A Gritty Effort: Rockies 10, Phillies 1

Yesterday, the Philadelphia Flyers unveiled a new mascot. Like most Flyers fans, the absence of a team mascot has long bothered me, and has kept me from fully embracing the team. Thankfully, the organization finally heard my cries and gave us what we longed for.

Unless you’ve somehow been off the internet for the past 24 hours - and I applaud you for making The Good Phight your first stop upon returning - you know that the new mascot is named Gritty, and it is... interesting looking:

Naturally, the takes were plentiful. At first, people wondered why the Flyers would inflict this monstrosity upon us:

While Gritty is indeed a bit scary looking, let’s be fair here: People were going to rip on him no matter what he looked like. Remember when the Cubs unveiled their new mascot? He was cute and cuddly, and the fans let him have it too:

We all love the Phillie Phanatic, but if he was introduced today, people would be ripping on him just as much.

“Why is the Phillies’ mascot a giant green bird?”

“The Phillies’ mascot molested me, and I’m never going back to another game!”

Realizing that a googlied-eyed monster might not be the easiest sell to the occasionally abrasive Philadelphia fans, Gritty took some efforts to win them over.

And now, Gritty is the most beloved creature to enter Philadelphia since Joel Embiid!

In other news, one day after being eliminated from playoff consideration, the Phillies traveled to Colorado to play the Rockies. They looked like a team that had nothing to play for as they dropped a 10-1 decision that was even less fun to watch than it sounds.

Zach Eflin pitched into trouble in the third inning, and reliever Austin Davis came in and poured lighter fluid on the fire. The five-run inning was plenty of offense for the Rockies (although they went on to score five more runs), since the Phillies were shut down by starter Jon Gray. I think Rhys Hoskins might have homered at some point, which will be great for Scott Boras when he negotiates Hoskins’ next contract, but didn’t do much to help the Phillies win the game.

The Phillies are now 78-78 and appear very determined to finish with a losing record. I could discuss the game further, but instead, I’ll leave you with this: