Odubel Herrera Continues To Not Give A Fuck, Gets Benched

Young, excitable Phillies outfielder Odubel Herrera is having a slightly down year compared to his first two promising campaigns, and he currently plays for the worst team in baseball. Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to have affected his confidence too much.

Last night against the Astros, Herrera hit a long fly ball all the way to the track in the deepest part of the ball park. Rookie center fielder Derek Fisher (not that Derek Fisher) made a really nice backwards run to snag the ball, and while there’s no shame in a hard hit fly out, Herrera got himself into some trouble by flipping the bat right after he made contact. It would have made for a lovely highlight if the ball cleared the fence, but instead, he looked like a goofball.

(This is actually the second time in less than a week Herrera has bat-flipped on a non-homer. He did it on a ground-rule double last Saturday.)

Things got even worse for Herrera later that same game. In the sixth inning, with the Phillies down 5-0, he stuck out on a dropped third strike. Instead of running to first, though, he just slowly walked back to the dugout, taking the K along with boos from the fans.

Apparently, that was the last straw for unamused manager Pete Mackanin, who quickly yanked Herrera from the game. From NBC:

Asked if Herrera was benched for not running that ball out, Mackanin said “It had something to do with it . . . I’m going to talk to him tomorrow.”

And that’s not all. Either the talk didn’t go well, or Mackanin is still peeved, because Odubel isn’t going to get a chance to quickly redeem himself. Herrera, who’s hitting .348 in the month of July, is nowhere to be found in today’s starting lineup.