Method to the madness

During Charlie Manuel’s first spring training as manager of the Phillies, players raved about the change in atmosphere around the clubhouse. For the first time since Terry Francona managed the team, the ballplayers felt relaxed and able to do their jobs without a screaming and spittle-filled tirade from the man in charge. Manuel was just what the Phillies needed, the players said. In an era where the average salary for a baseball player was a little more than $2 million, there was no need for extra motivation.

A screaming manager or coach not only is the personification of bush league and a throwback to ridiculous archetype, but also is just silly. When Larry Bowa was finally let go and replaced with Manuel, everyone was happy.

Yes, Manuel was a good man who fostered an environment in which ballplayers could easily go about their jobs without the annoyance of reprisal. Manuel figured a relaxed ballplayer was a good ballplayer.

But Manuel was never a push over. From Jim Thome to Randy Wolf to Jimmy Rollins and all down the line, players who knew better said that Charlie was a nice and classy as could be, but…

“Don’t cross him,” players warned.

In other words, don’t mistake Manuel’s kindness for weakness.

In the years since that first spring the Phillies have been stamped with the Seal of Charlie. Unmistakably, the Phillies are Manuel’s team. The bash-and-bop style of Phillies’ offense reflects Manuel’s nature as a minor-league and Japanese League star and is reminiscent of his teams in Cleveland. There, with Thome, Manny Ramirez and Albert Belle in the middle of the order and Roberto Alomar, Omar Vizquel and Kenny Lofton setting the table, the Indians went to the playoffs six times in seven years and to the World Series twice in three seasons.

The Phillies clearly aren’t good as those Cleveland teams, but the formula is the same.

Charlie is the same, too. Don’t cross him.

Jimmy Rollins, the diva-like reigning NL MVP, learned as much on two different occasions this season. Once when Rollins failed to hustle down the first-base line on an easy pop fly that dropped in for an error, and another time when the shortstop showed up late for a game at Shea Stadium, Manuel yanked him from the lineup and put him on the bench.

To Charlie, an MVP trophy doesn’t mean a player stops being accountable.

Accountability isn’t just about hustling and showing up on time, either. Ask starting pitcher Brett Myers about that.

Saturday night, Myers made the mistake of shouting, “This is my [bleeping] game,” toward Manuel as he ambled out to the mound to make the pitching change. Despite his teammates’ calls for him to knock it off, Myers continued shouting at Manuel until he made a hasty retreat toward the back of the dugout.

Though Myers has been good since returning from his month-long exile to the minors the get his pitching back in order and he had held the Pittsburgh Pirates to a run and five hits through 7 2/3 innings and 92 pitches to that point in the game, the pitcher didn’t think the fact that the Pirates had three straight lefties coming up nor that he had given up three hard hit balls that inning meant much.

But that all changed when the pitcher turned around after continuing his tirade in the dugout only to find Charlie bearing down on him, screaming and pawing at the insolent pitcher’s left shoulder. When the argument spilled to the runway leading back to the clubhouse, Charlie finally had to be pulled away lest the heated exchange turn physical.

That would have been something.

Some speculated in jest that Myers would have had an advantage if it come to fisticuffs since he was trained as a boxer before turning to baseball as a teenager. Perhaps. But boxer or not, Myers clearly doesn’t have Manuel’s toughness – mental or physical. For one, Manuel has had cancer, a heart attack and bypass surgery. When he returned to work for the Indians after cancer surgery, he kept a colostomy bag under his jacket.

That’s tough. The crazy came from his playing days when Manuel brawled with manager Billy Martin as a rookie with the Twins. Later, while playing in Japan, Manuel famously fought the East German hockey team (all of them), and was beaned in the face with a pitch and played despite the fact that he couldn’t eat solid food.

So a precious little boxer from Florida who once allegedly fought his wife on a crowded Boston street can’t really be a match for the much older manager, can he?

Yeah, Myers may have thought it was his game, but the Phillies are very clearly Charlie’s team.

After the game when things cooled down a bit, Myers apologized and admitted he was wrong for showing up his manager.

“I’m a competitor,” Myers said. “I like competing and I wanted to stay in and finish the game. But sometimes your emotions get the best of you and you might do something irrational out there. He thought I did. That’s part of the game. It’s all patched up now, though. We’re buddies.”

Since rejoining the Phillies after his demotion to the minors, Myers is 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA in four starts. His two wins are against Washington and Pittsburgh – combined those teams are 97-138 this season.

“I missed a month without being here with the team and I wanted to try to prove myself again that I can pitch in the big leagues - and I wanted to stay out there as long as I could,” Myers said. “He made the decision and that's his decision.”

Manuel didn’t take blame or apologize afterwards. Actually, it seemed as if he kind of enjoyed the confrontation, noting that it was just a matter of two guys having a disagreement.

“He's fine,” Manuel said as if Myers’ ego was injured more than anything else. “He just wanted to stay in the game and I like that. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, if he didn't want to stay in the game, I'd probably be mad.”

He certainly wasn’t mad about taking Myers out of the game though – just as he wasn’t upset about disciplining Rollins.

“I'll tell you something: his confidence got back. That's why I took him out of the game. I wasn't going to let him lose the game. He was leaving on a high note, and there's four left-handed hitters standing there,” Manuel said. “I wasn't going to give him a chance to get hit. He already pitched a good game and did a good job.”

Is there a method to Charlie’s madness? Probably not. After all, he was the ballplayer described in the essential book about Japanese baseball called You Gotta Have Wa as, “a big, red-haired character from West Virginia with a talent for producing anarchy out of order.”

The ironic thing is that it has been the exact opposite in Philadelphia. There might not be a method to the madness, but it certainly is effective.

Still counting down to the deadline

WASHINGTON – Let me start with a message to all of the residents of the District of Columbia: I support your fight for proper representation on Capitol Hill. I’m right there with you, Washington, D.C.

There, I’m glad I got that off my chest.

Anyway, it’s still hot and steamy down here (again, it’s a swamp) and there is plenty of hustle and bustle. In fact, there’s so much going on that the last Phillies’ bus from the hotel did not arrive at the ballpark until 4:50 p.m.

Anyone want to guess who was on it?

Meanwhile, a few of the Phillies are hoping that they aren’t on a bus to the airport to send them to a new team in another city. It’s very interesting – there isn’t a single guy on the Phillies (at least the guys I talked to) that wants to be traded. A few have even joked about hiding in their lockers or making a break for the backdoor when Thursday’s 4 p.m. deadline creeps closer.

The guys on the Phillies really like playing here.

And based on the rumors and all the talk around the ballclub, it seems as if all of them will continue to play for the Phillies beyond the trading deadline. The latest hot talk involves Braves’ lefty Will Ohman, but the exchange pieces include minor leaguers…

Well, not all of them are minor leaguers now.

So the song and dance continues here in The District, though it’s pretty clear the Phillies will not pull off a deal like the one the Yankees and Tigers figured out on Wednesday afternoon. In that one, the Yanks got the catcher they needed in Pudge Rodriguez and the Tigers got to take Kyle Farnsworth off the Yankees’ hands.

Nope, Manny Ramirez is not coming to Philadelphia.

Besides, if given his druthers, manager Charlie Manuel says he wants a big-time starter.

“And I mean a really big-time starter,” Charlie said before Wednesday’s game.

Charlie noted that the Phillies aren’t too different than other teams in that regard -- everybody wants a big-time starter. Short of that, however, Charlie says he’ll take “a good bullpen piece.”

“The stronger we make our bullpen the less often we have to depend on our starters to go deep into a game,” he said.

Hey, why not get both? A starter and a bullpen piece… while they’re at it, how about a power-hitting third baseman, too?

OK… we’ll have more on the developments here in the 51st state as it warrants. Stay close to your computers, folks.

Charlie calls team meeting; Rollins shows up on time (barely)

Is it critical mass time for Charlie Manuel and the Phillies? Who knows... but it certainly seems that way. One day after Jimmy Rollins was benched for repeated tardiness before the game against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium AND the Phillies fell out of first place for the first time since June 1, the skipper called a closed-door meeting at 4 p.m. before the game at Citizens Bank Park against the Atlanta Braves.

Yep, nothing like a good 'ol team meeting to turn around things.

Nevertheless, the second-place Phillies met in the clubhouse for 20 minutes where Manuel reported that he was the only one who spoke. A believer that too many meetings do more harm than good and are a general waste of time, Manuel decided one was needed now in order to help the club shake its doldrums where it has lost four out of its last five games.

In fact, the proverbial closed-door meeting in baseball is slowly becoming an anachronism. They are a rare event these days even on the most discordus and woeful ballclubs. Nevertheless, there usually one closed-door meeting a year with the Phillies over the past decade.

Thursday afternoon was the day.

"It's up to us not to stay there," Manuel said about being in second place. "We can control our own destiny. But if we're going to win our division we need to play better."

He's certainly correct on that point.

Meanwhile, Rollins reportedly rolled in around 3:49 to 3:56 p.m. this afternoon. Normally, reporting a little before 4 would give Rollins enough time to be in uniform for the mandatory team stretch at 4:15 p.m. Today, though, he made it with a few minutes to spare before Charlie's pep talk.

Rollins is slated to start at shortstop and leadoff against the Braves this evening.

We'll have more from the ballpark a little later.

Meanwhile, here's what Charlie told the scribes before Friday's game and after the meeting:

Few things you wanted to say to the guys?

"I just wanted to talk to them. That's all I got to say about it."

A reminder?

"No, I just had some things to say."

Disappointed at all in what Jimmy said after yesterday's game?

"I didn't see what he had to say, I didn't read the papers. Figured it might be a good day for me not to even pick up the papers."

Jimmy was saying that he didn't think he let the team down.

"I have no comment on that. Like I told you guys yesterday, that's between Jimmy and I."

You said yesterday that the team needs an extra kick. Are you worried that might get out of control?

"I'm not worried at all. I know this -- I don't know who's gonna win the division, but I know we can. And I know it's kind of...the way our schedule sets and the fact that we play everybody in our division mostly in the next two months, we got a real good chance. We definitely control our own destiny. If we don't get it done, it's not because we couldn't of did it."

"I think there's something missing on our team. It's that little extra -- that little extra kick we had, that resilient effort. That going all the way. For instance, the road trip was a good example of it. When we beat Miami the first night, had a real good game, then all of a sudden we lose the next two. Did the same thing in New York -- come back the first night there, then we end up losing the next two games. Yesterday, Moyer pitched a good game. Sunday in Miami, Hamels pitched a super game. When we come out 1-2, 1-2, we're not winning the series. We need to get, I said yesterday, that shine back. Wore off a chandelier. We need to get that back. We need to re-paint it, or dip it or something."

Jimmy's year last year had that shine. How important is getting him right?

"I think he can get right. I think that he's that type of player and he has that swing. I think it's just a matter of time. I think lately, he's definitely been swinging better."

Are you comfortable with the leadership you have in your clubhouse right now?

"We talk about leadership a lot. Sometimes a player being a leader is fine, but when that don't happen, I guess that's when the manager is supposed to be the leader. That's kind of how I look at it."

"I've always at myself, if I'm the manager, then I'm the guy that's supposed to be the leader. Any time you got leaders on your team, and they're good, and things like that, that's a bonus. That's better. That definitely can be better. That makes everything a lot better."

Would you prefer someone to kind of emerge into that role?

"When we're playing good, I think that comes up. I think that's all part of playing good. Right now, we haven't been playing good baseball. Are we a good team right now? Probably not. But we've showed that we can be a good team. At one time this year, we were a good team."

So you don't necessarily buy into that theory that every team has one guy that runs the clubhouse?

"There's guys that can do that. That's a big plus for the manager. When it comes right down to it, if your team, if you don't have leadership on there, then that's the manager's job."

When you make a move like you did yesterday, do you worry at all?

"Any kind of decision I make, I do what I think is right. I try to take time to think things over, instead of just react. I want to make sure that I get things right. But when I do something, it's because I thought it was right. I told you guys before, whether you know it or not, I don't look back. I look ahead. That's what I did, and that's what I thought was right. I think I'm a consistent person, and I think that I treat people right, and I think that's one of my better things. I definitely communicate with the players. I'm honest and I'm straight and I do what I think is right. As a manager and a leader, that's what you're supposed to do."

Did you consult with anyone yesterday?

"Actually, I wasn't even directly talking about yesterday. I'm saying, 'In general...' "

Did you yesterday?

"Yeah, I did. But I wasn't looking for advice."

What does this team need to do to get back to being a good team?

"The only thing we gotta do is come out and play good. Win a couple games, start winning and everything's gonna be fine. They say in baseball, 'We gotta turn it on.' Well, first of all, I look at it, 'From Day One, you shoulda turned it on.' When the season started, you turn it on. You play all the way through 'til you get eliminated in October or September or whenever."

You said you got a real good team at one point, but now, at this point in the season, you're seven games over .500.

"We're not good right now. We're inconsistent, and that leads to not being good. If we start winning, everybody'll look up and say, 'Hey, look at that team. Look how they can hit, look how they can pitch,' or something like that. That's baseball."

"There's holes, but can we win? I look at who's in our division, and it's pretty close. Other teams have holes, too. They got holes, but I think we can win."

At one point, you said something's missing and at another point you said you've been inconsistent. What can you do to make your team more consistent?

"You can just talk in practice, relax, turn 'em loose and let 'em play."

Does the talk help you guys hit better?

"At times, it can. It comes to the point where you talk and hell, it can't hurt nothing. Believe me, meetings are something that you don't necessarily need all the time. Really, that gets old, too."

Pep talk? Anger? What was your mood?

"I just wanted to talk to 'em, I just wanted to get some things kinda right, let it go."

"I was the only one that talked."

You guys were knocked into second place. Is that another reason for the talk?

"Well, we're a game out, and we've been there before, of course, and at the same time...we can control our own destiny. We have to play better. If we're gonna win our division, we're gonna have to play better than what we've been playing. I think everybody in that room knows that. We tald about winning our division and going to the World Series, then we got to play the best in this division. I say that all the time, it's nothing new."

Measuring up

During the past month it's been very difficult not to get excited about the Phillies. They have scored runs with impunity, won games at nearly a 1993 rate all while the bullpen corps established itself as one of the better groups in the game. When it comes to rallying for a lead in the middle to late innings before the relievers come in and nail it down, the Phillies are as good as any team in baseball. In the process, the Phillies have established themselves as the best team in the NL East and baring a collapse of New York Mets-like proportions, the Philllies should return to the playoffs in 2008.

But that's where it gets complicated.

Yes, the Phillies are a playoff-caliber team. And, yes, the '08 Phillies are better than the version that slipped into the playoffs during the 2007 season. Those two points are given. But what complicates things is that the Phillies are now forced with a pretty difficult decision that must come to a conclusion by the end of next month.

What are they in this for?

Do the Phillies simply want to improve on last season's short ride through the playoffs, or are they going for the rings, trophies and champagne?

Sure, it sounds like an easy question to answer. Every player on every team - even the ones who secretly know they have no shot - say they won't be satisfied unless they win the World Series. That's the whole point of playing, they say. But the facts are much more austere. Some teams just aren't built for the long haul of a 162-game season. Others are built to win a division or a wild-card berth, but flame out in the playoffs.

But only a couple of teams every season are built to go all the way. With some clubs the brass gets together to compile the components that will carry the team during late October. Sometimes those teams even go on autopilot for the first few months of the regular season.

The Phillies saw firsthand what those really good teams look like when the Boston Red Sox came to town for three games this week. The players and the management got to see how the Red Sox set up the Phillies' pitchers, patiently waiting for a pitch to bash for extra-base hits or base-clogging walk. The Red Sox made the Phillies hurlers work and then they exposed all their little, tiny weaknesses.

If that wasn't enough, the Sox pitchers worked over the heart of the Phillies' batting order and held Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell to a combined 1-for-24 (.042) during the final two games of the series and 6-for-36 (.167) during the entire three-game series.

No, the Red Sox didn't come right out and embarrass the Phillies. After all, Cole Hamels pitched splendidly in the Phillies' 8-2 victory last Monday where Howard, Burrell, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino spurred the offense. Instead, the Red Sox treated the Phillies as if they were a tiny winged insect there for amusement and all they had to do when they got finished plucking the wings off one-by-one was stomp on them.

"Obviously they've been successful a long time and there's a reason why. They have some good players over there," Utley said. "I thought we played well the first game. We faced a tough pitcher the second game and today we had some opportunities we didn't capitalize on."

This was the Red Sox with Jon Lester and Justin Masterson and not Josh Beckett or Dice-K. It was the Sox with Sean Casey and J.D. Drew leading the way and not sluggers David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez or Kevin Youkilis.

It wasn't exactly the B-team... that was the Phillies. Better yet, it was a Phillies club that came away from the series with a handful of lessons.

"The first night, we went out and won and everybody's talking about the Phillies finally proving they can do it. Then, we lose the next two," Victorino said. "It's not a learning process. It's just a matter of seeing what they have.

"I think we match up with them. I know we can."

Thinking it and doing it are two different things. As a result it has become quite clear that if the Phillies are interested in playing the Red Sox again this season, they need to make an addition or two. That's because the only sure thing the Phillies have in the starting rotation is Hamels. After that, it's pray the bats are hot.

Fortunately for the Phillies and their fans, management was hip to the team's weaknesses all along. In fact, reports have surfaced which indicate the team has dispatched scouts specifically to watch the Indians' C.C. Sabathia and the Padres' Greg Maddux pitch. Both players could be available for a trade before the July 31 deadline, though the price won't be cheap.

Meanwhile, the proverbial gauntlet has been thrown down for Opening Day starter Brett Myers, who thus far has limped to a 3-8 record with a 5.58 ERA. Both manager Charlie Manuel and assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. have stated that the big right-hander has to improve quickly...

Or what?

Fortunes turn fast in baseball. Suddenly the Phillies have lost three straight series and six out of their last nine immediately on the heels of a stretch in which they won 12 of 14 games. Plus, the first-place Los Angeles Angels head to town this weekend. Like the Red Sox, the Angels are another tam built for games to be played when the leaves have dropped from the trees and the air takes on a chilly bite.

Have we seen the real Phillies or are they still on the way?

"I'm concerned, I'm not worried," Manuel said. "We got three more games on this homestand. I'd like to see the Angels come in here and finish this homestand real well. I'd to see us get some things going."

Pulling away from the pack

One of the best parts about writing about sports is listening to people talk about, well... um... sports. The insight, the nuance, the behind-the-scenes details are far better than anything that ever gets printed or turned into a movie. As someone who sometimes is willing to drive far distances just to hear or conjure up a story, hanging around the press folks at the ballpark is like Shangri-la.

And that's coming from a guy who once drove to Wyoming just because it might be fun to tell the story to people later... well, that and the fact that now I get to say that I've been to Wyoming.

Yep, Wyoming.

The best part of the drive to Wyoming? It was when I found an old copy of the Lewis and Clark diaries in a used bookstore on Capitol Street and buying chokecherry jelly from a roadside stand in the Big Thompson Canyon.

Weren't Lewis & Clark the ultimate when it came to rolling around the countryside looking for a good story or two? I thought the diaries -- especially an old copy in great condition -- was an apt purchase considering the circumstances.

Also, there is nothing in Wyoming. In some parts all you can see is the ground meet the sky. The landscape wasn't polluted with strip malls, over-commercialization, unsustainable growth or other tackiness related to suburban sprawl.

Anyway, it's always funny to listen to sports scribes talk about their athletic prowess from "the old days." It's funny because a lot of sportswriters were as good at baseball or basketball as James Frey was at detailing his arrest record. Sure, there might have been an "arrest," but then that's just a matter of semantics, isn't it?

Surely the preponderance of B.S. about athletic prowess is not just a phenomenon of the press box. Oh no. Men in general love revisionist history because it always ends the way it should - kind of like a big-budget Hollywood movie. But like Hollywood movies there is always those scenes where one thinks to himself, "There's no way that could have happened... just look at him. He makes Pat Burrell look like Ben Johnson!" when hearing those sports hero stories.

Actually, when hearing some stories I often wonder, "So, were you held back in school and much bigger than your classmates? Is that how you hit all of those home runs after you got popped in the eye with a No. 2 pencil?"

Look, I'm as prone to exaggeration as the next guy, but is the pure, unadulterated truth really the story? Of course not. The point of the story is the story. This isn't journalism, it's B.S.!

Be that as it is, I brought up my days as a really, really, really (really, really) poor hitter during high school. The fact is that I was such a bad hitter that I just decided that I would stop wasting everyone's time in waiting for my three strikes by bunting every time I went to the plate. Though I was told it was just as easy to hit a ball as it was to catch one, I could never make threatening contact with a full cut. However, if I squared around to bunt I could make the ball go where I wanted as long as that was a few feet in front of home plate, not past the pitchers' mound and on either the first-base or third-base lines.

My bunting got to the point that one of my teammates came up to me after a game and asked: "Why does the coach keep giving you the bunt signal?"

"No one gave me the bunt signal," I answered. "We have a bunt signal?"

By that point I had stopped looking down the third-base line at the coach, though during one point I remember him yelling, "Knock the cover off it, Johnny!" with a few claps after it was established that I was deep into the throes of my "Bunt Period."

The reason why my poor high school hitting ability came up pertained to Ryan Howard and, no, it had nothing to do with bunting. Though I'm sure Ryan Howard never looked down the third-base line to get the bunt signal, either, I doubt he ever needed to drop one down.

But Ryan Howard might have made a mistake by swinging (and hitting) the first pitch from Edison Volquez in the Phillies last loss (last week!). With the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth inning of the 2-0 defeat, Howard harmlessly popped out to left field to end the Phillies' threat. Strangely, Howard swung at the first pitch even though Volquez had walked Shane Victorino and plunked Chase Utley on the foot as the immediate preceding hitters. In other words, it appeared as if Volquez - the National League's top pitcher with a 9-2 record, 1.56 ERA and 96 strikeouts - were about to unravel.

Rather than allow Volquez to throw a pitch or two or even to make a mistake, Howard took a big cut and helped the young pitcher out of the jam. As a result, Volquez settled down and the Phillies got just two more base runners in the final four innings.

So that brings us to the conversation about hitting. During the elevator ride back to the press box after the post-mortem in the clubhouse, Howard's pivotal at-bat was discussed in a silly and unrealistic manner used to poke fun at an exaggerate the situation. By swinging at that first pitch Howard was the antithesis of the "Money Ball" player who was afraid that other players would make fun of him for "looking to walk."

After a few more seconds of silliness, I jumped in with the idea that I was a "Money Ball player before Money Ball even existed."

"I was always looking to walk. I was a looker," I said. "People yelled that at me all the time and the truth is I didn't even try to make it look good. Someone could have placed the ball on a tee and I would have taken it."

Or bunted.

Then I mimicked my high-school batting stance by holding an imaginary bat as if it were a light saber that suddenly went on without warning. As the imaginary pitch approached, I cowered as if being attacked by a grizzly bear.

But after the pitch safely passed, I celebrated.

"Ball One!"

OK, it wasn't that bad, but it may as well have been.

And it's a little more interesting than saying, "I hit .273 my senior year. In a game against Hempfield I went 2-for-4 with a double and scored a run. I also made a running catch in foul ground, but we lost, 6-3. We got two on in the seventh but couldn't push any across."

Booooooring.

Besides, in backyard wiffle ball there were few at my level. In that sport I'd make Ryan Howard look like Pat Burrell.

*** The one thing I was pretty good at during school sports was running. And by running I don't mean anaerobic capabilities or endurance, though I'm pretty good at those, too. Truth is, I'm probably the best distance runner of any of the mainstream sports sportswriters, but that's not saying much. Actually it's kind of like saying Brad Pitt is a better looking dude than Ernest Borgnine.

What I mean by running is that during the rare instances where I took the court or field I ran. When it was time to come off the field/court, I also ran. When I bunted one fair, I ran all out to first and if I ever walked and got to first, I ran as hard as possible to second, third or home. Somewhere along the line I was told that to do anything other than to run on the field was a sacrilege. Walking or jogging was never permitted - ever. You walked or jogged only when you were hurt, otherwise, you ran or you came out of the game.

Maybe the reason why I ran all the freaking time was because I didn't want to give anyone more excuses to take me out of the game. Playing time was scarce enough as it was so maybe I figured I wasn't going to waste it by not trying.

Watch Scott Rolen, Chase Utley or Pat Burrell - they run on and off the field, too. They don't lope or jog... they run.

When it comes to effort, those guys aren't kidding around - ever.

Just the same, I doubt Jimmy Rollins kids around when it comes to effort, too. However, unlike other players, Rollins sometimes worries about style points. The weird thing about style is that it sometimes makes perfectly good things look bad.

At least that was the case for Rollins last week when he dropped his head after a harmless pop up and casually rolled to first in anticipation of the out.

But because he wasn't hustling and had his head down, Rollins couldn't make it to second base when the pop fly was dropped by shortstop Paul Janish. After the half inning ended, manager Charlie Manuel rightly assumed the lack of hustle meant that Rollins needed a breather and sent him to the bench.

Here's the thing about Rollins - he's won games for the Phillies because of his hustle. In fact, his hustle and quickness have kept him out of trouble in a lot of instances. One, of course, was when he won a game by "stealing" home against the Cubs when he faked out the catcher by running hard toward the plate before hitting the brakes as if he were going to change direction and go back to third. When he got the catcher to fall for the fake and throw the ball to the third baseman, Rollins quickly changed direction again and sprinted home to score the winning run.

It was a move only smart, hustling players make.

The one where he didn't hustle to first base wasn't.

"It's my fault," Rollins said. "I can't get mad at him. That's like breaking the law and getting mad when the police show up. You can't do that."

Here's the thing about that, though ... if any other player did what Rollins failed to do, Manuel probably wouldn't have come down on him as hard. Manuel knew that his message would resonate more if he punished Rollins, the league's reigning MVP. Manuel also knew that Rollins wasn't going to overreact and that he was smart enough to understand the message the manager was sending not just to his MVP, but also the entire team.

The message?

You guys haven't won anything yet.

Manuel has been around long enough to know that sometimes even the best teams get complacent. And sometimes even those really good teams have a tough time shaking out of the doldrums when the games really mater.

So with the Phillies on the verge of taking three out of four from the Reds with a big, nine-game road trip looming, Manuel sent his streaking, first-place club a little love letter that they are all accountable and that there is no time to take the foot off the accelerator.

Rollins got it immediately.

"With this team you don't get away with anything anyway, but he's the manager and that's what he's supposed to do when a player isn't hustling," Rollins said. "He has to take the initiative to make sure you play the game the right way."

The message seems to have been received loud and clear. When Rollins was "benched," the Phillies went on to finish off the Reds before jetting off to Atlanta where they swept the Braves. With 12 wins their last 14 games and a four-game lead over the Marlins in the NL East, the Phillies could bury the rest of the division with another sweep in Miami.

Maybe if that happens Manuel should toss the post-game spread.

Where's the hot seat?

I’m not going to pretend to be a football expert or even someone who knows anything about football aside from what was learned at J.P. McCaskey High School in the late 1980s. So with that in mind please excuse me if the next question is… well, dumb. Anyway, here it comes:

Why is Andy Reid still the coach of the Eagles? Or, at the very least why isn’t he at least sitting on the ol’ hot seat?

Is this not a fair question?

Perhaps Joe Torre’s “firing” means any coach or manager – no matter how successful – is fair game. In that regard maybe Andy Reid’s biggest crime is the same as Torre’s in that they were too successful. Torre, of course, managed the New York Yankees for 12 seasons and took them to the playoffs for an unprecedented 12 straight years. He won the World Series four times, lost it twice and racked up 1,173 regular-season victories.

But, Torre did not win the World Series since 2000 and was not able to take the Yankees back to the Series since losing to the Marlins in 2003. Clearly, such a long drought was unacceptable to the Yankees’ new bumbling and egomaniacal bosses.

Never mind the fact that the egomania was built on the back of Torre’s success.

Football, of course, is a different animal than baseball. There are many more players and coaches and much more specialization. They have meetings about having meetings in football and truth be told, almost all meetings are a waste of time. Worse, they have meetings on the field before every single play. Baseball, it sometimes seems, is also becoming far too specialized, which makes for a less-interesting game to watch. Even worse, the coach actually walks onto the field to discuss strategy, which seems really odd.

Is there another sport that allows the coach to go onto the field during the middle of the game? Hell, tennis doesn’t even allow coaches to sit on the sidelines.

Anyway, the only reason I ask about Reid and his future with the Eagles is more because of Charlie Manuel than Joe Torre. After all, for three seasons Charlie Manuel was scrutinized over the tiniest bit of minutia regarding his job performance and his personality. Fans and media called for Manuel’s head because, as they pointed out, he wasn’t smart enough. They based this on the notion that he couldn’t pull off a double-switch and because he was from Virginia and talked funny.

You know, because the double-switch is the most important move a baseball manager ever makes and because that Philly accent sounds so intelligent. And yes, I was using the sarcasm font.

So if Charlie Manuel can win more games in his first three seasons than any other manager in franchise history save for the guy who had Grover Cleveland Alexander pitching for him, and get the team to the playoffs for the first time in a decade-and-a-half while some folks are genuinely upset over his two-year contract extension, why isn’t Andy Reid feeling the heat?

Look, I know the Eagles just passed through the most successful era in franchise history and that they got to the NFC Championship for four seasons in a row. But it’s over. According to people that know better, the Eagles do not have the players needed to fit into their schemes. Even with the pass-happy offense, Reid’s Eagles don’t seem to have the receivers they need to make now immobile quarterback Donovan McNabb more effective. Actually, the Eagles did have the receiver they needed to make the rather pedantic offense good, but they ran that guy out of town because he was a diva.

Seriously, how does a coach help run the best player on the team out of town and still keep his job? Lawyers are always looking for a precedent when contemplating trying a case – is there a previous instance of a coach “firing” the best and most effective player on the team and staying on the job?

Again, I’m no expert on the NFL or the Eagles so excuse my ignorance. But as an outsider looking in from a cursory view I don’t understand why Reid isn’t feeling more pressure. Or maybe he is and I just don’t know enough to make a more intelligent point. But how come it’s OK for him to continuously take the “responsibility” for a bad game, or to tell the press that he/we “must do a better job?” He did it again after the loss to the Bears yesterday when quarterback Brian Griese marched his team 97 yards with less than two minutes to go for the winning touchdown.

He does this ad nauseam to the point that it should make one nauseous.

It seems that he has used the “responsibility” and “better job” edict so much that there ought to be consequences by now. Worse, the mistakes that necessitate such excuses are chronic and have been for a long time.

Nevertheless, it’s hard to argue with the track record no matter how angry fans seem to be after watching the games on Sunday. The Inquirer notes these facts in the Oct. 14, 2007 issues:

Since Reid took over as the Eagles' coach in 1999, the 31 other teams have combined to fire and hire a total of 91 coaches. Discounting rookie head coaches, 36 of the 91 never made a playoff appearance with the team they coached. Nine others failed to win a playoff game.

Under Reid the Eagles have been really good. But it doesn’t seem as if the Eagles are going to win their first title since 1960 any time in the near future. This idea would remain unchanged even if the Eagles were 3-3 instead of 2-4.

Anyway, I’m not one of those guys who profess to know everything. That’s why I ask… maybe I just don’t get Andy Reid.

Am I the only one?

Other observations

• There was no way that Manny Ramirez would have thrown out Kenny Lofton at the plate during the seventh inning of last night’s ALCS Game 7. But Lofton not scoring the run that would have tied the game at 3 is not why the Indians lost the game… but it didn’t help.

• It’s official: The Red Sox and Yankees have traded places. The Red Sox are the big-monied team that is maniacally organized and always seems to have the means to get the right player to step in at the perfect time, while the Yankees are the team that replaces the manager despite going to the playoffs year after year.

• Is there a more entertaining/maddening player than Manny Ramirez?

• Terry Francona is heading to his second World Series in four seasons with Boston… how come the Phillies can’t get a guy like that?

Oh yeah… never mind.

• Finally, the Phillies released their schedule for 2008. They open the season against the Nationals on March 31 after another one of those exhibition two-game series on March 28 and 29 against Toronto.

Other highlights include a two-game series in Colorado on April 21 and 22 before the return matchup at the Bank on May 26, 27 and 28. Interleague-wise the Phillies host the Red Sox and Angels starting June 16.

For the rest of the schedule, click here.

¿Puerto cerrado?

In perusing the Internets this afternoon, there were a handful of interesting things out there that were worth passing along. For instance:

According to a story on Fox Sports’ web site by Tracy Ringolsby, Charlie Manuel stuck with lefty J.C. Romero with two outs in the eighth inning in Game 3 of the NLDS against right-handed pinch-hitter Jeff Baker instead of going to righty closer Brett Myers because, Myers wasn’t ready to go into the game.

As some might recall, Baker got the game-winning hit to eliminate the Phillies and Manuel was questioned after the loss in Game 3 of the NLDS why he stuck with the lefty Romero against the right-handed Baker.

Ringolsby writes:

Charlie Manuel is definitely old-school. He handled second-guessing about not bringing right-hander Brett Myers into Game 3 of the NL Division Series to face right-handed pinch-hitter Jeff Baker, who delivered the series-winning hit off lefty J.C. Romero, accepting the barbs. Word, however, is that the Phillies did call down to the bullpen to check on Myers and were told he wasn't ready to enter the game so Manuel actually had no choice.

Here’s the entire report.

Meanwhile, Oscar Pereiro, the runner-up in the 2006 Tour de France to Floyd Landis was awarded the yellow jersey to symbolize his “victory” in the race. Rather than give Pereiro the jersey at the Champs-Élysées with all the pomp that goes with such a “victory,” the UCI and Tour de France brass held the ceremony in an office building in Madrid.

Way to go all out for your guy, UCI.

Nevertheless, the interesting part is how long will Pereiro be acknowledged as the “winner.” After all, a final decision in the appeal process for Floyd Landis’ case is not expected until February from the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport. If Landis wins the case, what happens to Pereiro’s yellow jersey then?

Interestingly, Pereiro – who clearly is milking his one and only chance to be celebrated as a champion after he choked on an eight-minute lead in the ’06 Tour was barely a blip on the standings board in ’07 – is full of bluster regarding his “victory.”

“It's good for sport to have mechanisms that can filter out those who cheat,” Pereiro said during the ceremony.

But what about Landis' appeal?

“I now realize the Tour organisers had to wait for a resolution and I was wrong about them even though Landis has appealed again against the decision," Pereiro said during the ceremony.

“This is a very important day for me and I’m not going to ruin it by thinking about any appeal.”

So he would do anything to win?

Still, are those mechanisms closing in on Pereiro?

During the 2006 Tour de France, Pereiro failed a doping test when traces of the anti-asthma drug salbutamol are found in a urine sample. The UCI cleared Pereiro of doping after claiming he had a medical clearance to use the drug. However, there is speculation that Pereiro is associated with the infamous “Operation Puerto,” which based on the Tour de France’s practices during the ’07 race, is enough to suspend the Spanish rider.

That’s especially the case when one considers that Pereiro was adamant about not subjecting himself to DNA testing to clear himself in Operation Puerto:

“It's unfair that cyclists have to prove our innocence. I am ready to do anything, but if I have to use DNA to demonstrate my innocence, I will leave cycling, because it's obvious that cycling like that isn't worth it.”

Apparently, that’s not the case for Floyd Landis. Instead he believes it is worth it to subject his name and reputation to incredible scrutiny by putting himself through the flawed “mechanisms.”

One man's ceiling is another man's floor

The thing about being a Major League manager is that it rarely ends well. For instance, take the situation in the South Bronx where Joe Torre is reportedly on the way out as the Yankees’ skipper. Even though Torre has guided the Yanks to the playoffs in every single one of his 12 years at the helm and has won the World Series four times, it doesn’t seem to be good enough. The fact is that Torre has won 1,173 regular-season games for a .605 winning percentage with the Yankees, and has gone 77-48 in the post-season. But Torre and the Yanks haven’t advanced past the ALDS since 2004 and they haven’t won the World Series since 2000.

Torre, it appears, made the mistake of successful managing a club too well for too long. He set the bar way too high because in the end, it always ends badly.

But the New York Yankees sure are different than the Philadelphia Phillies.

Yes, that really is an ambiguous statement, but when comparing the Yankees and the Phillies, grand, open-ended ambiguity is the safest bet.

For the Phillies, the “Golden Age” of the franchise started in the mid-1970s and lasted until the early 1980s. For about a decade, the Phillies were about as good as a team could be in the Major Leagues. They were so good, in fact, that in 1979 Danny Ozark was fired as the manager of the team because he didn’t win the World Series after winning 101 games in 1976 and 1977 and a 90-win NL East title in 1978.

It wasn’t enough to get it done.

In 1983, general manager Paul Owens bounced Pat Corrales from the managerial seat even though he had the Phillies in first place with 76 games remaining in the season. Owens came down from the front office and kept the Phillies right where Corrales left them before the collapse in the World Series against the Orioles.

Those were the days when it was either the World Series or failure for the Phillies, and it’s safe to say that a similar mentality never really occurred in the team’s 124-season history.

It would be interesting to see what fate would beset Charlie Manuel if he stumbled the way Ozark and the Phillies did in 1979. Or what would happen to Manuel if he were the skipper in 1983 when Corrales’ first-place Phillies were doing something wrong 86 games in to the season.

How can a team fire the manager when his team is in first place?

Make no mistake; there are a lot of people who don’t want Manuel to return to the bench for 2008 after three seasons in which he won more games than all but one manager in team history through this point in his tenure. With the Phillies, 262 victories in three seasons in which the team was eliminated from the NLDS in a three-game sweep is borderline historic. Actually, it’s more than remarkable – it’s unprecedented.

This is a franchise, after all, where only two (two!) managers have taken the team to more than one postseason. It’s a franchise that has been to the playoffs just 10 times in 124 seasons. For comparisons sake, look at the Atlanta Braves who… wait, nevermind. It just isn’t fair to compare the Phillies to any other franchise.

Anyway, one of those dynamic duo of managers was Ozark, who won the NL East three years in a row but was axed when he couldn’t do it for a fourth. The other manager was Ozark’s replacement, Dallas Green, who delivered the franchise’s only title in 1980 only to lose to Montreal in the 1981 NLDS.

That loss was enough to send Green on his way to Chicago where he thought he could break the Cubs’ losing curse. But Green quickly learned that even he isn’t that good. Sure, historically things are really bad for the Phillies, but even they don’t compare to the futility of the Cubs.

Can Charlie Manuel join the ranks of Ozark and Green? Well, we’re going to find out. After his first, three-year contract ran out when Shane Victorino grounded out in Game 3 of the NLDS on Saturday night at Coors Field, the Phillies quickly re-signed Manuel to a new, two-year pact with a club option for a third year. The deal was wrapped up on Tuesday night and then leaked out to the press. In fact, the staff writer for the team’s Web site had to learn about the news from a release on that very site.

Maybe Joe Torre is the manager the Cubs need to help them end 98 straight seasons without a World Series? After all, it appeared as if Torre was going to be out of a job after 12 seasons as the manager of the New York Yankees.

Torre apparently is headed for the same fate as Danny Ozark in 1979. But unlike Ozark, Torre didn’t miss the playoffs this year. Actually, Torre averaged close to 100 victories per season, won the World Series four times, including three years in a row, figured out how to charm the fickle New York media and even more, the erratic owner George Steinbrenner.

There is no way to categorize Torre’s time with the Yankees as anything other than wildly successful. In fact, there are some of those fickle and hyperbolic New York-media types who have deemed Torre’s Yankees’ career as Hall-of-Fame worthy alongside the all-time greats like Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel and Miller Huggins. Add Torre to that tribunal and get 21 of the Yankees’ 26 World Series titles, and 30 American League pennants.

In other words, Joe Torre has done a lot better than Charlie Manuel, but only one of them was truly on the proverbial hot seat for returning to the same team in 2008.

One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor. Obviously, making it through Game 165 with a fighting chance is not a good season in the South Bronx. Steinbrenner, unlike David Montgomery and the Phillies, does not celebrate moral victories or potential. Because of that, Torre and his failure to deliver a World Series title since 2000, ends the season as a “sad disappointment,” as his boss stated. Those 1,173 victories, not including the 77 more in the playoffs, ring a bit hollow.

Torre, it seems, built expectations so high that anything less than perfection was not good enough. Is it his fault that his hitters picked a really bad time to stop being the best offense in baseball, or that the pitching staff he was handed didn’t live up to its old press clipping s anymore?

Of course not. But Torre made the mistake of having high standards.

We don’t have that problem here.

Instead, Charlie Manuel’s run in Philadelphia is still littered with hope and promise. For the Phillies, 262 victories in three seasons is nothing to sneeze at.

Better yet, it’s nearly a record.

Breaking...

Word on the street is that the Phillies re-signed Charlie Manuel for two years with an option for a third...

Short and sweet

Fantastic. Just fantastic... [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5aGmtoKEd0]

Tuesday pre-game fodder

Monday’s day off was a long-awaited reward for the Phillies and manager Charlie Manuel. After grinding it out for 10 tough games during the intensity of a pennant race, Manuel needed some chill time. So he spent the evening kicked back in front of the TV set, watching the Padres lose to the Giants and the Mets lose to the Nationals.

“I watched every pitch of the Padres and I watched every pitch of the Mets,” Manuel revealed before Tuesday night’s series opener against the Braves. “I’m thinking about getting the Japanese (baseball) package, too.”

Needless to say, it was quite an enjoyable evening for Manuel, who watched his Phillies pick up a half game in both the division and wild-card races from the comfort of his living room. As a result, the Phillies go into the final, six-game homestand of the regular season all tied up with the Padres, and trailing the Mets by a pair of games.

Meanwhile, the streaking Colorado Rockies are knocking on the door, just a game off the pace while the Braves still have an outside shot down three games with six to go. Baring a monumental collapse, the Phillies are in it to the end.

“We have six games left and I think we know what that means,” Manuel said.

If anything, Manuel says, the Phillies might have an advantage because they get to finish the season at home against the Braves and the lowly Nationals. The Padres have to play the Giants on the road before heading to Milwaukee to close out the season.

Meanwhile, the Rockies go to Los Angeles for three games against the Dodgers, but then return home to face the Diamondbacks and maybe even a Monday playoff game against the Phillies if it comes to that.

The Braves go to Houston to close out the season after the three games in Philadelphia.

So those six straight at home could loom large for the Phillies, right Charlie?

“One of the biggest advantages we have this year is we’re playing at home,” the skipper said. “I think that could be very big for us. We’ve had big crowds all year and the more noise we have, the more energy that brings and the more we get after it.”

The playoffs and potential travel plans as well as the possibility of a tiebreaking playoff game were a few the popular topics of conversation amongst the baseball scribes on Monday afternoon, with the consensus agreeing that it could come down to a game against the Rockies at Coors to determine the final four National League teams.

Manuel’s future But another underlying theme was Manuel’s status as manager for next season and beyond with the Phillies. With the Philadelphia Daily News reporting that general manager Pat Gillick would not seek a contract extension when his current deal expires after the 2008 season, and Manuel’s contract set to expire at the end of this season, there has been a little scuttlebutt regarding the skipper’s status. After all, Manuel has exceeded expectations this season by leading a team ravaged by injuries to first place in the wild-card race in the last week of the season. Moreover, only Pat Moran, the Phillies’ manager from 1915 to 1918, won more games in his first three seasons than Manuel.

So Charlie, has Gillick – or the Phillies’ brass – broached the subject of an extension?

“No, not at all,” he said. “Matter of fact it’s alright. I want to stay focused on our team. It’s not about me. It’s about our team and it’s about winning. I don’t have time to worry about anything else.”

In fact, Manuel says he doesn’t have the slightest inkling about what is going to happen.

“I don’t know anything about that until I sit down with him and that won’t happen until the off season,” the manager said.

In other words, the future is now for Manuel.

Rotation set And as such, Manuel has made the proper adjustment to his team’s pitching rotation for the final sprint. Adam Eaton, the much-maligned starting pitcher whose 6.36 ERA ranks last amongst the league’s starters, was informed during a lengthy pre-batting practice conversation that he will pitch on Saturday afternoon against the Nats, instead of taking his regularly scheduled turn on Thursday night against John Smoltz.

That means rookie Kyle Kendrick will pitch on Thursday instead of Friday, and Cole Hamels will go on Friday instead of Saturday afternoon.

Lining it up this way, the Phillies can use Hamels in Game 1 of the NLDS on regular rest… if it comes to that.

Needless to say, Manuel explained that the Phillies haven’t planned that far ahead, but simply “was the best way for us to go.” That’s how Manuel says he explained it to Eaton, who also faced the Nationals in his last start on Friday night in Washington where he gave up three runs on five hits, five walks and two hit batsmen in just five innings.

“He took it fine. He’s OK,” Manuel said of what looked like a decidedly one-sided conversation. “We have to wins some games now. I don’t want somebody to say I didn’t tell them something. I have no problem telling anybody anything. We actually had a pretty good talk.”

Et cetera Having used go-to relievers Brett Myers, Tom Gordon and J.C. Romero for five straight games last week, Manuel asked starter Kyle Lohse for a relief stint on Sunday’s game. Set to throw a bullpen session anyway, Manuel asked the newcomer starter to do his bullpen in a game instead.

Though Monday’s day off gave the ‘pen a day to refresh, Manuel said he will look to a starter or two for a relief outing if the opportunity presents itself.

“It depends on what game,” Manuel said. “Lohse is one of those guys that I like to throw an inning because of the stuff he has and his arm. His stuff is why I’d put him in a game.”

*** The Phillies’ rival San Diego suffered an odd injury in the most crucial time when slugging outfield Milton Bradley tore his ACL while being restrained by manager Bud Black during an argument with an umpire. was injured when his own manager spun him to the ground while trying to keep him from going after umpire Mike Winters during an eighth-inning confrontation in Sunday's 7-3 loss to Colorado at Petco Park.

When asked if he had ever injured a player when attempting to restrain him from getting into a confrontation with an umpire, Manuel said, “I don’t know, but I always wanted to.”

When asked if the fiery Milton Bradley was one of those players back when the pair worked together with the Cleveland Indians, Manuel dodged the question.

“No comment,” he smiled.

Down the stretch they come

WASHINGTON – The Mets had the Heimlich performed last weekend in Florida, just in time to return home to Shea Stadium to host the hapless Nationals for three games. With a 2½ game lead over the Phillies heading into the final week of the season, the Mets have all but wrapped up the NL East. Based on the numbers from Sports Club Stats, the Mets have a 95.7 percent chance to make it to the playoffs. Only a monumental collapse against the Nats, Cards and Marlins can stop them now.

But for the Phillies, it has come down to the last six games. At worst – minimally – the Phillies can go 4-2. But that number comes without taking the Padres’ results into consideration. By going 4-2, the Phillies would force a one-game playoff in San Diego if the Padres limp home at 4-3. And based on last weekend’s showing against Colorado, it’s possible that Padres could be hitting a bad slump at the wrong time.

Still, there is one gnarly-looking monkey wrench that could be thrown in the middle of all of this:

The Atlanta Braves are coming to town.

Here’s a prediction – the Phillies will sweep the Nationals at the Bank in the final series of the season this weekend. Washington is a tired team, with a spent pitching staff and has nothing at stake when they face the Mets and Phillies this week. The team has its bags packed; lockers cleaned out of the ready-to decay RFK Stadium, and are focused on vacations and chilaxin’ while the playoffs rage. Sure, there’s professional pride and all of that stuff (manager Charlie Manuel was quite laudatory to Nats’ skipper Manny Acta for putting his best players out there last weekend), but tired is tired. The Nats look ready for a break.

So that leaves the Braves, who are clinging to the ledge of the playoff race by their fingernails. Standing three games behind the Phillies, the Braves could climb back in the chase with a sweep and some cooperation from the Padres (and Rockies). Most of all, though, the Braves will be happy to knock out the Phillies from contention. With aces Tim Hudson and John Smoltz scheduled to pitch the first two games of the series, the Braves are not coming to town just to play out the string.

Come on, just one more … In just his second start in the last 37 days and first since a three-inning, 65-pitch battle in St. Louis, lefty Cole Hamels looked pretty sharp yesterday’s outing at RFK. In five innings, Hamels allowed just two hits and a pair of walks with six strikeouts. Best of all, Hamels’ fastball looked to have a lot of zip (yeah, zip) on it, which always comes in handy for a guy whose best pitch is a changeup.

But Manuel yanked Hamels out of the game after just five innings because he had thrown 76 pitches. The skipper did this even though Hamels retired the last eight hitters he faced and didn’t seem to be taxing himself all that much in working through his last three innings.

Could Hamels have pitched into the sixth without overextending himself?

Sure, he said... But then again, Hamels acknowledged that he doesn’t exactly have the best history with injuries.

“It's a little difficult to say when they don't let me know what my pitch count is,” Hamels told the writers. “That would be nice. I know my body better than anybody else. I guess that's the whole point in asking. But I think it takes that experience to have the say-so. I think it would be easier for Jamie Moyer to say, 'No, I'm going to go back out there,' than myself.”

Manuel was in one of those damned-if-you-do/damned-if-you-don’t, second-guessing situations that has pretty much defined his three seasons in Philadelphia . But, Manuel explained, Hamels has to be treated very gingerly for the time being.

“Cole is still on a rehab, of course,” Manuel said. “We would have loved to leave him in there.”

So it just figured that as soon as Hamels exited the game, reliever Antonio Alfonseca came in during the sixth and gave the Nats the lead they would never relinquish.

Revisiting Eddie We were even more busy than usual last Thursday when the news of ex-Phillies GM Ed Wade had taken over the same post with the Houston Astros. During an eight-year run that was marked by rebuilding and underachieving, Wade became “a lightning rod for the negativity” at the end of his time with the Phillies.

So when I first heard the news broadcasted over the car radio, I nearly had to pull over so that I could properly decipher the announcement.

Instead, I drove on.

That initial start gave way to rational thought. Of course Ed Wade was going to get another job as a Major League general manager. Why wouldn’t he? Wade is a good “baseball man,” who has given his professional life to the game. He has also worked at just about every job there is in Major League ball, and is generally well-liked all across the profession.

So why wouldn’t he land in another GM position? Guys like Ed Wade always land on their feet, except, of course, when they don’t.

Anyway, Jim Salisbury’s column on Wade in Sunday’s Inquirer was very interesting. You should read it.

Friday pre-game fodder

WASHINGTON – Despite what the schedule reads, there is a lot of baseball remaining in the 2007 season for the Phillies. These final eight games of the year will undoubtedly feel like an eternity. Actually, the defining moment of the year will probably occur between now and Sept. 30. But before Friday night’s game against the Washington Nationals at RFK Stadium, manager Charlie Manuel took the time to reflect on the season so far.

“Basically what we’ve done this year is survive,” the skipper said.

“We have some of the best players in baseball, but we’ve had to fight to survive.”

With just nine games to go the Phillies have done much more than just survive. Despite a bevy of injuries to seemingly every player on the roster, including disabled-list stints for Brett Myers, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Cole Hamels, the Phillies entered Friday’s game just 1½ games behind the New York Mets for first place in the NL East. And if a run at the division title doesn’t work out, there is always the wild-card race in which the Phillies find themselves 2½ games behind the San Diego Padres.

Needless to say, the Phillies are really into the action around the league right now. In fact, after Thursday night’s come-from-behind victory over the Nats, the Phillies rushed back to the cozy visitors’ clubhouse at RFK to gather around the television set and watch the end of the Mets-Marlins action from Miami. Pat Burrell and Aaron Rowand helped rearrange the furniture in the tiny room so the entire team could get unobstructed views.

For a night, the visitors’ clubhouse at RFK Stadium was the best little sports bar in The District of Columbia. When Dan Uggla’s 10th inning hit won it for the Marlins, the clubhouse suddenly morphed into a scene right out of Animal House.

Manuel loved it.

“What was cool was that I didn't see anybody who wasn't interested,” Manuel said. “I've been around a long time, and sometimes there are guys who just don’t give damn about it. They'd get dressed and get the hell out of there. I wonder about that sometimes. (But) last night, everybody we had was around the TV.”

The Phillies were back around the TV set before Friday’s game, too. This time, instead of the matinee action from around the league, a dozen players or so were paying rapt attention to a DVD of Ken Burns’ documentary, Baseball. When the film came to the part in which the legendary Buck O’Neil described the sound of the ball crashing off the bat of Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson and Bo Jackson – a sound O’Neil says he never heard from any other player – shortstop Jimmy Rollins recited the lines in sync with O’Neil.

Then Rollins ad libbed some of his own lines.

“Buck didn’t live long enough to hear Ryan Howard,” Rollins stated. “Ryan has that sound, too.”

A few teammates nodded in agreement.

Clearly the Phillies want to make a little noise of their own during the final week of the season. Desperate to hear the sweet symphony of baseball in October seems much more apt.

“I just want to get in (to the playoffs),” Manuel said. “I've been here three years in a row. It seems like we just left here and here we are again. We have to cross that line. We had to fight and claw. I don't know what else to do.”

Win. Just win.

The ‘pen is mighty It’s interesting to note that the Phils are making their sprint for the finish line with big contributions as of late from a rejuvenated bullpen. Maligned for the entire season as being the team’s Achilles heel, the Phillies’ relieving corps has bailed out the starters after short outings in two of the last three games.

To follow up Tuesday’s 14-inning victory in which the relievers tossed 11 frames one-run ball, the ‘pen went seven scoreless innings last night against the Nats. Of course the memory of Monday night’s near debacle where the relievers almost coughed up an 11-run lead, but since then they have been pretty good. In the last three games the bullpen has allowed just two runs in 21 2/3 innings.

“Like last night, our starter (Kyle Lohse) goes two and they don't score off a bullpen that can give up runs,” Manuel said. “At times, it seems like we can't stop anybody and then we'll do pretty good.”

Truth be told, Manuel admits he is a little surprised by work out of the ‘pen.

“I’m surprised,” he said. “If you look at it based on the way we’ve played all year, winning six of seven has been hard for us. In order to (go on a winning streak) you have to be consistent, and sometimes we haven’t been consistent.”

Nevertheless, 21 2/3 innings is a lot of work in just three games – especially at this point of the season. Aside from a complete game from a starting pitcher, Manuel acknowledges that he will have to use other relievers in addition to his core group of go-to guys in Myers, Tom Gordon and J.C. Romero.

“We’re going to get into position where we’ll have to use guys like (Geoff) Geary and (J.D.) Durbin,” Manuel said.

Hail to the Chiefs A handful of Phillies were granted a special audience with President George W. Bush as well as a private tour of the White House on Friday morning.

Utley, Howard, Burrell, Hamels, Myers, Rollins, Manuel and director of team travel and clubhouse services Frank Coppenbarger met the President in the Oval Office before their special tour of the most famous residence on the earth.

“It's not as private as you would expect it to be,” Utley said. “There's a lot of people running around.”

Mostly, though, the players were awed by meeting the President and seeing the White House up close and personal.

“He knew who we were,” Utley said. “He seemed pretty informed about what was going on (in baseball).”

Said Hamels: “We didn't joke around. It's a situation that you just find yourself in awe of. (President Bush) appeared to be a normal guy… well, as normal as you can expect. He was really busy and that's a good thing. It's good to know the President is a very busy guy.”

We waited for this?

As Billy Bob Thornton said in the epic film, Bad Santa, “Kids… they’ll run you ragged.There have never been truer words spoken in the entire history of the cinematic arts, and the fact that it took a movie about a miserable conman and his partner who poses as Santa and his Little Helper in order to rob department stores on Christmas Eve should be of no consequence.

Kids will run you ragged. It’s so very true.

As a result of being run ragged over the last three weeks or so, I’ve had a chance to really watch the Phillies very closely on television and at the ballpark (and I’ll be tap-tap-tapping away on my little laptop from the splendor of Robert Francis Kennedy Memorial Stadium in the District of Columbia this weekend) and I gotta tell you – I’m perplexed.

The Phillies are running me ragged.

Thinking about the Phillies and their chances to make the playoffs renders the same response as my wife gets when she peppers me with three questions without pause right on top of each other. Actually, this happens at least twice a day and my response is always the same – my brow scrunches tight, my eyes narrow and then my lips move but no cognitive sounds come out of my mouth.

It’s as if my brain was a typewriter and someone pushed all of the keys at the same time.

Anyway, most folks will tell you that the Phillies’ 13-11 victory over the Cardinals in St. Louis last night was a harbinger of bad things to come. Nursing an 11-run lead into the late innings the way our pal Ken Mandel suckles a Shirley Temple, the Phillies’ bullpen turned the game into a save situation and faced a handful of at-bats in which to potential game-winning run was at the plate. Had the Phillies lost the game it would have been devastating, they say, because there are so few games remaining in the season.

How does a team deep in the throes of a pennant race bounce back from blowing an 11-0 lead?

Guess what? We’ll never know.

We’ll never know because the Phillies didn’t blow the 11-0 lead. In fact, they won the game and picked up more ground in the NL East standings to cut the Mets’ lead to 2½ games. Sure, there was the issue of the bullpen giving up 11 runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but chances are manager Charlie Manuel will bypass relievers Clay Condrey (five runs on four hits without getting an out) and Jose Mesa (6.11 ERA) in any situation of significance during the next 12 games. With J.C. Romero, Tom Gordon and Brett Myers unavailable last night because of the heavy lifting the trio did in sweeping the Mets at Shea last weekend, the Phillies’ bullpen was asked to do nothing more than play a little matador defense.

With an 11-run lead what else were they supposed to do? You know, aside from give up 11 runs…

Though Gordon is recovering from back spasms, the Phillies seem to have everyone in place for the final 12 games. With Cole Hamels set to start tonight – though he will only throw approximately 70 pitches before he heads back to the clubhouse to rub fish oil on his arm – the rotation is as good as it is going to get. And with Myers entrenched at the back of the bullpen, along with Gordon, Romero, and Geoff Geary as the go-to relievers, everyone is reasonably healthy.

The real question is whether or not the Phillies’ pitching is good enough. Most people have doubts, though the answer will be evident in less than two weeks.

The day of reckoning It should be noted that the public relations folks that run interference for Floyd Landis have supplied me with all pertinent information to this point regarding the soon-to-be announced decision by the three-man arbitration panel in the USADA’s doping case against the Lancaster Countian and Tour de France champ. But the truth is there really isn’t anything anyone can say… at least until the big day comes.

Which will be soon, apparently.

Either way, Floyd’s people have been nothing but kind to me, which makes me feel a tiny bit bad about being a little smart-assy with them yesterday… but not that much. I kind of base my entire personality around being a jerk.

If I were a betting man, I’d wager that we will know whether or not Floyd is exonerated or will face a ban and more legal wrangling by Saturday… or Sunday… absolutely by Monday.

Take your numbers and crunch them In an essay for ESPN.com, the advanced and wildly astute cultural commentator Chuck Klosterman explained that fantasy football has nothing to do with reality or football. Yet despite this – or because of this – fantasy football remains wildly popular. People, it seems, love to use non-contextual statistics to show others that they… well, I don’t know what they’re trying to prove. It’s the gambling, I guess.

Anyway, if there was a better example of how sports statistics are meaningless (aside from Barry Bonds and pretty much all of baseball and football), it was seen in Donovan McNabb’s outing against the Washington Redskins last night. By all reasonable accounts, McNabb turned in a mediocre (at best) game in the 20-12 loss. However, his 240-yards passing (on 28-for-46) looks fairly decent considering that McNabb did not throw an interception.

But McNabb wasn’t very good and his team lost the game. Do you think that fantasy football players care about that?

Of course not.

My theory is that 75 (maybe 90) percent of the folks that follow the NFL from week to week do so solely for fantasy/gambling purposes. Actually, my contention is that most people really don’t care about football aside from the folks wearing the local team’s uniform, but the fact that Kelly Holcomb is a person's bye week starter makes every smacked ass with a wireless card Doctor freaking Z.

My point is sports statistics are meaningless. They are meaningless because good players on good teams sacrifice personal glory and statistics for the good of the team. In a sense these players on good teams are a type of neo-Marxists like Steve Nash and Derek Jeter, who, despite the fact that they make hundreds of millions of dollars, wantonly distribute and share the statistical wealth to their teammates. To players like Jeter and Nash, and locally, Chase Utley, the numbers beneath their names don’t mean nearly as much as the digits in the win-loss columns.

That's the biggest reason why people, subconsciously, don't want fantasy sports to be "real."

Regardless, my personal draw to fantasy football is the incessant one-upsmanship in trying to be the most funny and the most insulting amongst the people in the league. In fact, I can’t think of any other reason to participate... well, aside from winning the league championship (like I did last season) and the ancillary benefits that go with such a thing.

Finally The burgeoning criminals behind the art-rock band, Les Savy Fav, have released a new album. It's called "Let's Stay Friends," and the masterminds at Pitchfork gave it an 8.3, which seems rather arbitrary, though I'm sure it's very meaningful.

Anyway, I uploaded three tracks from the new record on the widget on the right column. Go nuts.

The clown show is on hiatus

Note: Beginning now this site is going on a two-week hiatus. As most regular readers know, my wife and I are expecting our second child (a boy) any day. But now that we are more than a week past the due date and since her cervix is like one of those old-fashioned steel bear traps, the natural process needs some prodding. Therefore, we go to the hospital on Thursday night with the hope of delivering the big boy on Friday.

It should be noted that Friday is also the birth day for Yasser Arafat, Vince McMahon, Cal Ripken Jr., Reggie Miller and Dave Chappelle.

Anyway, I will be checking in from time to time, but I will not return with regular posts until September 7. When we return expect something of a new look, structure and organization… maybe even a redesign, too.

Like anyone who has devoted time to baseball, I know that statistics are not worth the paper they are printed on. They lie and can be manipulated to prove bogus points. Statistics also cannot quantify health, heart, ability and whether or not someone has put hard workouts to be prepared for a long season. Plus, stats don’t go into the clubhouse and get a feel of the mood of the room or have to go face-to-face with a player it may have lied about.

Statistics are cowards. Sports are for playing, not watching – we hold these truths to be self evident.

But sometimes it is difficult to debate the statistics. For instance, in pushing the streak of not winning a series in Pittsburgh since June of 2001, the Phillies were outscored by the Pirates 15-2 from the seventh inning on last weekend at PNC Park or whatever the hell corporation owns the naming rights now.

Yeah, that’s right, 15-2… against the Pirates… the worst team in the National League.

So I’m going to cherry pick that one specific statistic to show that the Phillies might not have the pitching needed to get to the playoffs. Then again, it wasn’t like anyone needed a stat for that.

Pitching aside, the Phillies should have a really good idea of how the last month of the season will play out at the end of the next 10 days. With three games against the Dodgers and three more against both the Padres and the Mets – the two teams the Phillies are chasing in different playoff races – the playoff race is right in front of the team.

For the Phillies, 5-5 is treading water, 6-4 is reasonable; and 7-3 and better is ideal. But anything worse than .a 500 homestand could be the beginning of the beginning of the end.

According to Ryan Howard the Phillies control their own destiny... they also take them one game at a time and give 110 percent.

“This is a big series for us and the good thing is that we control our own destiny,” Howard said before Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers. “There will be a little bit of scoreboard watching going on, but most of it will be us trying to handle our own business.”

Scoreboard watching, huh?

“The scoreboard sits right there in front of us so we can’t help but not look at it,” manager Charlie Manuel said on Tuesday. “It’s about that time of the year and that can be good.”

***
Meanwhile, Chase Utley could return in a week after being cleared to take some swings with a bat for the first time after breaking his wrist at the end of July.

“(I) took some swings off the tee – started with the fungo and moved to my regular bat. I didn’t swing 100 percent but it felt pretty good,” Utley offered.

Based on his recovery from day to day, Utley hopes to add a little more volume to his workouts as he looks to his return.

***
But the injury bug has reared its head again… Cole Hamels has been scratched from tomorrow’s start with some left elbow tenderness. From the initial, knee-jerk reaction it doesn’t seem to be anything other than late-season tiredness, but pitchers’ arms are quite mysterious.

Regardless, Hamels is being diagnosed with a mild elbow strain and will have a precautionary MRI tomorrow.

“He was up front with us so I hope we got it early,” pitching coach Rich Dubee said.

***
Though one current Dodger pitcher once told me that “sometimes injuries just happen,” I respectfully disagreed. Injuries always happen for a reason – sometimes we can’t figure out what the reason is, but as our boy Floyd said, all it takes is the proper training:

“There's only one rule: The guy who trains the hardest, the most, wins. Period. Because you won't die. Even though you feel like you'll die, you don't actually die. Like when you're training, you can always do one more. Always. As tired as you might think you are, you can always, always do one more.

“If you overtrained, it means that you didn't train hard enough to handle that level of training. So you weren't overtrained; you were actually undertrained to begin with. So there's the rule again: The guy who trains the hardest, the most, wins."”

Learn it. Live it. Love it.

Did you see that?

There is not much new to report from the home base here in The Lanc. All is quiet here, which is just the way we like it. Actually, it’s so quiet around here that more than a few folks appear to be worked up about the Phillies’ loss to those wily Washington Nats last night. Never mind the fact that the Phillies have scored just five runs in two games in Washington, or the fact that the entire lineup appears to have dived into a funk at exactly the same time. No, the play or decision that rankled some folks was manager Charlie Manuel’s determination to use lefty Russ Branyan as a pinch hitter against lefty reliever Ray King with no outs and two on in the seventh inning.

Branyan, needless to say, struck out. Hey, that’s just what he does. But the consensus seems to be that Manuel should have yanked Branyan for a right-handed hitter, which would have been the standard baseball move. But Manuel doesn’t have that option with his rice paper–thin bench. Because of injuries to Chase Utley, Michael Bourn and Shane Victorino, Manuel can’t waste too many players in such a situation. Righties Chris Coste, Jayson Werth and Wes Helms were in the game instead of on the bench, where Chris Roberson was the only other option aside from Branyan.

Regardless, Branyan’s whiff, and Jimmy Rollins’ subsequent strike out, was not the main reason why the Phillies lost to the Nats last night. The fact that the Phillies only got three hits off starter Tim Redding through six innings was much more significant.

When former Phillies attack former Phillies… Meanwhile, I was able to get my hands on a copy of the bat attack by former Phillie Jose Offerman on former Phillie Matt Beach in the Atlantic League game from earlier this week. Check it out:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEuWQcPQfuw]

Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

*** Over the past couple of days I have read a few of the remembrances of former Yankees legend Phil Rizzuto, who died this week at age 84. Suffice it to say, Rizzuto lived a charmed life that seemed to transcend mere baseballdom. If I am not mistaken, the Scooter is the only man to win the World Series, and AL MVP Award, be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and win an Grammy Award, which he got for his role in Meat Loaf’s “Paradise By the Dashboard Light.”

Growing up in Washington and Lancaster, I wasn’t privy to Rizzuto’s work with the Yankees’ broadcasts, but I was well aware of his work with Mr. Loaf and the commercials for The Money Store, which were spectacular.

Can you imagine such a place? The Money Store… who would have guessed?

Anyway, from the little bits I was able to piece together and from the stories people tell, Rizzuto was the perfect baseball announcer. Sure, he was probably lacking when it came to in-depth analysis and strategery type stuff, but really, who cares? Instead, Rizzuto entertained listeners with stories about the players, his life and the restaurants he visited. It seemed as if he was just another guy hanging out with the gang to watch the game and talk to his friends… that is the perfect announcer.

Plus, Rizzuto was funny. Who doesn’t use “Holy Cow!” as an exultation? Or, when calling a spectacular play while broadcasting a game on the radio Rizzuto would exclaim, “Did you see that?!”

Uh, no Phil… it’s radio.

The favorite, of course, was one Puerto Rico Day at Yankee Stadium when Scooter was describing the scene to his listeners, poked his head out of the press box window and exclaimed into the microphone, “… and look at all those Puuuuuuuuerto Ricans!”

It would have been neat to have heard Rizzuto call games regularly, but we’ll always have “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.”

*** Finally, I believe in the First Amendment. Actually, without the freedom of speech we have nothing. It’s the right that makes all others possible.

Be that as it is, there is one man whose entry to the so-called blogosphere who could push those freedoms to their ever-elastic breaking point.

Yes, Dennis Deitch has a blog.

God bless America. God bless us all.

Feast and famine

If there is one thing to be said about Russell Branyan it is that he is quite prolific. Actually, prolific might not be strong enough. Historical, perhaps, is the correct adjective.

When it comes to striking out, Russell Branyan has no peer.

Consider this: in his career, Branyan has whiffed in an epic 40 percent of his at-bats and 35 percent of his plate appearances… yeah, really.

Check this one out: according to Baseball Prospectus, since 1969 Branyan entered the 2007 season as the all-time leader in either striking out, walking or hitting a home run in an amazing 52.3 percent of his plate appearances. He’s well ahead of guys like Rob Deer, Adam Dunn and Mark McGwire.

Meanwhile, more than 28 percent of Branyan’s career hits are home runs.

In other words it truly is feast or famine for the new Phillies’ slugger.

“I have a tendency to swing and miss,” Branyan admitted.

Branyan was acquired last weekend when the Phillies sent cash to the Indians to add a bat to beef up the bench. Actually, judging from the way general manager Pat Gillick explained, it seemed as if any bat would do.

“We don't have any position players on option at Double-A or Triple-A. Consequently, we had 13 pitchers and 12 players and needed another player,” Gillick told the Inquirer. “We talked about getting somebody who might be able to run into a ball and win a game for us. Branyan was the guy we got. He's a hit-or-miss. I don't look at his average. We know he's going to strike out, but he's also going to run into some.”

And that’s just what Branyan did last night at RFK to give the Phillies a big, 3-2 victory over the Nationals. Reliever Jon Rauch gave the slugger a cookie and he made a meal out of it.

Nevertheless, don’t expect Branyan to find too many more plate appearances different than the situation he was in last night. Charlie Manuel, Branyan’s manager when he came up in the Indians’ organization, probably will only use his slugger when he needs a home run.

Or a strike out.

***
Speaking of Manuel, it’s interesting to note that there is a little bit of chatter about his candidacy as the National League’s manager of the year. Considering the injuries, the standings, the attitude in the clubhouse and the manner in which the Phillies play, Manuel should be the frontrunner.

Besides, I remember how the Phillies were when Manuel’s predecessor ran the club and some players really disliked going to work. Imagine that – a big league baseball player getting paid a lot of money and he was miserable about going to the ballpark because of one person.

Regardless, it’s the complete opposite of that with Manuel in charge.

***
Speaking of injuries, it appears as if Shane Victorino had a little setback in his rehab assignment for Double-A Reading last night. Nursing an injured calf muscle, Victorino “felt something grab” when running hard to first base and pulled himself from the game after going 1-for-3 with an RBI single.

Meanwhile, old pal Randy Wolf likely won’t make the trip to Philadelphia next week with his Dodgers teammates. That’s because it appears as if the former Phillie is out for the rest of the season with shoulder stiffness. Apparently Wolf further exasperated his shoulder problem when he tried to rush back from an initial injury he suffered in early July.

That’s not going to happen again, he said.

“I have to be realistic. I'm not going to take the ball until I feel perfect. So that's what I'm going to work for.”

***
Apropos of nothing, I have been contemplating certain elements of linguistics and our popular nomenclature and it seems to me that the guy who coined the term “mullet” is getting shortchanged. Think about it, one man came up with a perfectly trenchant piece of our lexicon that transcends all sorts of boundaries to be used by many different people and will likely live the rest of his life in obscurity.

That just doesn’t seem fair.

The Philadelphia MASH Unit

Aaron Rowand is out of the lineup for Friday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates because he hurt his shoulder playing tag with the kids from his neighborhood last night after the loss to the Nationals at the Bank.

There are a lot ways to go with this one, such as was the kid wearing a suit of armor? Good thing he wasn’t playing kick the can or else he could have ended up like Jon Lieber…

You see, the possibilities are endless.

Either way it's good to know that when Aaron Rowand plays tag with the kids from the neighborhood, he leaves it all out there. Frankly the Phillies are lucky he didn't run into a fence when chasing down some kid.

“I guess it’s be careful when you play with your kids,” manager Charlie Manuel said.

Nevertheless, when it rains it pours with the Phillies. Earlier today Chase Utley had surgery to repair the broken fourth metacarpal in his right hand in which a pin was inserted to the damaged area. The entire procedure took 20 minutes at Methodist Hospital by Dr. Randall Culp and the MVP candidate is expected recovery time is four weeks.

Joe Thurston’s contract has been purchased to replace Utley on the roster, though it appears as if the Phillies will have to make another move soon since the team announced that they had acquired Tadahito Iguchi from the Chicago White Sox this afternoon.

Along with a full cadre of Japanese media, Iguchi brings a .251 batting average, six homers and 31 RBIs in 90 games with him from Chicago. He also brings along a World Series ring from the 2005 season where he and Rowand helped the ChiSox to their first title in a long, long time.

Interestingly, Iguchi and Manuel are both veterans of Japan’s Pacific League. Manuel played for Kinetsu while Iguchi played for Fukuoka and Daiei.

To get Iguchi, the Phillies sent Single-A right-hander Michael Dubee – pitching coach Rich Dubee’s son – to the White Sox.

Iguchi is expected to arrive in Philadelphia tomorrow.

Anyway, with Rowand out, Michael Bourn will lead off and play center against the Pirates tonight. Abraham Nunez is at second for Utley, Pat Burrell was bumped up a spot from sixth to fifth, while Jimmy Rollins moved from leadoff to third. When Rowand returns – he’s day-to-day – Manuel says Shane Victorino will leadoff, Greg Dobbs will hit second and Rollins will remain in the No. 3 hole.

Nowhere to turn

In a tie game that, incidentally, should have never been tied, manager Charlie Manuel turned to right-hander J.D. Durbin to pitch in the 10th and 11th innings against the Colorado Rockies in the relative altitude of Denver’s Coors Field. We say relative altitude because Denver isn’t really that high and if you are one who loses his breath just walking around in Denver, it’s time to do a little self inventory.

And stay away from those mountains that you see ringing the city off in the distance.

Anyway, Charlie turned to Durbin for the turning point of the game even though the pitcher’s ERA was way north of 15. Prior to going to Durbin, Charlie had to call in Mike Zagurski, Jose Mesa, J.C. Romero and Antonio Alfonseca to blow the five-run lead rookie starter Kyle Kendrick took into the sixth inning. The skipper couldn’t go to oft-used Geoff Geary because he’s back at Triple-A working out the trouble that turned him into a fireman whose best weapon was propane. Nor could the manager turn to Ryan Madson, who had pitched in two straight games in Houston.

Besides, Madson has already been in 30 games so far this season despite spending time on the disabled list.

Brian Sanches and Anderson Garcia were also out there in the bullpen, but they were a last resort for Manuel. After all, he is trying to win.

Needless to say, the Phillies, at 43-43, are doing it with mirrors in the bullpen. Manuel really has nowhere to turn when looking to his bench. Sure, the so-called core of his team is as good as any in the Majors, but the name of the game still is getting 27 outs. In that regard, the Phillies struggle from the seventh inning on.

Some wise baseball people have suggested that Manuel is worthy of manager of the year consideration based on the job he’s done so far with the resources he’s been handed. I’m not sure that Charlie has earned an award, but when his contract ends at the end of the season he definitely deserves a medal.

***
The cool thing about being in Colorado, or even in the Pacific time zone, is that east coast games start early and end early. But east coast folks aren’t so lucky when it’s reversed. Nonetheless, when Durbin came into last night’s game I knew it was just a matter of time until I was able to head off to bed…

What, you think I was on my way out? I’m closer to 40 than 30 and have kid(s) and a serious running problem – that means no more fun of any kind.

***
No Floyd news here, nor the courtesy of a return message from USADA. Perhaps I should take the snub from the anti-doping agency personal (I don’t, I just really, really, really enjoy poking fun at everything), but since USADA is partially FUNDED FROM U.S. TAXPAYER MONEY, returning messages – even if it is to tell someone to, “go pound sand… we ain’t tellin’ you nothin’” – isn’t just a courtesy. It’s their damn job.

Trust me on this one: some government official is getting a well-written and pointed letter of complaint… not that they actually care what their constituents think.

Sigh.

Anywho, I watched the first rider of the prologue of the 2007 Tour de France fly out of the gate and through the streets of London for the short, 8k time trial and even saw Dave Zabriske take Yellow… for exactly 54 seconds. That said, here are a few revelations I’ve had over the last few days regarding the Tour and cycling:

It would be soooooo hilarious if an American won the Tour this year. If Levi Leipheimer, Z-Man or George Hincapie (he said he wants to win the prologue) end up contending, expect more than a few heads to explode.

I am now convinced that the UCI, the Tour and the other so-called leaders of cycling want to sabotage their sport. So far they are doing a pretty good job, but aren’t quite to Gary Bettman status quite yet.

Give them some time.

Phil Liggett is the best sports broadcaster working today. Well… Vin Scully is pretty damn incredible, too. How about this: Liggett and Vin reading from a phone book?

I’d listen to that all day.

Meanwhile, based on the commercials aired on Versus during the Tour coverage it seems as if everything is OK in selling the event for TV... well, you know, it ain't the NFL.

***
Wildly astute columnist Bob Ford wrote about the Tour for the Inquirer today. I’m not sure if Bob is going to England or France to cover the race, but if he is I hope he can steal me an ashtray or something.

I was hoping to have John Eustice write for us at CSN again this year during the Tour, but haven't heard anything regarding that yet (yes, I asked). So without anything new, here's Eustice's reports from last year.

***
Tour predictions:
1.) Levi Leipheimer, USA, Discovery Channel d'Epargne
2.) Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazakhstan, Astana
3.) Alejandro Valverde, Spain, Caisse

Coste to Coast

It was hard not to smile when Charlie Manuel announced that the Phillies had recalled Chris Coste from Double-A Reading after last night’s rainy, soggy, humid, sloppy and long game against the Cincinnati Reds at the Bank. For one thing, Coste’s arrival back to Philadelphia (for the third time) will be a move the fans will applaud. Even cynical media-types like me have a hard time not getting a little weak in the knees when hearing Coste’s story and perseverance.

Aside from that, I truly believe Coste was shafted by the Phillies.

No, it wasn’t anything sinister or conspiratorial or anything like that, but the Phillies had no qualms about sending Coste out on all of the team’s winter caravan stops at all of the distant outposts to get the fans excited, and the manager was saying all sorts of laudatory things about his hitting. But all along the general manager was looking for someone else to fill Coste’s spot. Where Manuel talked up Coste, Pat Gillick threw a wet blanket on everyone’s good time and then went out and spent $3 million on Rod Barajas.

Let’s see: $3 million for Rod Barajas or the league minimum for Chris Coste… money well spent?

No.

Certainly Barajas has a better Major League pedigree than Coste, but when the movie comes out on everyone’s favorite backup catcher, Barajas ain’t gonna be in it. Besides, Coste didn’t do anything to warrant a trip back to the minors aside from hit .328 with seven home runs in a pennant race. Anything close to that would be a career year for Barajas.

***
Let’s leave the bullpen and Pat Burrell alone today… chances are he’ll be below the Mendoza Line by the holiday. That is, of course, if he plays -- Burrell is not in the lineup for Friday afternoon's opening game. That's the fifth game in a row in which Burrell is on the bench and eighth game in the last 11.

***
Is anyone else looking forward to Cole Hamels facing Paul Lo Duca in tonight’s nightcap? That is, of course, if there is one.

Lo Duca and David Wright of the Mets are the Matthew Barnaby and Danny Ainge of baseball… fun guys.

Nevertheless, the Phillies-Mets rivalry is turning into a pretty good one. It really seems as if the teams don't particularly care for each other and that is pretty entertaining.

***
For the gang in the press box...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMebclpHbo4]