The Philadelphia fans seem headed for their 11th season in a row without making the playoffs, a disappointed streak that includes just one winning record.
John Middleton, the owner reinvested in the roster by signing Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber, having a disastrous last season for a club record of $228.7 million payroll which is the fourth highest in the majors.
After all these, the Phillies were 22-29 when they fired Girardi Friday morning. Even the cross state Pittsburgh Pirates, who were in a rebuilding project of a meager $55.7 million payroll, had a better record than the Phillies.
Dave Dombrowski, the president of baseball operations of the 76ers fired Girardi Friday morning saying that:
“I think we’re better than what we’ve played”
Dombrowski explained in a presser in Philadelphia after the disaster “But to me, the most important part, if we’re going to turn this around, and I think we still have the capabilities to do it, I think we needed a different voice in the clubhouse.”
Joe Girardi explained the reasons for the defeat in his own in his weekly segment on MLB Network Radio
“There’s a number of reasons we didn’t win,”
“We gave too many extra outs that probably cost us four or five games, maybe even more. At times, our bullpen struggled; we had some guys that I think have much better stuff than the potential that they’ve pitched to. And some guys got off to some slow starts offensively. And that happens, right? But I think you can overcome sometimes one thing, maybe even two. But sometimes when it’s more than that, it’s somewhat difficult.”
The Phillies however appointed Girardi’s bench coach, Rob Thomson as the interim manager for the rest of the post-season.
