Donnellon: Patience a virtue we may not have

PATIENCE.

It permeates virtually any and every conversation about sports in this town, from Aaron Nola and the Phillies down on the farm to Ron Hextall's elaborate plan of future dominance to the debate over whether the new coach and both quarterbacks of the latest Eagles refurbish have been overvalued or simply need time to prove the genius of Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman.

And then there is "The Process," the professional sports version of the Mel Brooks' classic, The Producers, whereby a franchise could end up winning big by losing big, provided it had enough - you guessed it - patience.

We are a town known for cheesesteaks, soft pretzels and water ice.

None takes long to make.

Yet there is no other sports-crazed municipality being fed such a consistent crockpot diet. Hell, I read the other day that owner Hal Steinbrenner wanted general manager Brian Cashman to be a buyer for the Yankees come trade deadline, because they were about as close to the wild card as . . . well . . . the Phillies. Oh sure, Pete Mackanin has tossed a few why-nots when asked about the wild card, but even the most impatient among us would not endorse dealing out prospects to get us over the hump.

Right????

But this waiting is hard, hard for any town, and excruciatingly hard for us. A good bar argument around here used to pit steel-forged opinions. Now we tend to sound schizophrenic, like when people started complaining about Mackanin's managing just weeks after celebrating the Phillies' surprisingly good start.

Or when we seemed to flip daily about Sam Bradford's worth during his pout. Trade him, you'd say, he's a bum. I'd ask, for a second- or third-round pick, maybe? And you'd say oh no, no, he's worth way more than that.

Even the guys we are currently excited about suggest a longer learning curve than we'd like. How can Ben Simmons, a guy who can see the floor that well, not see the value of moving around when he doesn't have the ball? And is that something that can be coached out of him, or is it innate? If it's the former, shouldn't it have happened already for a guy with a purported high basketball IQ? Doesn't he watch LeBron? Curry? Doesn't he want to be measured ultimately that way?

And what about Odubel Herrera? The transformation into leadoff batter, from last season to this, has been nothing short of startling. Lately, though, his walks are down, his strikeouts are up. His batting average dipped to .287 after he struck out twice in the 5-0 loss to the Mets Sunday.

I can't help thinking about Jimmy Rollins' MVP season, when so much credit was given to hitting coach Milt Thompson for helping the shortstop become a more disciplined hitter. I still believe that to be true, I just think Jimmy stopped listening to Milt after that season. Only toward the end of his 15 seasons here did he even entertain the thought that maybe, just maybe, he left too much meat at the plate.

Is this what we're seeing? Or is Herrera not the only one capable of impatience? He is, after all, still just 24, a Rule 5 pick in only his second full big-league season. And he already has shown a willingness to change.

Plus, we seem more than willing to wait for the Phillies. Especially since their play this summer has been the polar opposite of a tank job, scratching out almost as many wins as losses despite a run differential of nearly 100.

The Eagles? Well, they're telling us, despite mortgaging the draft for Carson Wentz, a quarterback not projected to start this season, that we don't have to. They're telling us we don't need patience for their first-year coach, Doug Pederson, because he's played and coached in the league. Most startling, perhaps, they're telling us we don't really need an upgrade in receivers.

They are not asking for our patience.

Probably because they weren't going to get it anyway.

The Sixers have just about tapped our reserves, too, as their current big-man plight suggests. Sam Hinkie always viewed his collection of talent as a matter of currency more than chemistry, and that's exactly where they are right now. The next stage, though, is tricky and sticky, especially since their value is more speculative than static.

It's likely to once again test their patience, and most certainly ours, as they are underwhelmed with offers for Jahlil Okafor, Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel as we creak through a more hopeful season that nonetheless will again be pockmarked by issues of consistency and chemistry and toward a trade deadline that could go a long way to solving both.

But that's more than six months from now, six more months of investing in another of our home teams as if it were a pension fund or 401K. Six more months of waiting for what emerges from the crockpot, the smell of cheesesteaks and hot pretzels - of immediate gratification - torturing us the whole time.

@samdonnellon

Columns: ph.ly/Donnellon