Welcome to 2012
Am I the only person in the world who thinks that...
Welcome to 2012
Don McKee, Inquirer Sports Writer
Am I the only guy the country who thinks that:
1. The Phillies are in major trouble for 2012?
The last time I looked Ryan Howard was writhing on the ground with a torn achilles tendon and his 116 RBIs won’t be available until deep into the season. And Raul Ibanez’s 84 RBIs were let go.
Do the math -- that’s 200 bleeping RBIs taken out of a lineup that scored the fewest runs of any Phillies team since 2002.
And people in this town are talking World Series?
Are you kidding?
2. Jeffrey Lurie is afraid to let Andy Reid go because he doubts his own ability to hire a decent replacement?
According to a report from New York’s WFAN, the San Diego Chargers sought permission to talk to Reid about their combined GM - Coach job but Lurie barred the door so he could hang onto Reid.
Then the very next day he stands up in front of the assembled literati and says the season was “completely unacceptable.”
Lurie also used the words “dismal” and “unfathomable” and described some of the losses as “ludicrous” and “terrible.”
Then he said the architect of this disaster would be his coach next season. In other words, the season is totally unacceptable but Lurie’s gonna accept it.
And ask you to pay for it.
3. Ryan Madson can’t get a job because he stinks?
Madson is an unproven commoditity with one good season as a closer under his belt. He wants money equal to top closers, even though he only shed his “deer in the headlights” look two years ago.
4. Penn State’s search committee should take until July if that's what it takes to get this right.
And forget what you’ve read about this guy or that guy being the leading choice. AD Dave Joyner said Monday there is no leading candidate and he’s almost certainly being truthful. If the Lions wanted to hire Tom Clements or Bill O’Brien or Greg Roman, he’d be in State College looking for a house.
So with no top candidate after a month of searching for a man to lead one of college football’s top positions — in terms of providing what it takes to win a national championship — there’s only one conclusion to draw:
The search committee is waiting to talk to someone who is not yet available, either because his team is still in the BCS bowl picture or in the NFL playoffs.
I’m gonna take a wild guess and say Mike Munchak -- despite his earlier denials -- will inverview after the Tennessee Titans are done playing.
5. College football has joined MLS, regular-season NBA and pre-Stanley Cup NHL in complete irrelevance?
Since the BCS stole the college’s premier attraction — New Year’s Day — and replaced it with one game played day’s later, college football has faded. There’s one game that matters after Dec. 1.
And by the time LSU kicks off against Alabama on Monday, nobody north of Baton Rouge will remember why they’re playing.
Contact Don McKee at dmckee@phillynews.com
Howard don't come back too fast....we miss all those missed swings and meaningless games you seem to come up big in.— mbutley- Is this really the best the Inquirer can do? Don McKee? Really? No wonder the newspaper business is dying.— user1796
- once again mbutley, you are clueless. Howard hit near .300 in late/close situations last year with 19 RBI. He also hit .293 with 97 RBI in team wins. He also hit .298 with 78 RBI in RISP situations.— palmyra21
- The ice rink at the stadium the other day was the coldest thing there since the Phillies' bats left. Kind of disappointing that little seems to be done to improve an offense that will continue to be the victim of 1-0 losses. can't forget Howard saying they get just enough runs to win, how'd that work out for them? I'd still like to see Cole traded for a great consistent hitter, that's the only way Cole will win 20 games a season since the Phils refuse to give him run support and maybe the combo of a good hitter and a mediocre starter will win as many games as they now win with the wasted Hamels great starts and no run support.
Lurie runs this team like an entertainment business, goal one is to keep the revenue coming in, goal 2 is to have the media support the stardom of you top overpaid players and personnel. Somewhere down the line, is the goal of winning. Kind of the opposite set of goals of the Steelers, patriots, and Saints. Keep buying tickets Eagles fans and be staisfied with 'just good enough'.— atp2007 
I agree the Phils are in some difficulty. The team is older, older than the Marlins, and I expect the Marlins to give the Phils a run for the money. The Marlins are younger by far, and their new yard will pick the team up. Many of last year's Phil's lineup have no baseball IQ. They don't move runners. The swing at too many first pitches. They swing for the fences. On the other hand, getting Howard's strikeouts out of the lineup may prove to be a plus, provided his replacement is a smarter hitter.— lgroniko- Geez, With Mckee around and all of his brilliance, why don't these team owners just all hire him? Maybe if he looked a little deeper he'd realize that AR is one of the best coaches (top 25 ever) in the NFL and not keeping him would require hiring a retread who hasn't got as good a record or finding a college coach who could step up and win the SB next yr.
Madson stinks? McKee must be smoking some funnyweed.
BTW, as much as I like Raul, Mayberry can replace him. Look at the stats. The younger player actually out performed RI on a relative basis. RI will be 40 Mayberry is younger. RH would be tough for any team to replace but he will rehab and be back. How many times did the hitters slump for 10 - 15 games & the pitching carry them? Several.— jjthree - TexasYankee, I guess they got cold in three postseasons in row. Lets’ go back a little:
2009 WS vs Yankees
.258 BA - .781 OPS
2010 NLDS vs Reds
.260 BA - .745 OPS
2010 NLCS vs. Giants
.260 BA - .744 OPS
2011 NLDS vs. Cardinals
.253 BA - .717 OPS.
As you see, this is not a matter of getting cold, it’s a trend. Against Cincy, Halladay’s No-Hitter and Hamels gem in the clinching game and a defensive implosion and Chapman’s wildness in game two saved us. Cincy still outhit us (.272, .745 OPS) in spite of the two great pitching performances. Against the Giants we actually hit better and had a slightly edge in ERA (2.91 to .306). Still we felt short.
And this will continue most likely because this is basically the same team with the same manager or if they get lucky, as you stated my post basically, which is not true. That was a reality check.— EL Zorro - or they could get lucky, I should say.— EL Zorro
- We know that Ruiz, Howard, Utley, Rollins, and Victorino are at the end of their prime years and Polly is well past his prime. They all spent time on the DL last year and none had career years. They never will have career years again as they are no longer in their peak years. That's why for the Phils to make it to post season they need career years from the only two players in their lineup who are at their peak, Pence and Mayberry. If these two fail to have career years in 2012 it could be a long season. These two were key to saving the regular season last year. The real problem might not be this season but future seasons if Ruben continues to extend players to multi year contracts who are no longer in their prime.— Dull
- Billtfla-Happy new year. In that series Halladay won game 1,Carpenter got shelled in 3 innings game 2. Halladay was awesome in game 5 but Carpenter pitched his 1 playoff gem with help from injured & poorly executing Phils. We all want another(!) WS but why be miserable about 1 of our greatest sports teams that won 102 games with MLB's best pitching & NL's best 2nd half offense (which needs to improve)? Are you trolling here since you had no life & you envy the Phils?— phillies6pack
- Ryan Howard stopped being a clutch hitter 2 years ago.
Yes, he had a bunch of RBI's. How many of them actually won a game?
I think they'll miss him far less than you think. Ryan Howard should use this time to reflect on how to become a "hitter", and not just a masher at the plate.— fmMD - I don't understand why 102 wyns means so much to phils fans. It did not get them to the worls series. One and done in the playoffs.The best pitching staff in baseball blew two playoff games.Glad I'm not a phils fan could not be happy and content to win 102 games and lose in one round in post season.102 wins and made to look like a pee-weeleague team in playoffs not much to brag about.— tobyjoe
- Tobyjoe....post season baseball is not meant to figure out who the best team is. It might sound stupid, but the only function of MLB playoffs is to crown a champion. Seldom is the champion the best team in baseball. Sample size and whatnot. The Phillies weren't the best team in 2008 and the Cardinals weren't the best team in 2011. It is what it is.— Armyofthe15Monkies
- The phils were the team to beat before the season started according to all the folks in the know.So your explantaion is nile.That is not what bothers me.All I see when something bad is posted about the phils they won 102 games as if that is the best thing ever.Sorry I would rather brag about them winning the world series not winning 102 games and going home to look at it on tv.That's all I'm saying.— tobyjoe
- 1. Didn't everyone complain about where we were going to get the 84 goals we traded away fromthe Flyers last year? How's that working out?
2. No. Lurie just knows there isn't anybody more qualified than Reid out there to hire right now.
3. No, he can't get a job because he's probably damaged goods and teams know it.
4. Who cares?
5. Yes.— Mark1npt
