Rob Thomson Needs A Pulse Check After Letting The Home Plate Ump Get Away With The Worst Strike 3 Call In Human History
The Phillies suck right now. The bullpen is dog shit. They can't hit with runners in scoring position. Johan Rojas is an automatic out. Alec Bohm swings at every first pitch. It's all the exact same issues that have been plaguing the Phillies for the past couple of seasons.
It's early. And to be perfectly honest, it's really difficult to give a shit about baseball in April. But at some point, the Phillies can't just have the same exact flaws and think they'll magically be able to turn things around. A real "fool me once" type of situation here.
So something needs to give. You need to make some sort of serious adjustment to expect any different results. Just switching around the batting order isn't enough. It could be a big trade, or maybe, juuuuuuuuust maybe, it could be the manager showing any sign of life while he sits there in the dugout and looks half asleep every night.
Your team can't hit for shit with RISP, and you have a chance to load up the bases with 2 outs. Instead, your catcher gets hooked with one of the most egregious strike 3 calls ever and the inning is over. This isn't Alec Bohm throwing a temper tantrum at the plate. It's not an emotionally heightened Bryce Harper. It's the guy who quite literally has the best set of eyes on the field for where the strike zone is at.
I get that emotion isn't Rob Thomson's thing, but maybe that's the problem. The team needs a spark, and this was the perfect moment for Topper to provide one. But he just watches the game like he's staring at the microwave waiting for his food to be ready. I'm almost convinced we've got a Weekend At Bernie's thing going on here.