While ESPN’s Jayson Stark does his usual thorough, entertaining job in breaking down the moment Charlie Manuel’s contract extension may have gotten shuffled underneath Pat Gillick’s copy of AARP magazine (Modern Maturity was still a better name as far as I’m concerned) the Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Phil Sheridan is the voice of reason (a.k.a, the guy I most agree with):
The Phillies’ stars have been dimmed or gone completely dark in this series. That is why this team flew to Denver last night needing to win three games in a row against the hottest team in baseball.
In both games here, Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle allowed his pitcher to bat with runners on base, then removed that pitcher for the bottom of the inning. That’s ridiculous, but no one is second-guessing Hurdle today because his hitters have come up big and his relievers have owned the Phillies.
Give a manager good hitting and pitching, and he can mess up with impunity….
In the fourth, after another leadoff double, Brad Hawpe crushed a pitch to left. Pat Burrell caught it on the dead run, but it was a loud-enough out to get Manuel’s attention. Lohse, the safety net in case of an early blowup, started warming up for the second time. Kendrick got a second out, then fell behind Yorvit Torrealba, three balls and a strike. A very second-guessable decision was made here. At 3-1, Kendrick would have to throw a strike to Torrealba, who had two hits in Game 1. Manuel decided to have Kendrick intentionally walk Torrealba and get a fresh start against a likely pinch-hitter.
Seth Smith, the pinch-hitter, hit a weak grounder that third baseman Wes Helms could do nothing with. The bases were loaded. Manuel came out for Kendrick.
It is grossly inaccurate to say Kendrick was lifted for giving up a weak infield single. He was lifted because of the rockets hit by the first two hitters in the fourth inning, and the earlier rockets hit by the next three batters due up.
Lohse had warmed up twice. It was now or never for him. If he could get Matsui, he could pitch until Manuel turned the game over to the back end of his bullpen in the seventh. It was a sound strategy until Lohse threw a 1-2 fastball in the only place Matsui could drive it out of the park.
I personally had no problem with the hook. It might not have been the right decision, but the talk radio chorus would be just as loud if Kendrick had stayed in and given up a three-run double. Then the story would have been “why did Charlie even start this guy? He had a 7.00 season ERA against the Rockies!”
I do however, kind of agree with Stark that maybe Lohse was simply not right for the situation:
This was the 224th time Lohse had appeared on a mound in a major-league game, if you count the postseason. But just once in all those times — on July 21, 2006 — had he been brought out of anybody’s bullpen with the bases loaded. (The result that time: a Jason Michaels sacrifice fly.)
Manuel said he liked the matchup with Matsui, liked Lohse’s “experience,” liked the fact that Lohse had been “pitching real good out of the bullpen” in two previous emergency appearances down the stretch — even though he’d come in to start innings in both of those other outings.
But then again, who else was he gonna go to, Jose Mesa?
Let’s face facts: Charlie managed scared. Let the kid get outta the jam. If there’s one thing Kyle Kendrick gets credit for is keeping a cool head. Lohse has experience at being erratic. The Phillies bullpen sucks, sink or swim with Kendrick.
Jason,
Just when Uncle Cholly was finally getting some love in Philly…
After giving up the leadoff double, Kendrick got two outs. It was obvious that the very shaky Morales was going to be lifted for a pinch hitter if Torreabla did not make an out, therefore, the decision to give up on the AB with a 3-1 count was dead wrong. If Kendrick would have gotten the third out, it might have bought another inning for a the Phillies to take a crack at Morales. After that on-base gift and the barely touched swinging bunt hit that loaded the bases, Manuel gave up on Kendrick. Had this been the 6th inning where lefty specialist JC Romero could come into his accustomed role, turn Matsui to his weaker side, end the inning and come back to pitch the 7th, it would have made sense. Manuel based his decision on “experience” and that is bullshit. In the end, Lohse coughed up a grand slam and Manuel was painted into a corner where he was later forced to bring out one of the awful pitchers left in the pen at a point where the Phillies were the game was not out of hand. This was not a throw the dice move, based on percentages or by “the book”. Manuel panic-managed and gave up on a pitcher who had earned his colors this season. Dogs smell fear.
I was at the game yesterday. When Uncle Cholly came out to yank Kendrick, everyone around me in section 308 was mortified- it was just too early to crack into that bullpen. Sheridan (who I normally agree with) really thinks that they would go with Lohse for 2+ innings on his thow day in between starts? Going into the bullpen that early almost inevitably exposes the soft underbelly of the staff (Jose Mesa, in particular). As for Mesa, he needs to locked in a small room with Adam Eaton and Wes Helms, never to see the light of the day again.
Dan,
The murmurs and booing from the park when Cholly bobbledheaded out to the mound in the 4th was audible on the broadcast and the same “WTF is he doing?” sentiment was prevalent in the pub where I watched the game. Sheridan did write that the intentional 4th ball to Torrealba move was questionable ( I think it was even worse than the KK yanking, if Manuel was so concerned about the top of the order coming up, why gift them one batter closer?) but he is missing putting it into the big-picture context of panic-managing in early innings while the Phillies still had a lead. This was Kendrick on the hill, not Eaton.
As far as the remainder of the series goes, the Phillies have earned the benefit of the doubt, even if taking 2 at Coors will be a daunting task. The weather alone could make these games fluke-filled ( temps in the 50’s with 25-35 MPH winds forecast for Sat, 40’s and rain on Sunday). As with last Sundays game, with Moyer starting Game 3, Phils fans should be hoping for an ump who is liberal with the corners and hoping the lords of BABIP are on the Phillies side.
I think Sheridan’s best point was with regards to Lohse’s warm-up pitches. Charlie had obviously decided the guy was going to pitch two innings – ideally, the fifth and sixth. If Kendrick doesn’t get in trouble in the first Lohse doesn’t warm up once. If Kendrick doesn’t get in trouble in the third Lohse doesn’t warm up twice. But at that point, if he doesn’t go into the game he isn’t available. That obviously wouldn’t have mattered if Kendrick had gotten out of the jam, pitched for six and turned it over to the three good relievers. But if Kendrick gives up even a single there, or puts a couple of guys on in the next inning, Jose and Alfonseca get in that much sooner. We’ll never know. But I don’t think the Phillies were going to win the game with three runs (or even five) in any case.
Jason,
Being forced to “use him or lose him” vis-a-vis Lohse would be another example of Manuel jumping the gun. Why was Lohse warming up again in the third? Kendrick was *not* in trouble in the third. He allowed a lead-off double and got three straight outs. He allowed another leadoff double in the 4th and got two outs. Sheridan, (who I hold in high regard) glossed over the intentional 4th ball to Torrealba, which in my opinion was far worse than lifting Kendrick. Again, there is the overall context of Manuels lack of trust in Kendrick (who did not appear to be on the verge of implosion) and his subsequent premature panic moves. Manuel did not consider that in case Lohse did not get the job done and the Phillies had to play with a deficit, Lohse would have to be PH for and he would be forced to use the disaster troika of Mesa/Condrey/Alfonseca (which is what happened). Flat out, Kendrick should have been given the opportunity to get through that inning and should have been given the green light to battle the batters. For 4 years we saw how often panic-managing backfired on Larry Bowa, its just a shame Manuel panicked even harder than Larry ever did.