Pete Mackanin heads to beach for break from dreary first half | Bob Brookover

It was a gorgeous afternoon that reminded us of the story about blind squirrels and acorns. Even a bad baseball team can hit a half dozen home runs once in a while, which is how the wretched Phillies closed out the first half of their season Sunday at Citizens Bank Park.

Sure, it was surprising because no Phillies team that had Ryan Howard and Chase Utley on the roster at the same time ever hit six home runs in a single game. You certainly never expected such a thing from a team that entered the final game before the all-star break ranked 29^th in the league in home runs.

But there they were, slugging their way around the bases during a 7-1 win over the San Diego Padres that ended a five-game losing streak. It is not easy to hit six home runs and only score seven runs, but this offensively challenged Phillies team was just the one to do it. For the record, it has only happened seven times in this century, according to baseballreference.com.

Their manager did not care. Pete Mackanin has been a glass-half-full kind of guy in the worst of times and he surely was not going to search for the negative in what was the best game of one of the worst first halves in franchise history.

"I normally don't bring notes with me, but I have to try to remember all those home runs we hit," Mackanin said. "That was really something."

It really was, but it is going to take a lot more than a flurry of home runs and a single victory to erase the foul stench that has engulfed a team the manager hoped could finish .500 this season. His three-day getaway to Stone Harbor will not do it, either, but at least the shore forecast appears to be lovely for the next couple days.

"I'm going to go to Stone Harbor for three days —  eat, have a few drinks and sleep," Mackanin said. "Go to the beach and let my wife nag me."

Wife Nancy might nag him, but she cannot possibly gnaw at him as much as Odubel Herrera running through a stop sign or Maikel Franco chasing a pitch that is impossible to hit. Mackanin and his coaching staff need and deserve a rest from all that.

"This is as tough of a situation as I've ever been in during my 49 years as a player, a manager or a coach," Mackanin said. "It has been really tough to deal with it, but the only approach I can take is to stay positive. I think because I've been around a long time I know that's the best way to approach it."

The manager of the worst team in baseball chose to accentuate the silver linings before disappearing for a few days. He reminded us that Aaron Nola is pitching well and Jerad Eickhoff finally got a win after returning from the disabled list by pitching five shutout innings against the Padres. Mackanin praised young pitchers Nick Pivetta, Mark Leiter Jr., Ben Lively, and Luis Garcia. He even managed to say something nice about one of his hitters. Aaron Altherr would be the only one worth mentioning even after Freddy Galvis hit two home runs to bring his season total to 10.

Mackanin knows there's a faction out there that believes he and the coaching staff deserve the blame for the bad brand of baseball the Phillies have played. Why isn't this team more disciplined? How can guys keep making the same mistakes?

Rest assured, a lack of coaching is not the problem, especially in a clubhouse that includes Larry Bowa and Juan Samuel. Those two have the ability to be disciplinarians in two languages, and so does Mackanin for that matter.

"I read and I hear things," Mackanin said. "It is the nature of the business. People want to see a change and some may think I have something to do with it and others don't. It's not fun to hear. I try to avoid reading and listening, but I'm aware of it. I was fired in Venezuela twice and Puerto Rico twice. Down there they make changes just to show the fans they're going to make changes. It's not always the right thing to do, but it happens. Hopefully it doesn't happen to me, but if it does that's part of the game."

Mackanin does want it known that he and the coaching staff  "work hard every day" even if it does not translate to success on the field. That's more about a lack of talent than a lack of effort. Most nights Mackanin takes dulled knives into a gun fight and somehow he has managed to maintain his sanity and sense of humor.

"Sure I have my moments where I vent with the coaches and I get upset and I get mad," he said. "But I know that my health is important, too. I want to make sure I stay healthy and keep everybody positive. Let's face it, this break couldn't come at a better time for me because it's not fun. I might appear to still have a sense of humor, but that's a defense mechanism so I can sleep at night."

For the next three days, the manager can sleep on the beach and dream of a better second half. He swears the riptides that his team experienced in the first half did not destroy his enthusiasm for the job.