Alex R. just called me and says that ESPN radio is reporting that Larry Bowa has been fired by the Phillies. Let’s just hope it’s too late.
7 Comments
Advertisement
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
Alex R. just called me and says that ESPN radio is reporting that Larry Bowa has been fired by the Phillies. Let’s just hope it’s too late.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
The Braves need Larry Bowa in Philadelphia! The longer he stays, the better chances the Braves have that the Phillies won’t find a good replacement for him that might help the Phillies win! We don’t need the 2004 Phillies to be the 2003 Marlins (with Jack McKeon)!
here’s to hoping they replace him with Jimmy Williams !
Haven’t seen any confirmation of it yet; hoepfully they’re at least giving him one more weekend series.
Damn Marlins. Don’t they know that you have to give Bowa at least one game a series? You can’t go out there and embarrass them four straight like that. That’s why Bobby left Reitsma out there to blow those two Phillie games. Even Ed Wade can’t ignore a butt kicking like the one they took in Florida this week.
To make things worse, the Marlins destroyed Paul Abbott yesterday so it also may be the last we see of him. They are just making it harder on everybody.
Is Dallas Green still lurking atound the Phillie organization? Maybe he could be the intrem manager and finish the team off.
Apparently, Gammons is saying that Bowa will be fired “before the trade deadline”, so he’d manage two more games at most.
Here’s a story from the Philadelphia Daily News. It doesn’t report a firing, but that the Phillies alleged brain trust (including “wise man” Dallas Green, nyb) has just finished meeting in Clearwater. The assistant GM has been dispatched to Chicago, where the Phillies are about to play. Green is on his way to Philadelphia.
Here’s the text of an article from Wednesday’s Philly paper about some of the players publicly discussing the clubhouse atmosphere.
As onlookers gathered to gape at the pileup, the police chief stood on the curb amid mutilated egos and leaking life strewn all over the clubhouse and said, “Move along, move along, nothing to see here.”
Right.
Tuesday night, Larry Bowa said he was embarrassed at consistently losing to the Marlins and that his team should be, too.
Veteran reliever Rheal Cormier said the postgame clubhouse and dugout atmosphere is constantly so wrought with tension during and after losses that it’s pins and needles, eggshells underfoot, panic in the air after a loss or two.
Veteran reliever Billy Wagner added that Bowa shouldn’t point fingers, that the manager needed to realize the Phillies’ effort wasn’t a one-man show.
It was the first time players acknowledged with attribution the tenseness of the Bowa regime.
Then, yesterday, Bowa downplayed the preceding evening’s hijinx.
Of course, he called in Cormier as soon as Cormier showed up, Cormier said, and, among other issues, addressed Cormier’s contentions – calmly and professionally, but immediately and sternly.
And, coincidentally, Wagner went back to Philadelphia to see team doctor Michael Ciccotti.
No, Wagner’s active jaw wasn’t wired shut after a clubhouse dust-up. Bowa said Wagner awoke yesterday with continued stiffness in his strained left shoulder and wanted to fly north to see if his throwing regimen was retarding his return. He hasn’t pitched since straining the shoulder July 21.
Bowa stood by his comments: “I think I have the right to say I’m embarrassed…I don’t care what the reaction was…If two feel that way and 23 don’t it’s not a concern. Nope. Nope Nope.”
There was more fallout yesterday, though.
“The word ‘relaxed’ doesn’t exist in Philadelphia,” said Roberto Hernandez, a 13-year veteran who was with the Braves last season. “Not upstairs [in the front office]. Not with the fans.”
With Bowa and the coaches?
“There’s a lot of us who have learned to ignore that,” Hernandez said. “There’s some of us who can’t ignore it. Everybody just needs to relax. This is a kid’s game.”
Not in everyone’s eyes.
“They are adults,” Bowa said. “You’ve just got to deal with it. You make a lot of money. Deal with it.”
Hernandez sees that philosophy affecting the team’s play.
“We’re playing not to lose instead of playing to win,” Hernandez said – a different vibe than he felt in Atlanta last year, where manager Bobby Cox, general manager John Schuerholz and their 12 straight division titles create a different atmosphere. “They’ve got one guy sitting in the dugout and the same GM. And they don’t panic.”
Veteran slugger Jim Thome, the highest-paid player in team history, and No. 1 starter Kevin Millwood, the highest-paid pitcher in team history, refused to comment on any of the controversy.
Third baseman David Bell regarded Bowa’s comments with indifference that reflects the overall reaction of the team: “I’m not embarrassed. I don’t think anybody in this clubhouse should be embarrassed. I don’t agree with what he said. I think everyone’s entitled to their opinion.”
When asked if he needed an air-clearing meeting during the current, crucial, 13-game road trip, Bowa said perhaps the players were distracted by trade talk and injury depletion. He said he had tried to soothe sensitive second baseman Placido Polanco, the most likely roster member to move by Saturday.
Otherwise, Bowa said, there’s nothing to see here.
Move along. Move along.
Not sure if it is final yet or not, but when gammons was on the radio this morning, he mentioned that if it did happen, Charlie Manuel might be the guy they look to to replace Bowa. I’d rather them keep Bowa! 🙂