The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Ryne Sandberg Era commenced the same way the Charlie Manuel Era concluded – with a whimper. The hottest team in baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers, rolled into town and stifled the Phillies, 4-0.
Nothing changed. Nothing.
On a day when the most successful skipper in the 130-year history of the Philadelphia Phillies was relieved of his duties, the players whose lackluster play lead to his demise, performed the exact same way they had performed the previous four weeks – like a Little League team. Actually, the Phillies would be hard-pressed to win in Williamsport the way they are playing right now.
The inept offense and shoddy defense were on full display at the old ball yard, once again. Three hits by the offense, an error and two misplays by the outfield, sealed their fate for the evening.
Dodgers starting pitcher Zack Greinke was uncharacteristically wild on this night. He walked four batters, but was let off the hook time-and-again by the Phillies’ lack of clutch hitting. Again.
The Phillies had scoring chances go by-the-board in the fourth and eighth innings. Chase Utley led off the fourth inning with a walk and Darin Ruf came through with a one-out single. With runners on first and second, rookie Cody Asche hit into a fielder’s choice, forcing Ruf at second base. John Mayberry came to the plate with runners on first and third and hit a feeble, dribbler back to Greinke. Inning over.
Greinke seemed to be running on empty in the eighth inning. Jimmy Rollins and Michael Young reached base with one out. With Utley, the potential tying run, due up next, Dodgers’ manager Don Mattingly did what all 36,964 fans in the ballpark knew he would do – he brought in side-winding lefty, Paco Rodriguez to spin Utley a few sliders. What happened next was predictable – a strikeout. After Domonic Brown walked to load the bases with two outs, Mattingly brought in sinker baller, Ronald Belisario to pitch to Ruf. Belisario struck him out on a filthy, 94-mph heat-seeking sinker. Inning over. Game over.
Cliff Lee pitched his best game of the second-half. He had not pitched well since being diagnosed with a stiff neck on that fateful, nine-game road trip immediately following the All-Star break. His only real mistake of the night came on a hanging change-up to Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez. With one-out in the top of the fourth inning, Ramirez launched Lee’s hanger deep into the left-center field bleachers for a 2-0 lead. The defense let Lee down in the seventh inning, when with two-outs and a runner on first, Brown completely butchered a line drive to left field. Instead of fielding the liner on-a-hop and holding Dodgers’ second baseman Mark Ellis to a single, he inexplicably dove. The ball got by him and rolled to the wall – gift-wrapping a run for the Dodgers.
Same as it ever was.
To be fair, the Dodgers are playing out-of-their-minds these days. Since June 22, they are now 41-8!! That is correct. The best 49-game stretch in Major League Baseball since the St. Louis Cardinals of the 1942 vintage.
One has to wonder what Sandberg can do differently. He will be playing with the same deck of cards the next 41 games that Manuel had since April. Everything looked exactly same on Friday, as it did on Wednesday in Atlanta – and the previous four-and-a-half months, for that matter. Everything but the face of the man sitting on the stool in the corner of the dugout. Chances are better-than-average that Sandberg finishes his maiden voyage as skipper with a head of hair that is a little grayer and a little thinner than it was in Clearwater last February.
Change happens. In baseball. In life. Sometimes it’s pleasant. Often times, it’s not. This was one of those days.
Nonetheless, a new era in Phillies baseball has dawned.
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