(Charlie Manuel won a first toss out of the season today)
What’s pissing off exiled manager Charlie Manuel more right now, that 6th inning called home-run or Chase Utley’s throwing the game away? The Cubs avoided a sweep in Philly today and going less than .500 on their first road trip with a 6-5, 10th-inning win. I caught a total of two innings of yesterday’s Cubs-Phillies game, three go-rounds today, and the Cubs look to be running as hot and cold under Piniella as they did last year. No wonder he’s still monkeying with the line-up. Both teams sat out a pro, Jimmy Rollins and Kosuke Fukudome respectively, and the Cubs benefited as much from De Rosa’s disputed home run as they did from Chase Utley’s lob over first base to blow an extra inning out. Yesterday I saw enough that showed a classic cold Piniella team, unable to hit, move runners, or show any effective defense. Today it was just the opposite, and after Utley’s remarkable catch near the 3rd base wall, his equally remarkable error was crucial in handing it to the Cubs. While the Cubs numbers look OK, inconsistency is a huge problem right now.
I was at the Phils/Cubs game today and the umps blew the DeRosa HR call. Perhaps DeRosa might have stuck the next pitch over the wall, but the gifted run negatively impacted the outcome of the game for the Phillies. I think it is time to either use umpire video review or modern technology to determine fair or foul HR disputes. Being that these occurrences are very infrequent, I do not think it would cause undue delays of game.
Otherwise, as far the Phillies thus far, being that the Phils under Charlie Manuel had taken about a month before they start putting one foot in front of the other, their current 1 game under .500 record is a huge step up from the usual horrific Aprils and the pitching has been better than we feared. My main gripe right now is the poor defense the Phils have been playing (particularly Utley, whose long-term future may be in LF to make room for prospect Adrian Cardenas). So far it looks like this season would have been an opportune time for the Phils to jump out of the gate, but considering recent history, I am fine with them at least not getting themselves into a early hole.
Yeah, even the AP is citing it as a foul ball.