2000 Philadelphia Phillies 65-97

When a franchise loses over 10,000 games in their history one can surmise that there must be plenty of very bad teams to choose from.  In the case of the Phillies this would be an exceptionally accurate statement.  Right now fans of the Phightin’s are experiencing their “Golden Era”.  The team is now poised to win it’s 4th straight NL East Title after winning two consecutive pennants and one World Title…the 2nd in their 125 year history.

You don’t have to go too far back to see a team that was downright  awful.  In fact 10 years ago (2000) the Phillies put a team on the field that resembled most of the poor offerings the franchise had come to be known for.  This team however had some young players who would eventually become part of the franchises resurgence.  24 year old Pat “the Bat” Burrell would anchor first base and hit 18 homers while batting .260.  He would go on to become a key contributor to their 2008 championship edition.  Back in 2000, he was a green behind the ears sub par first baseman.  Complementing Burrell would be a trio of stars who would hit over 20 homers.  Ron Gant (20), Scott Rolen (26) and Bobby Abreu (25)  would make the rowdy fans at The Vet stand up and have something to cheer for.  Rolen also added a gold glove caliber player at the hot corner when he wasn’t being moody or abrasive to the fans and the press.  Catcher Mike Liberthal hit .278 with 15 homers and was widely known as the second best offensive catcher behind New York’s Mike Piazza.

So what went wrong here ?  The lineup was young, energetic and pretty talented.  It must have been the pitching, right ?  You betcha !  The team ERA was 4.77, which means they needed to score at least 5 runs a night to just have a chance.  Not an easy thing to do unless you’re the ‘27 Yankees.  The pitching might have been half way decent if not for mid season trade of big mouth starter Curt Schilling (6-6, 3.91 in 16 starts) to the Dbacks for Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa, Travis Lee and Vicente Padilla.  Certainly they got back quantity, but not exactly quality.  To add insult to injury Schilling would go on to be the 2001 co-MVP in the World Series, while none of the 4 players that they got in return would add anything to their championship run later in the decade.  Randy Wolf (11-9, 4.36) would be the ace of the staff by virtue of the fact that he was the only hurler to start more than 30 games (32).  If the starters some how made it deep into the game with a lead one can count on the pen to blow the lead.  Closer Jeff Brantley (2-7, 5.86) had 23 saves, but each outing was an adventure unto itself.  No reliever who saw significant time had an ERA under 4.50.  It got so bad manager Terry Francona was canned immediately after the season ended.  Judging by his performance managing the Red Sox 4 years later one can surmise that “Tito” had a Phillie team with little or no talent.