Say it ain't so, BoBo. Has our beloved Phillies Pre and Postgame Live analyst become Miami's Michael Lombardi?
The Marlins are using Ricky Bottalico's "bottom feeder" description as a rallying cry. They celebrated Friday in T-shirts bearing those two words, which were uttered by Ricky Bo after the Phillies' season-opening loss to the Fish. (Ricky wants his royalties, btw.)
We could be mere weeks away from Jesus Aguilar and Brad Boxberger blasting Bottalico a la Jason Kelce after a parade on South Beach to celebrate the Marlins' third World Series title.
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Hey, until they actually lose a playoff series ...
The original comment from Bottalico came after the Phillies' opening day loss to the Marlins, a theme that carried over from year to year. Since the start of 2019, the Marlins are 17-12 against the Phillies and 71-122 against everyone else. The Phillies' playoff drought would not have reached nine years had they been able to beat up on a team the rest of the NL East has clobbered.
After Miami finished off the Cubs to advance to the NLDS against the Braves Friday afternoon, closer Brandon Kintzler thanked the former Phils closer personally.
“We’re still here, you can’t get rid of us,” Kintzler said with a laugh in his postgame interview. “I don’t care if we’re bottom feeders. Want to thank Ricky Bottalico for that motivation. Opening weekend in Philly. He’s probably the one who sent the Phillies home for that.”
Two ex-Phillies helped lead the Marlins to this playoff win. Corey Dickerson hit a three-run homer in Game 1, and former Phils prospect Sixto Sanchez pitched five scoreless innings in Game 2.