The past couple weeks have been crazy for me, and also? I just felt like everything there was to be said about the Willie firing, etc. had been said. By people far more eloquent than I.

So now here we are... a few games closer to Philly. There's a part of me that thinks maybe, just maybe there will be a reversal of fortune this year and the Phillies will collapse horrifically and we will rise to the top.

But there's another part of me that just has no faith at all. Friday pretty much summed it all up in the span of about 10 hours: kick the Yankees' collective asses in game 1.... a few hours later get spanked ourselves. How do you go from scoring 15 runs in one game to zero in the next? Zero. None. Nada. Zilch.

I will say that I am still optimistic about Jerry Manuel. I think he can do things Willie couldn't; reach the players in ways that weren't getting through before. After today's game, I saw him walking off the field with David Wright, and David had his arm around Jerry's shoulders and they were laughing about something. I can't picture that happening with Willie.

We'll see where things go. Maybe after the All-Star Break, they will all come back with guns a-blazin' seeing as how none of them will likely be participating in the festivities.