Phillies Manager Gabe Kapler Gets Booed

It is never easy to manage a Major League Baseball team for the first time. There is a lot of pressure. The media scrutiny is very intense. The fans have very high expectations. Every mistake you make on the field is magnified and talked about on podcasts and in articles. Gabe Kapler is finding these things out the hard way during his first stint as a manager in the big leagues for the Philadelphia Phillies. He has made several glaring mistakes that have received quite a bit of media coverage. You combine that with the fact that the Phillies have lost four out of their first five games and Kapler has a royal mess on his hands.

Phillies fans are not known for being very tolerant. They famously booed Mike Schmidt throughout his career and he is the greatest player the Phillies ever had. Kapler received the same treatment. He was booed at the very first home game of the year for the Phillies. The booing started during the Opening Day festivities when both teams were being announced. The fans continued to boo Kapler every time he made a trip to the mound. The Phillies did defeat the Miami Marlins by a score of 5-0. The booing would have certainly been much worse if the Phillies had been losing the game.

The biggest mistake of the year so far for Kapler was calling to the bullpen without giving his pitcher enough time to warm up. He was heavily criticized in the media for this blunder. The umpire allowed the pitcher to throw a few pitches to get warmed up to prevent him from getting injured. However, Major League Baseball sent the Phillies a letter informing them that they will not be given any slack if the same thing happens again.

Kapler took responsibility for the mistake. He said that miscommunication is not acceptable and he will work hard to prevent something like that from happening again. He also said that he prides himself on being a great communicator. The one thing that is in Kapler’s favor is that the Phillies are not expected to contend for the playoffs this year. They finished in last place in 2017. Therefore, Phillies ownership will be more likely to give Kapler more time to learn how to manage at the highest level of baseball. On the other hand, the Phillies fans will not be so forgiving.