Will the Phillies fire Joe Girardi before the season ends?

There have been many a bad game since Joe Girardi became the Philadelphia Phillies manager in 2020, but none so bad as Thursday night.

If you were fortunate enough to miss it, the Phillies took a 7-1 lead into the top of the ninth before James Norwood and Corey Knebel allowed the Mets to score seven runs. The Phillies failed to answer in the bottom of the frame, and retreated, losers once again.

Unsurprisingly, Girardi’s name trended on Twitter after the stunning collapse, with several media members unable to hide how astounded they were at the implosion. For the second time in barely a week, people are calling for his head.

Girardi, for his part, told Alex Coffey that it was the “toughest” loss of his time here.

The question now is, whether it will be the one that seals his fate.

Will the Phillies fire Joe Girardi before the 2022 season ends?

The 11-15 start to the season – with the 15th loss coming in such outrageous fashion – doesn’t bode well for the embattled skipper, who was likely hoping to earn an option pickup at the end of this season.

But Girardi was labeled a ‘lame-duck manager’ before the season even began, when Phillies president of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, accidentally let slip that he didn’t know the club option on Girardi even existed. We can surmise from that admission that Dombrowski was already planning on replacing him next year, which makes sense, as Girardi was in place before Dombrowski came on board; it’s likely the executive has been itching to bring in his own guy.

If the Phillies fire Girardi midseason, he will be the fourth Phillies manager in the last decade to be hired and fired before managing 300 games, and the only one to helm 200. Not since Charlie Manuel (2005-13) has a manager actually stuck in Philly, coinciding with a decade-long postseason drought. It is worth noting, however, that Gabe Kapler, whom the Phillies fired after two seasons, won NL Manager of the Year with the San Francisco Giants last year, so the Phillies might have been too quick to replace him with Girardi.

At this point, it’s more than fair to ask what’s wrong with this franchise. They’ve been trying to build a better player development side, but that will take time to bear fruit. However, the Phillies also spent tens of millions on relief pitchers and exceeded the luxury tax threshold this year for the first time in franchise history to build what should be a super-lineup, significant changes that should have paid immediate dividends. But this straw-breaking-camel’s-back of a loss to their rival Mets, someone has to take the fall.

The manager looks like the obvious choice.