PHILADELPHIA — The day he fired the manager with the highest winning percentage in Phillies history and replaced him with chief lieutenant Don Mattingly — think Julius Caesar and Octavian — the most relevant question asked of Phillies president Dave Dombrowski was this:

“Why do you think Phillies fans should still believe you’re the right person to run the front office?”

Tersely, Dombrowski replied:

“You can answer that question. I’m not going to get into that.”

OK.

I will.

They shouldn’t.

Why?

Because, in this moment of crisis, Dombrowski isn’t being accountable.

And, in this moment of failure, Rob Thomson is being eminently accountable.

On Tuesday evening, just six hours after the ax fell, Thomson held a video news conference in which he was asked why the hell he was holding a video news conference. His eloquence was, typically, breathtaking:

“I think, if you’re an accountable person and a leader, you’re going to stand up in front of people and answer the questions when it’s all over.”

Then he answered every single question, from what he was proudest of (the run to the 2022 World Series) to his biggest regrets (some of the decisions in the four postseason runs).

Dombrowski answered lots of questions, but not the most important one.

Dombrowski’s job is to hold folks accountable. He’s holding Thomson accountable, obviously. He’s also holding the hitters and the pitchers and the league-worst defense accountable — a defense that even Dombrowski agrees is below average when it is at its best.

But himself?

Not so much.

Et tu, Dave?

The overarching theme in Dombrowski’s 23-minute, 40-second post-firing news conference was this:

"I put together a hell of a team, and it’s not winning, so I fired the manager.

"Team, good. Me, fine. Manager, bad."

This is a team so good that fired Boston Red Sox manager and Dombrowski protégé Alex Cora chose being a full-time dad over being a full-time manager? Sorry, but it’s hard to believe Cora would have that same answer if Aaron Boone’s job suddenly became available in New York.

Cora has access to the same information as everybody else. This current roster and aura isn’t a place where a smart manager wants to be. Not now.

Also, consider the timeline. It’s a little sketchy.

Dombrowski offered Cora the job Sunday morning, before the Phillies played in Atlanta, with Thomson as the manager. The Phillies’ brain trust then met Monday, an off day, and not only decided that they would fire Thomson, but also negotiated Mattingly’s promotion and reconfigured the coaching staff. It wasn’t until Tuesday morning that Dombrowski told Thomson his services were no longer needed.

It might have been efficient, but it was a little Machiavellian.

Maybe Dombrowski slow-roasted Topper because he knew he had a hard team to sell.

Not once on Tuesday did Dealin’ Dave admit that his dealin’ was deficient. Over and over, he claimed that the $317 million team he’d constructed was perfectly sound.

It was a master class in deflection.

Look, Dombrowski might be right about canning Topper. The Phillies played their best game of the season Tuesday night, a 7-0 win. Maybe firing Thomson and promoting Mattingly, the big-name bench coach Dombrowski hired to cast a shadow over Thomson, will awaken a slumbering, 10-19 giant. Dombrowski might know best because Dombrowski generally wins: two World Series titles, five pennants, 11 playoff appearances in the last 14 seasons he has begun as a team’s decision-maker.

Personally, I think that Thomson — after losing 11 of 13 games to the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs, two of baseball’s best teams — should have been given a chance to manage against a few mediocre teams, as the Phillies prepared to face the San Francisco Giants, Miami Marlins and A’s. But then, it’s always wise to give the new manager a soft schedule, even if the roster is flawed.

Really, why should Phillies fans still believe in Dombrowski? He inherited most of his best players, such as Zack Wheeler, Bryce Harper, Cristopher Sánchez, J.T. Realmuto and Aaron Nola. He even signed Kyle Schwarber at the very public urging of Harper, who openly lobbied for other big moves that came to pass.

Dombrowski lucked into having Thomson run the team, promoting him from bench coach to interim manager after he’d fired Joe Girardi in 2022, and Thomson exceeded expectations in most of his four seasons.

There were oblique references to Dombrowski’s culpability.

“We, collectively, are not doing well. … It’s all of our responsibility.”

But, when pressed, Dombrowski insisted that the team, as comprised, has enough talent to win, and to win now.

It appears he has a couple of blind spots. Dombrowski’s roster was the eighth-oldest according to Baseball America, and its two oldest players, Wheeler and Realmuto (both 35), just switched places on the injured list, and nobody can catch the ball. However, said Dombrowski:

“It’s not age that has caught up to us. Our guys are not aged out. That would not be an appropriate statement, to me.”

OK.

How about this statement?

“I don’t think we have a gaping hole.”

Seriously?

The Phillies’ cleanup spot was 20th in OPS last season. It’s 29th this season. Dombrowski signed right-handed hitter Adolis Garcia to a $10 million contract to fill the spot after Garcia’s OPS was .675 the last two seasons in Texas. Garcia’s OPS entering Tuesday night against the visiting Giants was .699. Things got so bad that last week Thomson had to use rookie Felix Reyes in the spot. Reyes went 2-for-15 hitting fourth.

That, folks, is the definition of a “gaping hole.”

Donnie Baseball isn’t going to fill the cleanup hole. He’s not going to throw pitches for Aaron Nola, and he’s not going to make Realmuto’s back feel better.

Mattingly will get a chance the rest of this season to squeeze as much success out of the flawed roster Dombrowski compiled — a roster crippled by the $34 million wasted this season on Taijuan Walker and Nick Castellanos, whom the Phillies have released.

And, when it’s all over, maybe Mattingly will stand up and answer all the questions.

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