The winded rant of an old man

By Jared Trexler
The Phanatic Magazine

My uncle used to tell me how America worked years ago -- hard-working, mainstream men with ashes on their clothes and in their lungs from a day at the plant; women with vacuums and frying pans, the smell of shoe polish permeating their skin after a day spent shining the house built on the old man's paycheck.

Hard work wasn't only rewarded, it was expected. America lived in a different era, with a different mindset. And no matter that he was living comfortably in the digital age of equal race relations, two-dollar sodas and a high-tech market -- it was all wrong.

God rest his loving soul, but he refused to leave old America to the point of belittling new America at every turn. If something didn't go as planned it was the fault of a new age, because it worked like clockwork when days were longer and children walked to school uphill both ways.

Pat Gillick has the same problem. You could see it in the boys club trades made with familiar faces over a double scotch and war stories. You could see it in his scouting department, where old-school values and "tools" overshadowed "results."

But you were never quite certain, because after all, Gillick was never around. Perhaps each game started after his bed time.

Until now. With the Phillies coming off a lackluster 4-6 road trip, Gillick spoke not like the head of an organization but like a senior citizen bus driver about to run over all his kids.

It reeked of classless, irresponsible and downright childish.

Here are some of the highlights:

"You can't win scoring two or three runs a game," Gillick said. "You've got to score four or five runs to win. That will take the heat off your bullpen, and they'll have some margin of error to work with."

In reality, the Phillies are averaging 4.97 runs per game. They lead the league in OBP and walks. Perhaps six, seven or eight runs are needed so Gillick's prime bullpen of Antonio Alfonseca, Francisco Rosario and Clay Condrey can hold down five-run leads.

"We need productivity from the middle of our order," Gillick said. "What do we have, one home run between Burrell and Helms? Seven total from the three guys? That doesn't cut it."

Wes Helms was lauded at his signing, spun as an upgrade over David Bell. That has shown to be false.

"People say, 'Fix the bullpen,' but I don't have a 32-homer guy like LaRoche that's going to get me Gonzalez . . . You need to hit on something internally or hit on an unexpected source externally. Teams just don't have enough in reserve to trade relievers."

I agree Pat. No one said the bullpen needed to be fixed via trade. Instead of shelling out an exorbitant contract to Adam Eaton and throwing out an unnecessary one to Rod Barajas, that money could have been spent on Brendan Donnelly, Justin Speier, anyone who was a free agent currently in the Padres bullpen.

That may be nickpicky, but that statement just reeks of "It's not my fault. What do you want me to do?" which is a bad message to send as the personnel head of an organization.

In fairness, Gillick did add the following message in his morning's Philadelphia Inquirer.

"Gillick said he was aware that he was taking heat from the public - 'it goes with the territory' - and rated his performance as 'average.'"

Is it just me or is Pat Gillick pulling a Larry Bowa, the same "throw the players under the bus" mantra that got the former Philly shortstop run out of town by players who didn't appreciate it.

No question mark needed because it's a rhetorical question...OF COURSE HE IS!

I'm tired of baseball fans calling Gillick candid, when in fact it's utter stupidity -- a public relations nightmare. If you want to rip a player in private fine, but questioning the play of your offseason acquistion (Helms) then turning around and calling your performance "average" is a walking contradiction.

It's basically conveying the message, "Helms should be great. I did my job. It's his fault."

The message falls on deaf ears here. I've heard it from loved ones who never understood the changing complexities of a new day. Refusing to adjust to such changes was never their fault, but rather the fault of others.

Self denial and rants like this one won't get Gillick fired. But if his baseball team continues as is, a new age may finally replace the old one.
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Jared Trexler can be reached at jtrexler@phanaticmag.com