Time to give Neris his closing papers
Pete Mackanin thought it could work. Didn't.
Gabe Kapler thought it could work. Didn't.
Ruben Amaro Jr. was OK with it. Was wrong.
Ryne Sandberg once gave it a quick whirl. Nothing.
Matt Klentak and Andy MacPhail signed off on it. Should have saved the ink. Chris Young and Rick Kranitz and Bryan Price and Bob McClure thought they had the answers. Their answer chart was wet. Caleb Cotham? Stumped. Dave Dombrowski? Stumped. Sam Fuld? Stumped.
Joe Girardi? In denial.
So, who's next? What poor baseball soul is going to roll onto 1 Citizens Bank Park Way and be fooled into the belief that a closer with half a good pitch, a splitter, only splits coaches and managers and executives from employment?
How many years — how many — are the Phillies going to lose leads, games, fans and ground in the NL East while trusting Hector Neris to consistently produce with the clock running down?
At least one, apparently. For
after Neris failed to hold a two-run lead with two outs in the ninth Saturday in Atlanta, he allowed a walk, a pinch-hit home run, a game to spill into extra innings and a five-game winning streak to disintegrate.
Girardi's postgame analysis?
“Hector has done a good job for us,” he said after the 8-7 loss in Atlanta. “He's pitched well.”
Hey, Joe, huh? Neris has six saves this season, and a couple of blown ones. That doesn't include the game-winning home run he surrendered to the Mets' Michael Conforto in a tie game nine days ago. He is a cringe-worthy embodiment of the Phillies' long struggle to win anything.
Neris needs to do what everyone around him has done for eight years.
He needs to find work elsewhere.
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You trust cryptocurrency. That will make one of us. •••
Some day, the Flyers will find, groom, trade for or buy their next great goaltender. When it happens, the fans will know it. They won't have to be told.
They were told Carter Hart was the Flyers' own Martin Brodeur. They were conditioned to recite the line that he was the goalie they'd been hoping for since Ron Hextall.
They were hopeful. They're always hopeful. Hart had the pedigree. He was on the hockey-scout radar since he was 10. He won a bunch of medals, including some golds, in international competition. He was the highest-drafted goaltender in 2016. He was so hot in a brief career with the Phantoms, and at a time when the Flyers needed help, that he was promoted to the NHL. He had some moments.
But Hart was 9-11-5 with a bothersome .877 save percentage this season. He was susceptible to the on-ice meltdown, with the Bruins giving him particular torment. At one point, Alain Vigneault ordered him to take a vacation, to reset his focus. Later, Hart wrenched his knee, ending his season early.
Hart will be 23 next season, young, but not that young. The Flyers will advertise him again as the next great thing. He's not even the last great thing. The fans know that.
• In an NHL Executive of the Year race, Chuck Fletcher would pay $111.80 to show.
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They would have to pay me, not the other way around, to fly anywhere in a middle airplane seat.
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The scramble for the NBA's MVP award is particularly crowded this year. It's what happens when so many players rest on so many nights, thus allowing the great ones to stand out even more.
The ballot, unofficial, in alphabetical order: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Chris Paul. If there was a five-way dead heat, who could complain? It's that close.
But at some point, there must be a stand to take. And the best player in the NBA this year was Curry, who will lead the league in scoring and will have used the skills that have made him the best point guard in the history of the game to will undermanned Golden State into the playoffs.
• The 76ers have never had a better defensive player than Matisse Thybulle. Carry on.
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Potpourri … I don't get it.
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If it's all the same, I'm good with fast-forwarding past exactly how a racehorse drug test is done, but seems that naughty Medina Spirit failed one after winning the Kentucky Derby.
If so, that would be at least the 30th horse to flunk such a test in the 40-year career of trainer Bob Baffert, according to a New York Times report.
“There's problems in racing,” said Baffert. “But it's not Bob Baffert.”
Must have been Medina Spirit's fault then.
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For 26,000 generations, superstar pro athletes have been deciding they want to play for another team and forcing trades.
Now that Aaron Rodgers floats the idea, he's characterized as selfish.
First time in his career he's shown bad timing.
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For the life of me, I wouldn't spend five seconds watching a shopping channel.