Girardi had almost two full seasons to manage the Phillies, leading them to 3rd and 2nd place finishes in the NL East, before getting fired 51 games into this season. With only 21 wins for the Phillies this year, and with such high expectations, the team fell flat and it cost this Joe his job. And maybe that was the kick in the pants that the Phillies needed. Since they fired Girardi on Friday, they have managed to win four in a row. So was it on Joe for the Phillies bad start? Who really knows. Maybe sometimes the manager can't really get the best out of their players.
The other firing, the Angels letting go Joe Maddon, is the more interesting story of the two firings this week. The Angels were in their long losing streak, which hit twelve at the time Madden was let go. It now hit 13 as they lost in extras to the Red Sox last night. All of this happening, after the Angels had gotten off to a hot start and were ten games over .500 when this losing streak started. May 24th was the last time the Angels won a game, a 5-3 win over Texas. They were 27-17 after that win, and now after losing 13 straight, sit at 27-30.
Maddon was hired by the Angles right before the Phillies hired Girardi. Both guys were being looked at by both the Phillies and even the Mets before Maddon signed with Anaheim and Girardi took the Phillies job. And both teams seemed to be in the same boat, in that they've endured long playoff droughts and have super high payrolls. Both teams have shelled out a lot of money in order to lock up certain players, but haven't really built as much around those said players.
Now with all this happening it also makes us wonder, who else around the Majors could be on the hot seat this season? Davey Martinez in Washington could be on a short leash with the high expectations the Nationals have. Same thing with Don Mattingly in Miami.\
All we know for sure is there's be two managerial shake ups around the league, with more that might be on the way before summers end.
No comments:
Post a Comment