{"id":77024,"date":"2015-07-13T16:27:09","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T16:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=77024"},"modified":"2023-04-12T21:36:40","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T21:36:40","slug":"behind-mic-bad-worse-worst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-bad-worse-worst\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Mic: Bad, Worse, Worst"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all knew the Phillies <\/a>were going to be \u201cbad\u201d this year.\u00a0 Every baseball analyst at the beginning of the season predicted that the Phillies would be the worst team in baseball.\u00a0 It appears, now that we are at the All-Star break<\/a>, that \u201cworst\u201d may not be a strong enough word.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorst\u201d is the superlative for \u201cbad\u201d \u2013 you remember how your English teacher talked about degrees of \u201cnot good\u201d especially when it came to your English.\u00a0 In this case, the superlatives for \u201cbad\u201d are \u201cworse\u201d and \u201cworst\u201d, not \u201cbadder\u201d or \u201c baddest\u201d.\u00a0 I suggest that for the 2015 Philadelphia Phillies, we need to consult a thesaurus to find the appropriate adjective to describe them.\u00a0 None of the above seem strong enough.<\/p>\n

The 1997 Phillies<\/a> lost 61 games by the mid-season break.\u00a0 At the All-Star break, this year\u2019s Phillies are 29-62.\u00a0 Let\u2019s put THAT into perspective.\u00a0 It is the worst All-Star record for ANY Phillies team in history.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0And that is saying something.\u00a0 Since 1900, of the 20 worst season records in baseball history, the Philadelphia Phillies (6) and the Philadelphia Athletics (3) own nine of them \u2013 that\u2019s right – almost half.\u00a0 By the end of this season, I will probably be able to eliminate the word \u201calmost\u201d from the previous sentence.<\/p>\n

The 2015 Phillies have 29 wins, nine fewer than the second worst (I need to find another word) team in baseball right now \u2013 the Milwaukee Brewers<\/a>.\u00a0 The Brewers are 18.5 games out of first place in the National League Central division, but they are trailing the very best team, the St. Louis Cardinals<\/a>.\u00a0 The Phillies are 21 games back!<\/p>\n

The Phillies will lose 100+ games.\u00a0 They have lost their manager<\/a> (even he couldn\u2019t stand watching this team and he was getting paid for it); Ruben Amaro, Jr. has been just awful as the general manager; and the press only talks about who will be gone on the team roster by July 31.<\/p>\n

Their three most recognizable players, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Carlos Ruiz, are batting .226, .179, and .234 respectively.\u00a0 Statistically, they are among the worst (getting the picture here?) at their position.\u00a0 And the pitching has been so bad that in one game the bullpen took the phone off the hook!<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Phillies have been around for 133 seasons.\u00a0 From 2010 through 2012, they ranked first in National League attendance each season, averaging 45,000 fans per game.\u00a0 This season, they are averaging 24,400.\u00a0 Everything, it seems, from talent to fan support, is diminishing at an alarming rate.<\/p>\n

So how would you describe the 2015 edition of the Philadelphia Phillies \u2013 abhorrent, atrocious, hellish, horrible, horrid, nauseating\u2026?\u00a0 Consult a thesaurus because both you and I know it is \u201cworse\u201d than \u201cworst\u201d!<\/p>\n

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. There was really good news out of State College this week that freshman Saquan Barkley of Whitehall has impressed the Penn State staff with his athletic ability and his community involvement in the Lift for Life charity. One player was quoted as saying he is a \u201cfreak athlete\u201d and that\u2019s a good thing.<\/li>\n
  2. Good for Lancaster, Pa.! The town more widely known around here for their horse and buggy Amish citizenry put on a great U. S. Women\u2019s Open golf tournament this past weekend.\u00a0 134,016 fans attended the four-day event and that set a new Open record for attendance.<\/li>\n
  3. Jordan Spieth won the John Deere Classic, his fourth golf tournament victory of the year on Sunday. He became the first to win four in a year before the British Open since Tiger Woods in 2000.\u00a0 His golf earnings this year are $8,709,836.\u00a0 He is 21 years old!<\/li>\n
  4. Tiger Woods, according to Golf Digest, had a net worth at the end of 2014 of $1.37 billion<\/strong> which includes golf, endorsements, corporate outings, etc.<\/li>\n
  5. It appears the EPC basketball boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 favorites will be attending school at Parkland. The Stellar tournament is always a good indicator of winter success and the Parkland girls won the championship and the Parkland boys lost in the finals to Archbishop Carroll.\u00a0 The Parkland football team is heavily favored to win the EPC football championship in the fall.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We all knew the Phillies were going to be \u201cbad\u201d this year.\u00a0 Every baseball analyst at the beginning of the season predicted that the Phillies would be the worst team in baseball.\u00a0 It appears, now that we are at the All-Star break, that \u201cworst\u201d may not be a strong enough word. \u201cWorst\u201d is the superlative…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[354,418],"class_list":["post-77024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic","category-featured","category-sports","tag-mlb","tag-philadelphia-phillies"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBehind the Mic: Bad, Worse, Worst - 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