Will Manuel's desperation move actually pay off?

After the Phillies' hitting coach, Milt Thompson, was fired a few days ago, it looked like he was simply the scapegoat. But now that the Phillies are smacking the Rockies around a little bit, including a 10-2 shellacking of Ubaldo Jimenez, it looks like the move might have actually worked.

"It doesn't mean we're all of a sudden going to start hitting," Jimmy Rollins said following Thompson's firing, but that would seem to be the case.

Guys no longer seem to be pressing. They're standing tall at the plate, watching the bad ones go by, and taking what the pitcher is willing to give.

If that means a base knock, then so be it. But they're still getting their extra-base knocks and going yard because they're allowing the pitches to come to them rather than chasing them a foot out of the zone in any direction.

But if we're going to be pessimistic, they are still five games away from the Braves. The winning is nice for now, but they've still got a long way to go.

The hitting is a step in the right direction, and Kyle Kendrick and J.A. Happ were very good on back-to-back days. I would even go so far as to say Kendrick was spectacular.

He's certainly an odd player to watch because he could come back and not make it out of the second inning in his next start, but it's got to be encouraging to see him bounce back so well.

They've just got to keep it up. Really, that's it. They've got to continue coming up with the clutch hit, strikeout, catch, throw, and whatever else. If they keep doing the little things, they can put themselves in position to catch the Braves at some point.

However, if they fall back into a slump they're going to look up at some point and realize the Braves are too far ahead to be caught anymore. We're nearly into August, and it's time to see them playing with some sense of urgency.

Because if all they're worried about is stringing a few wins together here and there and just trying to maintain, it's going to bite them -- hard. Whether or not they want to admit it to themselves, it's crunch time.

Next time they fall into one of their 10 to 15-game slumps, they're not going to have enough time to dig themselves out.
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Everyone wave goodbye to the Phillies' scapegoat.


With the heat turning up on Charlie Manuel and the Phillies for their pathetic display this season, the team needed to find a scapegoat to turn attention away.

But after a game in which the Phils couldn't put a run on the board until the 11th inning despite 12 total hits and a eight scoreless innings of one-hit baseball by Cole Hamels, it would have to be a good one.

Their selection was a logical one: if everyone is upset about the lack of hitting, fire the hitting coach, Milt Thompson.

Of course, anyone paying attention can see this isn't going to fix things. Thompson can't swing the bats for them and it doesn't seem like anyone is going to talk them out of swinging for the fences every time they step up to the plate.

He can preach and preach and preach about just getting contact and how useful a base knock can be, but he has no control over them once they leave the dugout.

And once they're in that batter's box, you can bet every single guy in this lineup gets wide-eyed just looking out at the vines in center field and get giddy just thinking about how they're going to take their lap around the bases.

That is, until their fantasy is ruined by the ump shouting "Steeerike Three!" in their ear.

But, like I said, it's a move that certainly makes sense on the surface and will breathe some new optimism into any fan looking for any reason to believe in this team again. So, for that reason, the move has done its job.

The new guy, Greg Gross, is a guy with a history inside the Phillies' organization. He was a player for 10 years and was around for their Phils' World Series appearances in 1980 and '83. He was the hitting coach once before, from 2002 to 2004, but went to Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2005 to work in player development.

Perhaps a shake-up is just what these guys need to wake them up, but I'm so sick of saying that by now I could puke.

Either way, Gross is going to have a difficult time ahead of him as he's taking over a lineup ranked 13th in the National League in batting average with a mediocre .254, and a lot of guys who are getting in their own way at the plate more often than not.

One thing is for sure: As a .287 career hitter with only seven home runs in 17 years, Gross will certainly not be preaching that the bats continue to aim for the fences. Hopefully his unique perspective will sink in before the season is officially lost, but I'm not holding my breath.
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