So much for Red October

The Phillies had a very disappointing ending to their season Tuesday night when they lost decisively to the New York Mets in four games. All credit goes to the Mets for continuing their late-season run of really good baseball. For the Phillies, they just could not coordinate hitting and pitching consistently in the playoff games. The offense was literally nonexistent in the playoff series. They only scored two runs per game, and that is not a formula for winning. Even more shocking was the terrible performance by the bullpen pitchers, since they were the strength of the team for most of the season. I was more concerned about the offense’s performance going into the playoffs, but it turned out to be pretty darn ugly on both offense and defense. 

Next year, I’ll be very annoyed if the Phillies have the exact same opening nine players as they do this year. It’s going to be very difficult for the team to trade some players because of the way the contracts are made. Especially Trea Turner at shortstop. He has been incredibly inconsistent for his whole three years with the Phillies and he definitely did not show up for the playoffs. I heard rumors that Rob Thomson may be in the hot seat. I hope this isn't true because the manager is always the scapegoat, but I did find it odd that the Phillies coaching staff decided to start changing the lineup after almost every playoff game. Oh well, now we look to next year and see what February spring training brings.

Now the focus can be football. The Eagles have a very significant game coming off their bye week against a struggling Cleveland Browns team. If they somehow lose this game, Philadelphia sports talk radio is going to go crazy the whole week. The good sign is that A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Lane Johnson all should be playing this week after recovery from their injuries. Jalen Hurts needs to play more aggressive in terms of getting rid of the ball a lot faster. If he plays like he has been, they need to bench him and figure out what's making him not trust his teammates and himself. He also needs to be willing to run for more first downs. He seems to be running scared and if that's the case, then it's not a healthy team. If the Eagles lose his game, they will be in last place in the division and the Washington Commanders are looking pretty good at 4-1. This is when coaching is incredibly important and I hope they get their act together. I can't take another fallout this early. At least the Phillies were fun to follow until this past week.