One Day in Philly Sports: Nothing Changes

I had the chance to re-live a bit of my past this week, when I was in Philly for most of the day Monday. Listening to all-sports radio, I was struck by one fundamental truth with regard to Philly sports: nothing really changes.

The big story was the Eagles' draft, of course, but it was even bigger than in other towns. That's because most sports towns have a baseball team that inspires some degree of loyalty. Philadelphia has a baseball team that inspires disgust and revulsion, mostly because management spent the last decade-plus (a) crying poor until the city and state pitched in to help build a new ballpark, and (b) employing a front office which has performed incompetently to a large degree while not being held to account. As Jayson Stark (the former Phillies beat writer who currently writes for ESPN.com) noted, this team has most everyone in baseball confused...

They have a $95-million payroll, but they've spent just three days over .500 all season – and one of them was Opening Day.

They fired their manager (Mr. Lawrence R. Bowa) because he was too volatile – yet they've still been the most volatile team in baseball (ripping off three three-game losing streaks and two three-game winning streaks in their first 19 games).

They've been talking since February about how much fun they're having, and how relaxed they are, under their upbeat new manager (Charlie Manuel), pitching coach (Rich Dubee) and hitting coach (Milt Thompson). Yet they're hitting .232 with runners in scoring position. They have the lowest average in baseball in the late innings of close games (.200). And their pitching staff has a 7.93 ERA with runners on base.

So they might be a happier bunch of people. But as they sit at the bottom of the NL East in the final week of April, they sure look a lot like the same mysterious baseball team they've been for the last two-plus seasons.

"Maybe," one scout who has watched them this April said with a laugh, "they're happy being the same."

Trust me, being a last-place team in Philly is not going to make anyone happy for long. The prevailing question in Philly on Monday was simple -- when does training camp start for the Eagles at Lehigh? Maybe the Phillies will turn it around and actually be in the pennant race, but we're not holding our breath. Trust me -- I'm more likely to follow the Eagles' mini-camp closely this weekend.

Oh, well. At least there's good food to keep us distracted.