Philadelphia Phillies fans despairing, grasping at straws

There is no joy in Mudville, otherwise known as Philadelphia, home of the woeful Phillies. The likely most expensive team ever to fall eight games below .500 by June 1 had found yet another way to lose a game they were competitive in. There’s something about one and two-run games for Philly this year, not that the final score Tuesday was that close.

That night Jeurys Familia, who is paid $6 million this season, did not cover first on a hard-hit grounder snagged by his first baseman in the 10th inning of a 3-3 tie with the Giants. There is no guarantee that, had he thought and hustled, the Phillies would have won, but Familia’s brain cramp definitely set up the Phillies 7-4 loss. The Giants took the lead in that half-inning.

Some Philadelphia Phillies fans, in despair, are looking for a truly strange managerial “candidate” to take over.

The team’s partisans, however, had slipped into a blue funk before the game even started after four losses in a row. One Phillies fan, whose Twitter account had been called “Phillies Curveball Machine” – mocking a remark by their former manager, who now manages the Giants – changed the account title to “Phillies Despair Machine.”

On sports talk radio in the City of Brotherly Love, it was clear none of that love was felt for the current Phillies manager, Joe Girardi. It was not a matter of whether Girardi would be fired, but when. He was too passive, he picked the wrong reliever, he was nutty about not “overworking” relievers, he should be inside the Phillie Phanatic costume!

A writer for this website named Girardi first among four MLB managers who should be fired although his view was, essentially, that the former Yankees skipper would be the fall guy for a “flawed” team.

Phillies fans on Twitter, including their former centerfielder, Lenny Dykstra, disagreed. Dykstra, whose life following his days with the team has been interesting, implied Girardi wasn’t motivating his players and offered to take over the reins.

At least some in the Twitterverse approved of the idea. One social media pundit challenged readers to say why they wouldn’t hire a man sometimes thought of as a lunatic ex-convict. His own answer? “(Hint…you can’t).”

Of course, some fans answering Dykstra implicitly or explicitly waved off his offer. One asked if he was on parole. Another fan who added to the Phillies hashtag stream simply started his post about the team with “LOL. It’s comically bad.”

This is the state of the fans’ mood in Philadelphia. The attendance at Citizens Bank Park for the Familia-based loss was 20,927, and it’s important to remember that’s a tickets-sold figure. The actual attendance for Philadelphia’s loss that night appeared to be fewer than that.

However, don’t expect the Phillies to turn to the guy who still hasn’t gotten tobacco stains out of those jerseys in his closet.