The Phillies are in a free fall due in large part to the fact that they simply can't hit... their solution? Fire the hitting coach. While I highly doubt Milt Thompson's coaching is the reason the team can't hit(in fact isn't Charlie Manuel supposed to be the hitting genius?) he certainly hasn't been part of the solution. You can only hope that his firing serves as some sort of wakeup call to the team. Their lackluster performance has cost Milt his job and maybe that will mean something to them.
Matt Gelb unearthed an apropos Charlie Manuel quote from last month.
In early June, when the Phillies were in the middle of their first extended swoon of the season, Manuel offered a passionate defense of Thompson at the end of a road trip in Atlanta.
"It's definitely not Milt Thompson's fault," Manuel said then. "He doesn't do the hitting."
Greg Gross will take over as hitting coach. It's his second stint in the job.