GaryMrMets
07-29-2004, 04:01 PM
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/sports/9267133.htm
Posted on Thu, Jul. 29, 2004
On Baseball | Bowa insists he's not worried, but he may be running out of time.
By Jim Salisbury
Inquirer Columnist
MIAMI - There are times when you think Larry Bowa sleeps in his uniform. You can show up at the ballpark six hours before a game and the super-intense Phillies skipper will be there, already in his baseball knickers.
That's what made yesterday so unusual. When the clubhouse opened 31/2 hours before last night's game, Bowa was still wearing khakis and a peach-colored golf shirt.
Asked why he wasn't in uniform, Bowa said he had been on the telephone and having meetings with players and staff members.
He laughed and said, "What did you think, that I quit?"
Quit? No.
Fired? The thought crossed our minds.
Bowa laughed.
"I don't worry about that," he said. "Wasted energy."
Bowa might not be worried about getting fired - at least that's what he says - but you'd have to believe the subject is occupying a large chunk of general manager Ed Wade's gray matter.
How do you think Wade is sleeping these days?
His team lost for the 10th time in 16 games last night. He's under pressure to make a trade before Saturday's deadline. And now he has to deal with what is becoming an almost annual phenomenon.
Disenchantment in the clubhouse.
No, there was no Boys on the Bus meeting like last year. There was no handshake snub. But after Tuesday night's loss, the long-standing off-the-record criticisms of Bowa and the atmosphere around the Phillies finally got some names and faces.
Reliever Rheal Cormier, who has more than carried his weight in the last season and a half, criticized the negative environment the Phillies play in. "It's just brutal," he said. "Pins and needles."
Cormier never used Bowa's name, but it was clear that is whom he was holding accountable.
Loose-lipped closer Billy Wagner also took a mild swipe at Bowa. Conveniently enough, he was on an airplane to Philadelphia for a medical exam yesterday.
Shortly before last night's game, reliever Roberto Hernandez, pressed by reporters, joined the fray and offered some critical thoughts. Hernandez has a 5.08 ERA and has struggled getting important outs. He could be this year's Tyler Houston - outta here.
It's interesting that these players are pitchers. Position players, for the most part, hushed up on the subject of Bowa and environment yesterday. The boys who throw the ball for a living are probably a little more vocal because they don't exactly enjoy life under pitching coach Joe Kerrigan. In fact, there's an open disdain for Kerrigan. How else do you explain one pitcher greeting broadcaster Larry Andersen with "Hey, coach!" in the clubhouse, in front of plenty of uniformed personnel, on Monday? Andersen was recently mentioned as a replacement for Kerrigan in reports that said Kerrigan was on thin ice.
But we digress.
This is about Bowa and what must be going through Wade's mind.
Wade, who is deep in trade matters, did not respond to a telephone message seeking comment on the Bowa/Cormier/environment situation yesterday. Considering that he is just about the most accessible GM in baseball, that was rather telling.
Bowa may have brought on Tuesday's player criticism by saying a loss that night - the Phils' ninth in 10 games against Florida this season - was "embarrassing."
He was right. That type of futility is embarrassing. But players - and you can call them thin-skinned - who are already down on a skipper don't want to hear that, so they fired back.
This whole drama is getting ridiculous. Every spring, the players say they won't let Bowa's hiss and vinegar bother them, then every season they do. Why they can't accept him for what he is and tune him out - for the most part, they are all richer and have more job security than he does - remains a mystery.
The players always seem to be looking for Bowa to make a funny face and say something critical. The manager often obliges and the whole thing becomes a cyclical distraction that a team in a so-called pennant race doesn't need. Pennant race? Aren't they supposed to be fun and exciting? These Phils often approach the game as if it's drudgery, and shame on them for that.
Bowa is not a bad person or a bad baseball man. He works hard and he loves the Phillies organization. But, he is clearly in some of the players' heads (we don't think he can help it) to the point that they are obsessing on it.
Maybe that's part of the reason - we'll give you injuries, but only to a point - they can't put together a winning streak.
Eventually, maybe in the coming days, maybe over the winter, Wade is going to reach the point where he realizes there's little meshing of personalities here, and decides it's easier to remove one person than a dozen or so.
That's why Bowa could be in trouble right now. The Phils have 61 games left, plenty of time to save the season, especially in the mediocre National League East. Management spent $93 million putting this team together. It won't waste a chance at winning a very winnable division because - regardless of whose fault it is - the players aren't seeing eye-to-eye with the manager.
Ed Wade has the power to fire Larry Bowa. Believe that.
Will he? We're not sure. But we'd bet he's thinking about it.
http://www.philly.com/images/philly/inquirer/9266/85867622562.jpg
Larry Bowa isn’t concerned about his job security. “I don’t worry about that,” he says. “Wasted energy.”
Posted on Thu, Jul. 29, 2004
On Baseball | Bowa insists he's not worried, but he may be running out of time.
By Jim Salisbury
Inquirer Columnist
MIAMI - There are times when you think Larry Bowa sleeps in his uniform. You can show up at the ballpark six hours before a game and the super-intense Phillies skipper will be there, already in his baseball knickers.
That's what made yesterday so unusual. When the clubhouse opened 31/2 hours before last night's game, Bowa was still wearing khakis and a peach-colored golf shirt.
Asked why he wasn't in uniform, Bowa said he had been on the telephone and having meetings with players and staff members.
He laughed and said, "What did you think, that I quit?"
Quit? No.
Fired? The thought crossed our minds.
Bowa laughed.
"I don't worry about that," he said. "Wasted energy."
Bowa might not be worried about getting fired - at least that's what he says - but you'd have to believe the subject is occupying a large chunk of general manager Ed Wade's gray matter.
How do you think Wade is sleeping these days?
His team lost for the 10th time in 16 games last night. He's under pressure to make a trade before Saturday's deadline. And now he has to deal with what is becoming an almost annual phenomenon.
Disenchantment in the clubhouse.
No, there was no Boys on the Bus meeting like last year. There was no handshake snub. But after Tuesday night's loss, the long-standing off-the-record criticisms of Bowa and the atmosphere around the Phillies finally got some names and faces.
Reliever Rheal Cormier, who has more than carried his weight in the last season and a half, criticized the negative environment the Phillies play in. "It's just brutal," he said. "Pins and needles."
Cormier never used Bowa's name, but it was clear that is whom he was holding accountable.
Loose-lipped closer Billy Wagner also took a mild swipe at Bowa. Conveniently enough, he was on an airplane to Philadelphia for a medical exam yesterday.
Shortly before last night's game, reliever Roberto Hernandez, pressed by reporters, joined the fray and offered some critical thoughts. Hernandez has a 5.08 ERA and has struggled getting important outs. He could be this year's Tyler Houston - outta here.
It's interesting that these players are pitchers. Position players, for the most part, hushed up on the subject of Bowa and environment yesterday. The boys who throw the ball for a living are probably a little more vocal because they don't exactly enjoy life under pitching coach Joe Kerrigan. In fact, there's an open disdain for Kerrigan. How else do you explain one pitcher greeting broadcaster Larry Andersen with "Hey, coach!" in the clubhouse, in front of plenty of uniformed personnel, on Monday? Andersen was recently mentioned as a replacement for Kerrigan in reports that said Kerrigan was on thin ice.
But we digress.
This is about Bowa and what must be going through Wade's mind.
Wade, who is deep in trade matters, did not respond to a telephone message seeking comment on the Bowa/Cormier/environment situation yesterday. Considering that he is just about the most accessible GM in baseball, that was rather telling.
Bowa may have brought on Tuesday's player criticism by saying a loss that night - the Phils' ninth in 10 games against Florida this season - was "embarrassing."
He was right. That type of futility is embarrassing. But players - and you can call them thin-skinned - who are already down on a skipper don't want to hear that, so they fired back.
This whole drama is getting ridiculous. Every spring, the players say they won't let Bowa's hiss and vinegar bother them, then every season they do. Why they can't accept him for what he is and tune him out - for the most part, they are all richer and have more job security than he does - remains a mystery.
The players always seem to be looking for Bowa to make a funny face and say something critical. The manager often obliges and the whole thing becomes a cyclical distraction that a team in a so-called pennant race doesn't need. Pennant race? Aren't they supposed to be fun and exciting? These Phils often approach the game as if it's drudgery, and shame on them for that.
Bowa is not a bad person or a bad baseball man. He works hard and he loves the Phillies organization. But, he is clearly in some of the players' heads (we don't think he can help it) to the point that they are obsessing on it.
Maybe that's part of the reason - we'll give you injuries, but only to a point - they can't put together a winning streak.
Eventually, maybe in the coming days, maybe over the winter, Wade is going to reach the point where he realizes there's little meshing of personalities here, and decides it's easier to remove one person than a dozen or so.
That's why Bowa could be in trouble right now. The Phils have 61 games left, plenty of time to save the season, especially in the mediocre National League East. Management spent $93 million putting this team together. It won't waste a chance at winning a very winnable division because - regardless of whose fault it is - the players aren't seeing eye-to-eye with the manager.
Ed Wade has the power to fire Larry Bowa. Believe that.
Will he? We're not sure. But we'd bet he's thinking about it.
http://www.philly.com/images/philly/inquirer/9266/85867622562.jpg
Larry Bowa isn’t concerned about his job security. “I don’t worry about that,” he says. “Wasted energy.”