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| What better image for a negative ending article? Photo by Richard Wilkins Jr. |
The Phillies have played reasonably decent under Ryne Sandberg, considering the roster isn't so good. That said, they entered the final series of the season three games up on the team coming in, the New York Mets, and sitting on a decent chance to, while not reach .500 probably, at least come close to it with 81 losses at that point. They went out, got swept, blew their lead on the not-very-good Mets, and now have 84 losses, and an outside shot at 90 losses still existing.
It was ugly.
It was also fitting for the season. The team played bad defense, didn't pitch amazingly well, and didn't hit timely. They didn't have it in them to pull off a comeback, and the home schedule even ended on a Jimmy Rollins strikeout- summing up his fall from offensive grace this season.
The Phillies have a few nice young players, none of which came up big on Sunday. The older players who aren't on the DL or halfway there didn't get them over the top. Yes, Ryne Sandberg was named the permanent (at least until 2016 anyway) Manager today, but that is as much a reminder that the most successful manager in club history was fired this season. It was just an awful game, to end an awful home slate.
I'll wait until the season ends to assign grades to players, coaches, and front office, but you can guess that they won't be good. I've been going regularly to games for over 20 years, been a fan all of my 30 years, and I expect a better effort than we got this season. I've lived through a lot of awful seasons, and this isn't actually one of them, but I had higher hopes than this. Unfortunately, everything went wrong in this one. You still expect the team to show some heart and win at least a game against a team that most of our fan base can still find it in their hearts to hate a little bit. The Mets took the season series with this win too, adding injury to insult.
