I finally came up with the word that I had been searching for to describe Charlie Manuel's managerial style — formulaic. Charlie sticks to a preset formula while handling his relief pitchers. While it's nice to have defined roles for the relievers, it doesn't give Manuel any wiggle room.
I wrote about this once last season. The middle relievers are supposed to get the game to the eighth inning for the setup pitcher, who — on paper, at least — would hand a lead to the closer. If a lead held up until the ninth inning, it's not a bad system, but if the Phillies fell behind, Charlie was stuck. He had to improvise, and sometimes he didn't have the pitchers he needed if a game went into extra innings. Manuel's unwillingness to think "outside of the box" hurts him.
I thought of the term formulaic after watching Sunday's 2-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. In the 11th inning of a 1-1 tie, Manuel used reliever Arthur Rhodes to face one batter. It was the old left-right scenario that the manager took a little too far because he wasn't looking ahead. And a bullpen is always taxed heavily in extra-inning games, so to use a pitcher to face one batter in this situation — to start an extra inning in a tie game — is a move that I'll always question even if the Phillies did win the game.
In the 11th, the Reds' first three batters went left-right-left. It didn't seem odd to me that Rhodes would face two lefties and a right-handed batter. If he can't get righties out, then he wouldn't be in the big leagues. However, Manuel baffled me when he went to right-handed hurler Geoff Geary after Rhodes retired the first batter. Geary then remained in the game to face the lefty. He eventually allowed two runners to reach base before he finally got out of the inning unscored upon.
However, this question still remained in my mind: Why wouldn't Manuel allow the veteran Rhodes to face a right-handed batter when he eventually left the youngster, Geary, to face a lefty?
I'll take on all comers on this one. If anyone can explain Charlie to me, I'll buy you a beer.
I don't mean to let what turned out to be an insignificant move dampen my enthusiasm about the Phillies. After a 10-14 April, things are definitely going much better these days, and nobody is happier about it than me.
Heading into the current series in Milwaukee, this team won 13 of 14 games, and the starting pitching was superb during the weekend sweep in Cincinnati, which has to help an overburdened bullpen.
I was impressed with the debut performance of lefty Cole Hamels. He shows remarkable poise for a 22-year-old, and all of us want to see him become all that he's projected to be. However, we must also be cautious. Other phenoms have come before only to fizzle after delivering some sizzle.
The keepers are the ones who adjust over time and develop into real pitchers. Randy Wolf and Brett Myers are the real deal. Hopefully, Hamels can be in the same category two years from now.
The media circus that accompanied Barry Bonds' visit to CBP earlier this month was somewhat amusing. A number of national reporters are following him around, and nothing real significant happened in Philadelphia. Bonds hit one homer that brought him closer to Babe Ruth's career total of 714.
Bonds' ticket to Cooperstown was stamped long before he was suspected of using illegal substances. He will be — and should be — remembered as one of the best hitters of his time, but if investigations prove that he did use banned substances, any records set or broken should be stricken from the books or, at least, accompanied by an asterisk.
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