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Son Of Phillies Part-Owner Goes On Twitter Rant Defending The Phils

By Andrew Porter

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- Seven years ago today the Phillies clinched their first of five straight National League East division titles. The remarkable five year stretch, from 2007-2011, also included two World Series appearances and a parade down Broad Street in 2008.

However, the Phillies have missed the playoffs the past three seasons, finishing 73-89 each of the last two campaigns. The fan base, expectantly so, is frustrated as the Phils have failed to bring in young talent. While Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is on the hot seat, his job seems to be safe, for now. However, Assistant General Manager, Amateur Scouting Marti Wolever was fired by the Phillies on Friday.

On Monday, John Powers Middleton, the son of Phillies part owner John S. Middleton, released a string of numerous tweets defending the state of the Phillies and addressed apparent rumors.

"To whom it may concern, I have not read these articles – not because I'm not interested in fan opinion but rather because false conjecture bothers me – but I have heard from friends in Philly there is wild speculation today over the Phillies," John Powers Middleton tweeted. "Remember 99% of what you read is totally inaccurate. And one more point brought to my attention. A general partner control baseball operating decisions. Limited partners vote on a variety of things, which may or may not be specifically on the field related. Limited partners are owners, the people involved in said limited partnership are equity shareholders and directors technically. The structure is far more complexed than it appears is being discussed and understood in articles and/or online."

Middleton, 30, who is also a TV and film producer living in Los Angeles, called the Phillies run from 2007-2011 one of the three best National League runs ever.

"Also, I am a film and tv producer – seemingly confusion there also," Middleton explained. "But there's this fantastic invention called Google, as well as other sites like IMDbPro (regular often inaccurate). I live in Malibu because I work in LA. One thing I can tell you, the Phillies are doing their best in a bad situation. The team just gave you arguably one of the three best runs in NL history, the others being, in my opinion, the 60s Cardinals and 90s Braves. Philly prides itself on being tough, but also LOYAL to its core. Changes and new additions, rough stretches, these are a fact of sport. Death, taxes, and your sports team will not win the championship every year. So please continue to support a team trying to right its ship, certainly spending the money necessary to do so, and look forward to the upswing and many more years of great baseball, consecutive pennants and division titles, and world championships to come. I'm proud to be a Philadelphian, but I'm not proud a fan base built on LOYALTY is abandoning ship because of a series of bad years. We are better than that. #GoPhils"

You can view Middleton's timeline here.

 

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