Now it's Personal

In my last post I told you why the Phillies are floundering this season and some things that should be done to correct it. Since then the Phillies have made things personal by responding to the fans. And boy do they not know how to deal with us.

Again the question is, "Where do we start?" We can go back to general manager Ed Wade who continues to believe that he is the all knowing baseball guru and that he knows the game of baseball better than anyone else. Zero division championships and zero playoff appearances in the second longest playoff drought by an active GM would prove otherwise Eddy.

Manager Charlie Manuel, now being booed every time he walks out to the mound is now saying that he wishes the Philadelphia fans would go back and "study the game a little more." Study the game a little more? Ok Charlie. Let us Philly fans get out our textbooks and review the science of the double-switch, or the art of not letting the second baseman of the future play sparingly and sometimes at first base. Obviously Charlie has fallen victim to the "Philly fans don't know jack" philosophy. I believe that Philly fans are among the top when i comes to passion and knowledge of the game when compared to fans in Boston, New York and Chicago. We do know what we're talking about. If you want to believe otherwise that is fine. But one thing should be easy enough for anyone to see; You don't criticize Philly fans in Philadelphia. No questions about that.

What's more is Jimmy Rollins made a very similar statement on ESPN saying that Philly fans may be intelligent but they are not the most knowledgeable baseball fans. Kenny Loften took another approach, clearly showing his ignorance of the Philly fan lifestyle when he urged the fans to cheer the Phillies on regardless of the struggles instead of showing aggravation and booing. Sorry Kenny, this ain't Cleveland anymore. When the Philly fans are upset that you're not living up to your expectations we are going to tell you. Do you know why? Because nobody else in the Phillies organization will!

Phillies fans have endured many years of losing, this much is obvious. The team may have lied to us and lead us on before but the diehards always come back and the true fans still stick by their team in hopes of winning the next year. But with the turmoil this season the team has taken a very arrogant approach to dealing with it from the top down and it has finally crossed the line. Once you deal with the fans as much as they have there is almost no turning back. And this is not a media thing. The fans really are angry. Not just the radio-heads and columnists the management believes to be the main culprit. But the people who buy the tickets, or don't buy the tickets. What is happening now is the honest Phillies fans are hurt and disgusted with the inaptitude of this franchise and they are turned off. I am turned off. I will continue checking scores and watching this team fall farther than anyone can imagine until a shakeup is made.

Ed Wade must go. So must Charlie Manuel. So must half the players. So must the other half.