FanPost

Do not Fire Topper

The Phillies' poor play is not Rob Thopson's fault. He turned them around last year when they were in the same boat. Give him a chance to do it again. Right now, the Phillies are playing more like a team that can lose 100 games than one that can return to the World Series. Starting pitching is failing. Nola, Wheeler, and Suarez need to get back to their normal success. Walker is inconsistent, but I think we could have expected that. Both Walker and Suarez need to work on their command to be effective. Walker has to be more selective about using the split. The split works best against aggressive hitters with two strikes and less than three balls. Too many splits lead to walks and disaster. The Phillies are short a 5th starter with Falter being sent down to hopefully get straightened out. For now, I suggest Strahm as the 5th starter until Painter is ready. Several of the Phillies hitters are pressing and struggling. Tra Turner is one of the key players that need to relax, wait for the ball to come to him, be more selective, and stop swinging at bad pitches, especially early in the count. Many of the other hitters need to work on this as well. Situational hitting is lacking resulting in leaving way too many runners on base. With this line up the Phillies should score 4 runs a game on average and be able to win series consistently. When Hall comes back that should help some as well. The whole team needs to work on fundamentals. They are playing more like a little league team than a big league team on the field at times. The Phillies' defense can be strong if they play properly. Only Schwarber is subpar in leftfield. Even so the can and needs to make the routine plays in left. This team is very disappointing and frustrating. Rob Thomson is doing the best he can. The rest of the staff are trying hard as well. The players need to get it together. Maybe it is time for Harper to call a closed-door meaning of the everyday players and Realmuto to do the same with the pitchers. The potential is there. The Phillies just have to believe in themselves and get the job done.