The Gut Feeling Is, Phillies and Bowa Are in Trouble

Favored to win in the National League East, the Philadelphia Phillies have been off to such a tumultuous start that Randy Wolf, the former Pepperdine left-hander, is suggesting they employ Tums as a sponsor.

Those stomach acids were percolating again as the Florida Marlins completed a three game midweek sweep over the Phillies.

The Marlins, since last April, have won nine in a row from Philadelphia and 18 of 20, and the ultimate victim may be Phillie Manager Larry Bowa, whose team failed to hold off the Marlins in the wild-card scramble last September and still hasn’t found the key to defeating them.

Bowa went into the season on a hot seat, and it has only become hotter. The fiery manager has already produced a couple of fiery rants at reporters that he thinks 1) have been out to get him -- he suggested that a couple were doing everything in their power to “stick a knife in my back” -- and 2) keep alive his reputation as the guy Philadelphia Daily News baseball columnist Paul Hagen refers to as the FLS, Fiery Little Skipper.

The latest outbursts were triggered when Hagen and others questioned Bowa’s decision to pull Wolf after only 86 pitches against the Montreal Expos last Sunday and later bring in closer Billy Wagner in a fourth game in a row.

This was before the Marlins breezed into Citizens Bank Park and continued to get under the Phillies’ skin to such an extent that by the Thursday finale pitcher Brett Myers was nailing Miguel Cabrera in the ribs with a first-inning fastball before buzzing Alex Gonzalez with a high fastball just after Mike Redmond had homered in the second inning.

Naturally, Gonzalez and catcher Todd Pratt promptly engaged in a wrestling match that emptied both benches and left a vestige of bad blood.

Florida Manager Jack McKeon accused Myers of playing Mr. Macho, thanked him for waking his team up on a sluggish afternoon, and added, “In this game, what goes around comes around. We don’t throw at people. We just keep beating you.”

Bowa and the Phillies didn’t have to be reminded.

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Does anyone have to be reminded how Philadelphia can be the City of Unbrotherly Love? The Phillies may have a handsome new home, but the clientele is the same. In fact, the upper tier of a two-tier bullpen puts players in such close proximity to abusive fans that even the Phillies, who occupied it when the new park opened, have been chased out, moving to the lower tier.

The design, Expo Manager Frank Robinson said, “crossed the line a little bit. All you’re asking for is trouble.”

Florida reliever Chad Fox, having weathered three games of abuse, said, “I guess people up here, they want you to think they’re tough. It’s stupid.”

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Omar Vizquel, a last link to the Cleveland Indians’ glory years in Jacobs Field and a nine-time Gold Glove shortstop who is often forgotten amid the arrival of so many more muscular, power hitting players at that position, got his 2,000th hit Thursday, which is more than 200 more hits than five Hall of Fame shortstops: Lou Boudreau, Phil Rizzuto, Travis Jackson, Hughie Jennings and Joe Tinker.

The 36-year-old Vizquel has played with 31 second basemen in his 10 years with the Indians and may still rank as baseball’s best defensive shortstop since Ozzie Smith retired.

“It’s too early for me to be thinking about the Hall of Fame,” Vizquel said. “I do know that if I get into the voting, I’m going to be in tough company. Everyone knows I’m not a home-run hitter, and a lot of [shortstops] are these days. I think in Ozzie’s case, his defense was appreciated more in his era than now. I’m not sure you’ll ever see a guy hitting .260 or .270 make the Hall of Fame again.”

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What they’re saying ...

St. Louis Cardinal third baseman Scott Rolen, on his career-best start: “I’m going to close my eyes and keep swinging.”

Arizona Diamondback Manager Bob Brenly, on his reluctance to shake up a slumping lineup: “We’re getting to the point where we have to see some results. We said we’re going to be patient, but if we don’t see improvement” on the current homestand, “all bets are off.”

San Diego Padre Manager Bruce Bochy, on an obligation at times to pitch to Barry Bonds: “Fans are paying a lot of money to watch him hit. Where would this game be if we never pitched to Babe Ruth?”