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The Phillies were swept by a middling San Francisco Giants team and have only managed one run in the last 29 innings — a Jake Arrieta home run on Sunday. Arrieta sent a resounding message after the game, laying into his teammates for lack or run support, hustle, and general game awareness while taking aim at Phillies manager Gabe Kapler and his blind devotion to analytics and shifting.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports had the story and shared the goods from Arrieta’s rant.
“I worked too hard for this (stuff),” Arrieta said after the Phillies’ 6-1 loss. “Something has to change.’’ … “We need some accountability all of the way around,’’ Arrieta said. “Everybody. From top to bottom. If there is not, I’ll make sure there is.’’
Arrieta has tapped into a youthful wellspring after signing with the Phillies early in Spring Training, dominating opponents with a 2.66 earned run average, but it seems things have reached a tipping point.
Arrieta had this to say about Kapler’s wild defensive shifts:
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“We had bad defensive shifts,’’ Arrieta said. “We’re the worst in the league in shifts. ….It’s about as deflating as it gets. So we need to change that.’’
The former Cy-Young winner added “copy the best” when asked how to correct the shifting issue. “I don’t know. It’s not my job,” he went on. “Use your eyes. Make an adjustment. We got to be better than this.’’
Even Phillies’ coveted rookie Scott Kingery was not immune from Arrieta’s venom. Arrieta took issue with Kingery’s nonchalant approach on a grounder and failure to log an out after fielding the ball.
“Kingery should have gone to second base on that play,’’ Arrieta said which Kapler agreed. “We need an out on that. Then they got three hits in a row. Credit McCutchen on putting a good swing on it, but I didn’t expect a ball like that to get out.”
And then there was the run support. Arrieta is responsible for the lone run in the last 29 innings of Phillies baseball, a solo home run on Sunday. In typical bulldog fashion, Arrieta could be heard admonishing his teammates in a way wholly expected a fiery competitor
"I'll do the damn thing myself," Jake Arrieta said as he rounded the bases with a home run.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) June 3, 2018
This isn’t the first time a player has allowed frustration to boil over and lashed out at a clubhouse. The cardinal rule among players, coaches and team brass is that you don’t air grievances in the media. Well, sometimes that’s the only way to get your point across.
I guarantee the clubhouse is listening now.
“We need to have an accountability check,’’ Arrieta said. “This is a key moment in our season. We had a pretty good April (16-12). A pretty good May (15-11). June isn’t starting off so well…I’m so furious.”
The Phillies travel to Wrigley for a three-game set on Tuesday. Matt Gelb of The Athletic transcribed Arrieta’s entire screed.
It's only fair to include Arrieta's full answers. Here is a portion of his interview: pic.twitter.com/UY3JoyG37M
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) June 4, 2018
