The annual April nightmare continues for the Phillies and their fans and yesterday afternoon's loss to the Mets in New York -- wasting another very good start by Cole Hamels -- was the worst we've seen from the team in this young season.
The more you watch the team, the more you have to believe that one of the team's problems is the manager. One 1-6 start is a quirk of fate, but two 1-6 starts in a row suggests that Manuel can not get the team ready to start the season when the rest of major league baseball does. It's hard to know if they are pressing too much or too lackadaisical -- or an odd combination of both -- but whatever the case, Charlie Manuel is definitely not getting the most out of the talent he's been given.
Even at his best Manuel has a tendency to make some curious in-game moves, and yesterday was one of his worst. A sample:
- Starting Abraham Nunez. The team is 1-5, has a game against the closest rival and one of the best team's in the league, but Wes Helms is struggling. So, one can understand wanting to have Helms sit one out, but Abe Nunez is your solution to score more runs? .211 Abe? Sure enough, he hit into two double plays.
- Leading off the eighth inning with relief pitcher Geoff Geary, up by only a run. One can certainly understand Manuel's desire to leave Geary in the game to pitch in the bottom of the eighth, but he should have used a double-switch to do so. Manuel's reasoning for not doing so was that he wanted Michael Bourn available to come into the game to replace Pat Burrell after Burrell batted again. That's fine too, but there were plenty of other double switches available at Manuel's disposal: Geary could have come into the game in the eighth slot and Greg Dobbs could have come in for Nunez [a defensive downgrade, yes, but not significantly]; he could have come into the game in the seventh slot and Dobbs or Jayson Werth could have come in for Aaron Rowand, shifting Shane Victorino to center; if he had come into the game in the sixth slot replacing Carlos Ruiz, Rod Barajas could have led off the eighth.
Relief pitchers come into games focused to do a job at hand. They do not come into games expecting to bat. Having to face an opposing pitcher gets the reliever out of his mindset, costing him his focus. Manuel did Geary no favors by having him bat in the eighth.
Looking up and down this roster, there is no excuse for baseball to be played this way. None! There are several players who contend for MVP's and several starting pitchers that would be the ace of other staffs. Yes, the bullpen is a weak-spot, but the way this team is built, they should be able to give up a run or two in the late innings and the lead still be preserved.
Teams have a limited opportunity to win. Sure, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, and Jimmy Rollins will be here as the nucleus for years to come, but one never knows what fate has in store. There could be injuries, there could be unlucky bounces. You have to strike while the proverbial iron is hot and Charlie Manuel does not have this team ready to do that.
