It’s time for John Middleton, Andy MacPhail, Matt Klentak, or whoever is calling the shots for the Philadelphia Phillies to do the right thing and FIRE Gabe Kapler.
You want to give Gabe credit for the fact that the Phillies have been this close to the playoffs, for this long, despite the injuries and pure lack of talent to the pitching staff. Fine. I’m good with that. I’ll probably even agree with you.
Listen, I’ve been on the #FireGabe and or #FireEveryone train since last year, but this isn’t about that. This isn’t even about the weeks or months long stretches of losing that has occured that last two seasons. This is simply about the last week of this season, when the team’s playoff life hung in the balance. The moves or lack thereof that have happened the last week are mind boggling and are a fireable offense in itself.
This begins when the Boston Red Sox come to Philadelphia for two games at HOME. You would think those two games are MUST win, well they lost both. How do you lose TWO GAMES AT HOME in the middle of September to a team who was already eliminated from the playoffs? Please, I wish Gabe or someone would answer that. However, they bounced back and take two of three from Atlanta on the road only to then lose two out of three in Cleveland. Which brings me to the start of all of this.
The absolute biggest of all mistakes happened on Thursday with your ace Aaron Nola on the mound and a possible sweep at stake verse the Braves. The fact that this guy decided to pitch to Freddie Freeman, who is pretty good by the way, in the fifth inning of a tie game, one out, with a base open, and a guy who spent a majority of the season in Triple A on deck. Naturally Freddie, again is pretty good, hits a single and scores two runs and shocker the Phillies lose. There is no spreadsheet or computer that says you pitch to Freedie in that situation. You walk him and pitch to Adam Duvall and live with your ace pitching to a less dangerous hitter. You absolutely CANNOT let Freddie Freeman see a pitch in that situation. To say otherwise is moronic and should have been fired on the spot after that. Just hand the card to Charlie and go pack your bags and coconut tanning oils up!!!
.@gabekapler– why not walk freeman? Given how early it was, 9-41 v. Aaron. Trust your horse.
— Michael Barkann (@MBarkannNBCS) September 19, 2019
With the way the season has trended, no winnings streaks over four games all year, you’d think Gabe would be doing everything he could to win every game and give this team a chance with the best lineup in each game. Game One in Cleveland my guy wants to start Andrew Knapp at catcher, Jay Bruce at designated hitter, and Brad Miller in left field. So a must win game and one of your hottest hitters and most consistent performers recently isn’t even in the lineup, at all? JT Realmuto was given a day off for some god forsaken reason. He needs a day off in September? You don’t want him to catch, fine make him the DH, instead we put a guy who has struggled with injuries all second half at DH and a Triple A utility infield in left field. Yeah because that’s my best lineup Gabe. Speaking of Brad Miller he has started more times in left field in the last week than Brad Miller should ever start in left field. I know Gabe hates Maikel Franco, and I’m not fond of him either, but if he’s on my bench and roster he plays everyday at third base and Scott Kingery and Adam Haseley are my center fielder and left fielder respectively. That’s my best lineup. Gabe wants Bamboo Brad in the lineup, fine, at least put him at third base where he’s serviceable because he’s an infielder and not the outfield where he stinks even more than he does in the infield. This video proves that Miller should never step foot in a professional outfield ever again.
Quality baseball all the way to the bitter end from your 2019 Philadelphia Phillies. pic.twitter.com/6piBYYRLQ5
— Frank Cianfrani (@VometCometCapt) September 20, 2019
To hear this guy continually come out and say “we’re still fighting in here everyday” or “you’ll see the best version of this team down the stretch” or whatever other catchy phrase or nonsense he wants to come up with is numbing. His actions completely contradict his words and that’s usually a daily occurrence. This is the only guy in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization who has zero clue about the game of baseball and or how to develop players throughout a season. And that’s incredibly shocking seeing as the damn guy played the game for 12 years.
The experiment of Gabe Kapler is over!!!
Middleton while you’re at it, light a match to the whole thing and FIRE EVERYONE!!! Start over.
And NO don’t even think about bringing in Joe Maddon, I’d rather keep Kapler!
