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The latest sign Joe Girardi is going to be fired by Phillies very soon

The Phillies lost again on Wednesday night. Their bullpen imploded again in an 8-4 loss to the Braves in Atlanta. They’re now four games under .500 at 20-24. And they’re seven games back of the National League East-leading Mets in the loss column. All while having a top-5 payroll after an offseason spending spree.

All bad things. But it’s the clown show above — a series of comical events that belongs at Little League games and on blooper reels — that likely did the most damage to Joe Girardi.

There are tell-tale signs when a coach or manager is destined to get fired. Some are provincial, like when Mike Francesa used to get so disgusted he’d do running commentary as WFAN played press conference audio. Others are universal, such as embarrassing errors like Odubel Herrera’s here.

Girardi is in the final year of his contract. Phillies front office czar Dave Dombrowski didn’t hire him. The team stinks. The natives have been restless since April. This is not going to end well. Which is a shame. Girardi is a much better manager than he’s given credit for.

This is Girardi’s 14th year. It’s on pace to be only his third losing season. And it would be the first “real” one. The first was when he led the Marlins to 78 wins and was named NL manager of the year. And the second was the 2020 pandemic-shortened season with the Phillies, which doesn’t really count.

Girardi won the World Series with the Yankees. Maybe he should have won another one, too. He led the Phillies to their first winning season in a decade last year (albeit barely at 82-80). And he will be 58 in October, so he is young enough to get another job down the road. But it just feels like this one has run its course.

James Kratch can be reached at [email protected]

James Kratch is the managing editor of ESNY. He previously worked as a Rutgers and Giants (and Mike Francesa) beat reporter for NJ Advance Media.