Coincidence? Bats alive under Gross

The press release came across the wire after 10 p.m. last Thursday stating that hitting coach Milt Thompson had been fired and Greg Gross had been promoted from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Most fans reacted strongly to the move, saying they disagreed. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but the Phillies won three weekend games against the Rockies by a combined score of 20-5. The Phils pounded out 33 hits in those games and roughed up Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez, who led the majors with 15 wins before allowing six earned runs in Saturday’s 10-2 rout.

Thompson’s firing came after a brutal 2-6 road trip in Chicago and St. Louis, where the Phillies hit just .239 and averaged 3.4 runs per game.

“I got to the point where I looked at our hitting and I felt something had to be done,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “The only thing I could possibly think of was a change.”

For more than two months, the Phillies’ offense managed three runs or fewer in 34 of its last 58 games through Saturday.

Will this change propel the Phillies back to the postseason for the fourth year in a row? Check back in a while.