MILWAUKEE — The lingering question, and one that will never be answered, is whether the Philadelphia Phillies would have rallied the way they did if Rob Thomson had remained their manager.Their play suggests president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was completely justified in replacing Thomson with Don Mattingly. The Phillies, after starting 9-19 under Thomson, are 29-14 since the change, the second-best record in the majors during that time.Still, a new manager should not have been needed to awaken a group of accomplished professionals collectively earning more than $300 million. The players knew it then, and they know it now. They got a good man fired.Thomson, 62, had the highest winning percentage (.568) of any Phillies manager since 1900. If Dombrowski had given him more time, it’s possible their record now would not look much different, if at all.The day he was dismissed, Thomson all but predicted the Phillies’ turnaround, saying he thought the team would get hot. Seven weeks later, he continues to follow the Phillies closely, and harbors no bitterness about the way the team ignited.“I watch every game that I can,” Thomson said in a text message. “When you have built relationships and been through the things that this group has been through, you don’t stop cheering for them. At least I don’t.“I think that in a lot of situations where managers get fired, most wish that they had a little more time but (there are) no lingering frustrations. You can call it whatever you want, but the fact is that the team has been playing so much better since the change and they are back to who they are!!”One look at the Phillies’ schedule, though, indicated they were in good position to surge. At the time of the change, they were coming off 13 straight games against two hot clubs, the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves. They went 2-11 in that stretch, including a 10-game losing streak.Dombrowski acted at the perfect time, with his club about to begin 22 straight games against teams currently at .500 or below — and with star right-hander Zack Wheeler just having returned from thoracic outlet surgery.“I thought we’d get to where we’re at now no matter what, eventually,” shortstop Trea Turner said.Catcher J.T. Realmuto, in a recent appearance on The Athletic’s Starkville podcast, recalled that on the day Mattingly took over, he told the players, “This is on you guys.” Mattingly’s meaning was clear. The players were to blame, not Thomson. Designated hitter Kyle Schwarber admitted as much to Thomson in the aftermath of the firing.“You feel responsible,” Schwarber said. “I told him I was sorry.”These things happen in baseball. Everyone understands. Thomson learned that from his four decades in the game. Mattingly, when he was a player with the New York Yankees, went through four midseason managerial changes, including the removal of Yogi Berra after 16 games in 1985 and firings three straight years from 1988 to ‘90.“You do feel guilty as a player,” Mattingly said. “You know it’s not the manager.”Dombrowski, though, did not like what he was seeing under Thomson, particularly after four progressively earlier postseason exits — from the World Series in 2022 to the NLCS in ‘23 to the Division Series in ‘24 and ‘25.