After winning a 2-0 extra inning game against St. Louis on Thursday,
Phillies hitting coach Milt Thompson was relieved of his duties as hitting coach. Greg Gross, who has been helping with
Phillies player development in the minor leagues, will take over as the
Phillies hitting coach.
The firing of Thompson was a bit surprising but the move could be understood. The
Phillies haven't performed up to their offensive capabilities but there is a reason for that. The
Fightin's have suffered injuries to key players. Short stop Jimmy Rollins hasn't been able to get things straight at the plate after suffering a calf injury. Also, third baseman
Placido Polanco as spent time on the
DL. Most importantly, the bat of second baseman Chase
Utley can't be expected to be replaced by Wilson Valdez.
As a team, going into Saturday's game, the
Phillies ranked sixth in the National League and 12
th in the Majors with 443 runs scored. Rollins is currently struggling at the plate with a .234 batting average. Along with Rollins' struggles,
Ibanez,
Victorino and
Utley have had down years. Plus, the bench for the
Phillies has been basically non-existent.
Even though Valdez and Juan Castro have been asked to play everyday for Rollins and
Utley, the
Phils have shown the ability to not get the clutch hit or win the low scoring games. Greg
Dobbs, who normally has the best bat of the bench in previous years, has been sent down for a little bit because of his .202 batting average.
The
Phils in the past six years, under Thompson instruction, has finished in the top three in the
NL in runs scored. But is it Thompson's fault for the injuries to
Utley,
Polanco and Rollins? Thompson job is to help the
Phils offense produce. That could be through helping a batters swing.
The
Phillies can't go ahead and trade every player that isn't performing well so the organization made the easiest and
cleanest decision by firing Thompson. The firing most likely was done to send a message to the offense to get things done and provide more run support. The
Phils, before Saturday's game, are six games out from the
NL East lead and 3.5 games out of the Wild Card.
The
Phils have a
slim chance to grab a playoff spot and may actually be buyers at the trade deadline on July 31st. The firing of Milt Thompson was made to send a message to the whole
Phillies roster that the team needs to step it up to make their fourth year in a row to the playoffs.