Consider this scene: After the front end of yesterday’s doubleheader, a bunch of reporters were gathered in the room where Charlie Manuel holds his postgame news conferences. It’s this little holding pen down in the Bank’s basement. Off to the side is the door where Manuel always enters. Except it was locked, and he couldn’t get in. So he was on one side of the door, fidgeting with the handle, and we were on the other, watching him struggle.

Just when it looked as if Manuel would never figure it out, he managed to get the thing open. Then he lumbered through the once-locked door with a goofy grin spread wide across his face.

Can you imagine a better metaphor for the Phillies’ season?

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20080915_Gonzo___A_Phils_surge__Why_not_.html

Yost was canned today…

And CC will not sign here. He will wind up with the Angels, Dodgers, Yankees or Giants. So, let’s move on.

but now you can see..kendrick is going to have to BUST HIS ASS to get back to the show next year…happ looks to have taken the job from him, then you bring up carrasco next year in the second half? i do NOT think carrasco starts in 09 in the phillies rotation, you can tell theyre taking it slow with him, taking their time. maybe you can trade kendrick as part of a package in the offseason for some kind of serviceable right fielder? maybe?

Now Zito cant throw a strike to save his life.

it just proves the risk … and is the money hes gonna want … money that can be used to lock up Howard, werth, victorino and … Hamels … is it worth it?

As far as Golson goes … If Milt and Charlie can work on his contact and bring the K’s down for him …He definitely has the potential to have a LONG career for the phils.

i think that shoring up the right field or left field vacancy when pat leaves is key. you do NOT have to spend as much money as pat would cost to get someone who can hit for average AND play well in the outfield.

1. CC ‘no hit’ Sabathia
2. Brett ‘the wifebeater’ Myers
3. Cole ‘hollywood’ Hamels
4. Jaime ‘over-the-hill’ Moyer
5. Carlos ‘just give me a shot’ Carrasco

thoughts?

I REALLY don’t like the idea of going after C.C. just because hes gonna be asking for SOO much … cash and length. I’m not saying I don’t want a Cy Young winner … but I have to stop and think about how signing a young STUD of a dominant perennial cy young candidate to a long BIG contract worked out so well for the Giants and Barry Zito … a name EVERYONE in philly wanted to go after before the Giants signed him.

the problem is what to do in right field to get some decent production out of that spot?

obviously the phillies have to get another starting pitcher. burrells money will come off the books and might allow them to sign another solid – great starting pitcher.

i liek pat, and i think we might miss his production, however, i think jayson werth can be the guy to step up the production. BUT, you need to come at us with something better than geoff jenkins in right field. its becoming more apparent that i was wrong to say that they HAD to keep him. they need starting pitching more than they need another guy who strikes out a lot. the question is what do you do in right field if you make werth your LF? you HAVE to replace burrells strikeouts with a smooth contact hitter.

im still holding out hope that trading j-hole can get you a very solid starting pitcher (halladay) but it looks like youll HAVE to sign a free agent starter (lowe,sheets, CC) if you want to improve this rotation. howard stays because until that michael taylor is ready to come up theres HONESTLY NOBODY to drive in all those runs.

if hes didnt just catch on fire it might, might make it easier to try and get top line pitching for him. if you cant do that, then why waste all those runs? you just gotta teach him how to not strike out that much.

where are the runs coming from without burrell and howard?

burrell you can afford to lose, ill admit to that now, because werth can be just as good as him but cheaper and a better outfielder. maybe not as powerful, but he gets better at bats.