Written by Gino Ferretti
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22 July 2010
On October 8th of last year, thefightins.com posted an article based on a picture of Charlie Manuel in the dugout with his hands down his pants. He was caught on MLB.TV's "home dugout cam" prancing around the dugout blowing gum bubbles. After winning a World Series and then returning to the Fall Classic the next year, swagger makes it acceptable to manage games with your hands down your pants. Having faith in the Phillies has been easy over the past couple years and Charlie is the most loyal.
The other night, in the midst of a losing streak, Charlie let his heart decide the game. He didn't manage with his hands down his pants. Maybe if he did, it would have shown his balls.
In the top of the seventh inning Ryan Howard flew out. Jayson Werth drew a walk followed by a line drive single by Jimmy Rollins. Cody Ransom struck out and with two outs Carlos Ruiz was walked intentionally to load up the bases. With the game tied one to one, in a must win game, Joe Blanton was due up. Wilson Valdez was certainly gonna be up by the time you returned to the sofa with a fresh beer, right?
Wrong.
The ever loyal Charlie Manuel decided to bat Blanton. He struck out on three straight pitches and just like that, the Phillies' tease was over. Blanton, at that point, had only surrendered one run on six hits through six innings. But he was up to 74 pitches. Not bad for any other pitcher NOT named Joe Blanton. Because after 74 pitches, Joe Blanton has a loathsome 9.18 ERA. So as Blanton waddled out to the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning, you couldn't help but feel like this was a bad idea. And just like that he gave up a first pitch home run to Matt Holliday giving the Cardinals the go ahead lead and eventually earning their third win out of the four game series.
Loyalty is certainly a double edged sword. And what makes Charlie Manuel one of the bests at what he does is his trust and faith in his team. And why not? They've been the best team in the NL the past two seasons and he maintains a peaceful, drama free clubhouse. But the other end of that sword cuts you when your loyalty gets in the way of rationality. And in many times this season, Charlie Manuel turned away from the panic button.
On Monday night, Charlie allowed the easily flustered Kyle Kendick to dig himself a hole the young pitcher wasn't experienced getting out of. In a 4-3 Phils lead, he allowed Kendrick to pitch to Albert Pujols with a runner on second and one out. Pujols took a sinker left over the plate and jolted it out into the left field night. With Kendricks inability to stay focused after losing it for a bit, Charlie should have put out the smoke in the brush before it spread to the three alarm fire it did. After Pujols' smack, Allen Craig and Skip Schumaker went yard back to back and along with the game lead went Kyle Kendricks night and possibly the rest of his Phillies season, as he was optioned to triple a lehigh valley the next day. Kendrick finished the night with an ugly tattoo on his pride as he gave up 7 runs over 5 innings and, oh yeah, that back-to-back-to-back thing in the 5th. The idea of teaching Kendrick to fight his own battles and finish them is the only way he is going to learn to keep composure when the balls start flying far and deep. But not when you're severely slumping, and coming off of a 1-3 start to the second half of the season. It's hard to understand why Charlie is chosing to gamble when lately, the Phils' money has been funny. It's either a lack of confidence in his bullpen or, in the case of Joe Blanton, a lack of confidence in his pinch hitters. Either way, now's not the time to wear his heart on his sleeve.
Like any other night I went to bed to the moans and groans of Philly sports fans on the radio. Because it helps me sleep better knowing there's a belly ache for reasoning that stretches across the pits of thousands of Delaware Valley stomachs.
This concoction of sour offense and choking pitching is leaving Phillies' fans with daily morning hangovers. When a team that's only peeled off three runs since Monday has a chance to grind out a close momentus win, Charlie's loyalty cannot interfere with that. Managing a popularity contest doesn't win baseball games. Sometimes feelings need to be hurt, names need to be called out and chairs need to be tossed. Especially when this team has been spoiled by not only their manager but by their success.
And that takes balls.
It took 11 innings to scratch across some runs, but Placido Polanco connected on a two-run shot in the top of the 11th to win the game. Lost in the refreshing feeling of victory is the fact that we could/should be 0-8 after the All-Star break as of now. Things are as bad as they've been in the last three years and something has to change. Whether it be via trade or the farm or the clubhouse, this team starves for a spark to get it going.
