John Middleton wanted Ruben Amaro Jr. out. Start there.
It is the most obvious takeaway from the news conference that the Phillies called Thursday afternoon to announce Amaro's firing as their general manager. The ever-louder voice of the team's ownership group, Middleton paid lip service to Amaro's successes - the three consecutive NL East titles at the beginning of Amaro's tenure, the 2009 World Series appearance, the creation of the 2011 Four Aces pitching rotation - but he could hardly hide how the failures and unforced errors ate at him.
Seated next to new team president Andy MacPhail, Middleton began his remarks Thursday with an acknowledgment of and appeal to Phillies fans, and it was easy to trace a line from those words to the last four years: the Phillies' fall in the standings, the plummeting home attendance, those incendiary and foolish comments Amaro made to Comcast SportsNet in May about how many fans "don't understand the game.