The Phillies entered the All-Star break last year already dispirited and spent after a half-season of driving erratically toward the future with the tin cans of the past still tied to the rear bumper.
It wasn't just a team with a split personality but one that was literally split. The young in one camp, the veterans in another. Those with a future over here, those just killing time over there. Presiding over the mess was a camp counselor who proved so ill-suited for the task that he quit in late June after realizing he had neither the respect of the clubhouse nor the support of the organization.