Because he’d really like to! Peppered with inquires about Ryan Howard’s struggles in the cleanup spot, Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel lost his patience with Philadelphia scribes last night, as The Daily News’ Ryan Lawrence details.
“How many runs did we score last night?” Manuel said of a 3-2 defeat. “[Howard] knocked in one of them. What the [bleep] are you getting at? Who’s going to hit there? Let me ask you a question. Let me turn that around some.”
“I could put anybody in there, OK?” said Manuel, who often gets defensive about his lineup. “Really, if you think about it. I’ll do the managing. Whoever hits there, hits there.”
“Of course, I’m concerned,” Manuel said, beginning a heated rant. “I’m concerned with everybody. Hey, look, I’m concerned with every [bleeping] player I got. Yeah, I’m concerned.
“I want to win. We say that we want to win the division and we want to go to the World Series, right? I’m concerned about every one of our guys. I’m concerned about that .245 or .248 team batting average. I’m concerned about that.
“I’m not only concerned about one guy, I’m concerned about them all. How about that? I don’t know what I can do about it. I can go back to my room and sit there and look at the walls, and get up and come to the ballpark and look at the walls. I don’t know what I can do about it. The only thing I can do is to put them out there and let them play.”