Lifeless Phillies may need to fire Joe Girardi after a poor start capped by the Mets disaster | Marcus Hayes

It ain’t all Joe, but he might have to go.

Joe Girardi on Thursday oversaw the worst Phillies collapse in almost 28 years. His mercenary team, a $240 million mercenary crew, blew a six-run lead in the top of the ninth inning.

This all comes as a great relief to Doc Rivers, whose Sixers were down 0-2 to the Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals without superstar Joel Embiid, who was injured in garbage time at the end of their first-round series win. Doc’s day might soon come, but, fairly or not, Philly is focused on Girardi for the moment.

The circumstances could hardly have been worse.

It happened at home. It happened against the despised Mets, their chief rivals, who moved to 5-2 in the teams’ seven games this season, and who already had won the teams’ two series in these early days of 2022. The loss was the fifth in their last six games and left the Phillies seven games behind the Mets in the National League East.

Afterward, incredibly, Girardi supplied his epitaph:

“We played a really good eight innings.”

Gulp.

The quote was delivered as glumly as it reads.

Girardi was despondent. He was tapping on the interview table. His eyes were as vacant as his voice.

He looks empty. Done. The team right now reflects the manager.

And he seems to know it.

The team needs a jolt.

The last time we heard something as tone-deaf as “We played a really good eight innings,” it painted a legacy for its originator.

In mid-July of 2019, then-Phillies president Andy MacPhail delivered his tombstone script. In assessing their likely involvement in the pending trade-deadline market, in regard to the team’s playoff prospects, MacPhail said: “If we don’t, we don’t.”

By the end of the next season, MacPhail was no longer the president.

» READ MORE: Why isn’t the ball carrying for the Phillies and the rest of MLB? Here’s what we know.

Girardi has no contract past this season; the Phillies declined to pick up his 2023 option. He has a lineup and a rotation peppered with All-Stars unbeholden to any manager.

He’s the lamest sort of duck. He’s a mallard on crutches.

A widgeon in a wheelchair.

It’s not like he’s at the helm of a juggernaut. At this moment, with Bryce Harper relegated to DH due to injury, Girardi has one reliable, above-average fielder: second baseman Jean Segura. His bullpen is flawed. The division is stacked. And the schedule right now is brutal.

Still, some of this is his doing.

In the age of analytics, Girardi leans on numbers to a fault, and does so in a town that likes small ball on the diamond, the running game on the gridiron, and post play on the hardwood.

Honestly, Phillies fans haven’t seen playoff baseball in a decade, so they’re just looking for an excuse. The smallest missteps will be amplified.

The collapse came Wednesday after Girardi pulled ace Zack Wheeler after Wheeler threw just 78 pitches. The Phillies finished the ninth tied with the Texas Rangers, then lost in extra innings, so the outrage was muted.

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The collapse came Thursday in a game in which embattled starter Aaron Nola lowered his ERA to 2.13 ERA in his last four starts ... starts in which the team is 0-4, and he’s 0-2. Wasting Nola starts is like throwing away unicorn blood.

Maybe on Thursday, Girardi should have given Jeurys Familia — a 10-pitch assassin in the eighth inning itching on five days of rest — a chance in the ninth. Girardi instead went to James Norwood, whom the Mets had clobbered Sunday. Norwood gave up four runs and got one out.

Maybe on Thursday, closer Corey Knebel should have been warming up sooner than he did. Knebel finished the damage.

Maybe?

No. Certainly.

This crisis comes as his bosses squirm above him.

John Middleton and his fellow owners in March signed Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos and exceeded the luxury tax for the first time in franchise history. They gave Joe more horses than they’ve had on their stable since the heyday of Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, and Charlie Manuel.

Dave Dombrowksi became the team president a season after Girardi became manager. He likes Joe, but he has no investment in him.

Divestment seems easy.

Easy, and imminent.