Looking At The Phillies Lineup From Just A Few Years Ago Makes Me Wonder How We Survived To This Point

Look at this current lineup. LOOK AT IT! We’ve got NL MVP’s in the first and three hole, a solid SS heading into his prime batting 2nd, Rhys The Beast hitting clean up, the best catcher in the league behind the plate. Odubel Herrera could be batting third for a lot of teams in the show. The same goes for Hernandez with lead off and Franco having some pop. Oh, and only one of the best starting pitchers in the game on the mound. Life is good. Too good, in fact. But lest we forget, this is what we were dealing with just four short seasons ago…

How we didn’t succumb to being put down like a broken down, elderly dog from 2012-2017, I don’t know. Shit, at times we deserved the Old Yeller treatment to be put out of our mercy behind the woodshed. What the hell was going on here? 58-year-old Jeff Franceour was holding down the clean-up spot! Maybe they should’ve given Hard Hittin’ Mark Whitten a ring to see if he’s able to smash, too. Look at that lineup. LOOK AT IT. Dustin McGowen at P? Combine that with Korean Baseball Legend Darun Ruf adding onto that power punch and it’s a SHOCKER this team didn’t eclipse that elusive 100 loss mark (clocked out with 99 L’s). It didn’t get much better the next year, either. Three years ago featured the likes of Cedric Hunter and Peter Bourjos in the Opening Day outfield.

Now let us bow our heads and be thankful for the bounty we are about to receive for the next decade. Roll the fucking tape: