PHILADELPHIA —Given the way things are going for the Phillies, there were several reasons why many of the fans in attendance Wednesday night might have greeted manager Joe Girardi with a loud, long, gutteral boo as he stepped out of the dugout with two out in the eighth inning. But, well, let’s just say there was no mistaking the motive for this particular jeer.
Zack Wheeler, runner-up for the Cy Young Award last year, was about to be taken out of a scoreless tie after 79 pitches.
To be fair, Wheeler barely pitched in spring training and didn’t get beyond the sixth inning in any of his first four starts. Still, it was a curious move by Girardi, even with lefty-hitting Texas Rangers leadoff man Nathaniel Lowe due to bat for a fourth time in the game and Wheeler unlikely to come back out for the ninth inning if he had recorded one more out to end the eighth.
