy]

Sounds good to me, hen. I'll take it!! ;)

[blukeys]

On that note, I hate the Nationals...and I only live two hours away from D.C. It's mainly because I'm a Braves fans, and also because a bunch of people I know have jumped on the Nats bandwagon...yet know nothing about baseball. I hate the Nats.

I am not a Nats fan but you better get used to the competition. The Old expos (now Nats) have had a history of developing excellent talent. Montreal managed to be competitive with no commitment to salary or support from the community. Usually the talent left before Montreal could take advantage of what they had developed because they could not afford to keep them. If they can lock the good young players into long term contracts and get the players exctited about playing in front of enthusiastic crowds (not difficult after years in Montreal) then the Nats talent woes could be a thing of the past. Long term with ownership that spends some money, the Nats are for real.

[ChickenMan]

If I owned the Phillies I'd get rid of both...

DUMB

http://media.scout.com/Media/Image/17/174747.jpg

and DUMBER

http://media.scout.com/Media/Image/20/202555.jpg

[MR. CHICKEN]

AH'D TRADE THOME.....FO' UH BUCKET UH BALLS.......AN' UH USED ZAMBONI!......AWK! :nod::nod: