Milt Thompson

Despite a lengthy offensive slump that saw them fall seven games behind the Braves in the National League East, the Phillies had maintained an aura of calm about their struggles at the plate. That changed late last night, however, as the team parted ways with hitting coach Milt Thompson in the aftermath of a four-game series against the Cardinals in which they scored just eight runs. The move, announced in a two-paragraph press release after the Phillies landed from their dismal eight-game road trip through Chicago and St. Louis, comes less than 2 years after the team's potent lineup helped lead the organization to its first World Series championship in 28 years.

Hits 822 629 Home Runs 100 66 Runs Batted In 415 321 Walks 308 252 Strikeouts 616 448 Strikeouts/Game 6.5 6.7 Batting Avg. .254 .269 On-Base Pct. .322 .345 Slugging Pct. .411 .417 OBP+Slug. .733 .762  

It should have been a night for Phillies leftfielder Milt Thompson to glow in the national spotlight. Single, double, triple. Five RBIs - one shy of the World Series record set by the Yankees' Bobby Richardson in a 1960 World Series game. But instead of glowing, the sad-eyed Thompson sat in the Phillies' clubhouse, his voice barely audible, and talked about one of the most stunning defeats in Phils history. The Phils blew a pair of five-run leads. Toronto scored six eighth-inning runs to defeat the dazed Phillies, 15-14, and take a three games to one lead in the World Series.

As the Phillies prepared to move to Jack Russell Stadium yesterday, Milt Thompson, wearing a Philadelphia uniform, packed an Atlanta Braves T-shirt into a St. Louis Cardinals equipment bag. Thompson has played for all three teams. And if he seemed somber as he performed this task, it was because he knew the count could reach four very soon. The leftfielder, who platooned so effectively with Pete Incaviglia in '93 and whose grand-slam-saving catch last April came to typify the Phillies' magical season, could be traded before the team heads north.

Baseball is playing a new song. The Phils hate the music and just can't seem to dance to it. In nearly five days of frequently intense dealings with agents and general managers at these winter meetings, the Phillies came away with just two medium-priced free-agents - Milt Thompson and Pete Incaviglia - and a promising but so far ineffective reliever in David West. While the other guys lined up for the David Cones and Barry Bondses, the Phils, determined to keep the payroll down and making no secret of their powerful distaste for the free-agent bidding process, hung back.

Milt Thompson came to the Phillies last year hearing footsteps. Seven years and 848 games in the bush leagues will do that to a guy. Every trip to the plate seemed like a nightmare rather than a dream come true, a midnight walk through the South Bronx rather than a Sunday afternoon stroll through Fairmount Park. "I came into the season last year real tight," said the Phillies outfielder. "I went up to the plate thinking, 'I've got to get a hit, I've got to get a hit.' "To bat .300, you've only got to get three hits in 10 at-bats.

While most of us were busy working at the office, Marian Simpson, of Sea Isle City, was relaxing on the beach, waiting for yesterday's Phillies game to begin. As game time approached, Marian packed up her kids - Andrew, 7, Billy, 6, and Matthew, 4 - and headed home. Marian flipped on the radio and got some big news in the sixth inning. A three-run home run by Milt Thompson had made her the third $1,000 winner of the season in the Daily News Home Run Payoff contest. Seconds later, Marian's brother, Gary, was on the phone, screaming, "You won, you won!"

The Phillies yesterday named Greg Gross the hitting coach for their single-A minor-league affiliate in Batavia, N.Y. Gross spent the last four seasons on the Phillies' major-league coaching staff, as bench coach (2001) and hitting coach (2002-04). He was replaced by Milt Thompson in November. The Phillies also announced that J.P. Roberge has been named hitting coach at single-A Lakewood, and that Ken Patterson is the new pitching coach at Batavia. Roberge played 11 minor-league seasons, including the last four with the Phils' minor-league affiliates in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Reading.

-- ABOUT THIS PHOTO This shot was taken at the Vet as the '93 season got under way. That team won eight of its first nine, 51 of its first 72 and finished 97-65. FRONT ROW (from left) 1. CRAIG MARQUIS, batboy 2. ANTHONY FENUTA, batboy - SECOND ROW (from left) 1. PETE CERA, assistant clubhouse manager, deceased 2. EDDIE FERENZ, traveling secretary, Collingswood, N.J., retired 3. MIKE RYAN, bullpen coach, 66, Wolfeboro, N.H., retired 4. LARRY BOWA, third base coach, 62, Radnor, third base coach for the Dodgers 5. JOHN VUKOVICH, dugout assistant, deceased 6. JIM FREGOSI, manager, 66, Tarpon Springs, Fla., special assistant to the GM/major league scout for the Braves 7. DENIS MENKE, hitting instructor, 68, Palm Harbor, Fla., retired 8. MEL ROBERTS, first base coach, deceased 9. JOHNNY PODRES, pitching coach, deceased 10. MARK ANDERSEN, assistant trainer, 49, West Chester, Phillies assistant athletic trainer 11. JEFF COOPER, trainer, 56, Wilmington, consulting part time for Phillies - THIRD ROW (from left)

Joe Lefebvre, the Phillies' merry prankster, walked up to rookie outfielder Chris James one morning at the Carpenter Complex and flopped to the floor in front of him. "What's that supposed to be?" the startled former rodeo cowboy sputtered. Lefebvre sank the hook. "That's about how many yards your brother gained in the Super Bowl," Lefebvre said. Gotcha . . . Craig James of the New England Patriots. Chris James of the Philadelphia Phillies. Guess which one is the most logical candidate to have his name tapped out on a TV commercial for American Express?

On the big scoreboard in left field at Citizens Bank Park, the line score from the final game of the year was still posted Wednesday afternoon, with the zeros on the home half of the line stretching from first pitch to the last, dying light of the season. Charlie Manuel didn't need the reminder. He had seen the game, and seen all the games in the last two years as the Phillies went from a slugging team that didn't need many hits to score runs to a team that needs to rely on a smarter approach at the plate.

First in a series   WHEN GREG GROSS began poring over video of Domonic Brown's at-bats during the outfielder's 2-month stint with the Phillies at the end of last season, he immediately noticed something out of whack. "A lot of times, it's not that obvious," said the hitting coach, who is entering his first full season on manager Charlie Manuel's staff after replacing Milt Thompson last July. "This one was obvious. " The problem centered on the height at which Brown, the 23-year-old uberprospect and contender to replace Jayson Werth, held his hands in his stance.

SAN FRANCISCO - The way Charlie Manuel sees it, some of the puzzlement surrounding the state of the Phillies' offense could be solved with a simple lowering of expectations. Don't get him wrong. He wants to fix it. And, he says, he believes that it can be fixed. But he also admits their current offensive woes really aren't all that unusual. "Basically, what do I see that you don't see? You see our hitting from 2 years ago. I see our hitting today," Manuel said yesterday, before the start of Game 4 between the Phillies and the Giants at AT & T Park.

Here are the facts: Through 95 games, the Phillies batted .254, averaged 4.6 runs per game and ranked sixth in the National League in runs scored. In their final 67 games, the Phillies batted .269, averaged 5 runs per game and moved up to second in the league in runs scored. Milt Thompson was the hitting instructor through the first 95 games. Greg Gross was the hitting instructor through the final 67 games. Charlie Manuel said replacing Thompson with Gross in the middle of the 2010 season was the most difficult decision he has made during his six seasons as the Phillies' manager.

Hits 822 629 Home Runs 100 66 Runs Batted In 415 321 Walks 308 252 Strikeouts 616 448 Strikeouts/Game 6.5 6.7 Batting Avg. .254 .269 On-Base Pct. .322 .345 Slugging Pct. .411 .417 OBP+Slug. .733 .762  

Since Davey Lopes was hired as the Phillies' first-base coach before the 2007 season, he has overseen baseball's best running game. The Phillies have successfully converted 84.4 percent of their stolen-base attempts, by far the best mark in the majors. Many of the players credit Lopes for it all. He is the base-stealing guru. "I might go as far to say he's the best in the history of baseball," Jayson Werth said Saturday. "Now that isn't very well researched, of course.

Thanks to a long list of injuries, the contributions from the Phillies' triple-A Lehigh Valley roster have already been plentiful. As of Friday, a total of 14 players from the IronPigs' roster have been called to join the big-league club at some point during the season. Some of them, Brian Bocock and Drew Carpenter, were here ever so briefly and others, Wilson Valdez and Domonic Brown, have made major contributions. The Phillies also summoned Greg Gross, the IronPigs' hitting instructor, to replace the fired Milt Thompson and since making that move they were 14-4 and averaging 5.7 runs per game heading into Friday's game.

MIAMI - If you are looking for a poster boy for the renaissance this Phillies team has experienced over the past couple weeks, the mound at Sun Life Stadium is a good place to start. That's where Kyle Kendrick spent the majority of a soggy August evening shutting down the Marlins' offense, pitching six strong innings last night while leading the Phillies to a 7-2 win over a team that entered the week as the hottest in the National League East. Three weeks earlier, the young righthander had allowed seven runs in five innings against the Cardinals, earning himself a demotion to the minors and the team its fourth loss in five games.

Turnaround: The great Bob Vetrone Jr. notes that Roy Oswalt (6-12), Cliff Lee (7-9), Joe Blanton (5-12) and Kyle Lohse (6-12) were a combined 24-45 when acquired by the Phillies before the deadline each of the last 4 years. It remains to be seen what Oswalt does, but the others went 20-4, including postseason, the rest of the way. On schedule: The Phillies still have to take advantage of the opportunity that's in front of them, of course, but they are in the early portions of a favorable stretch of the schedule.

Nothing much is different, but everything has changed. The Phillies' 10-2 bludgeoning of Colorado on Saturday stood in contrast to their dreadful 2-6 trek through Chicago and St. Louis to open the second half of the season. During that stretch, it seemed that the only thing more uncomfortable than the sticky Midwest heat and humidity was the growing distance between themselves and the first-place Atlanta Braves. With general manager Ruben Amaro's trade attempts stuck in neutral, the Phillies tried to shake things up with a roster move and a hitting instructor change.