ON THURSDAY NIGHT, Fox analyst Tim McCarver gave it to Charlie Manuel on the telecast about a strategic decision in the eighth inning of Game 2 of the World Series, about not starting his baserunners in what ended up being a doubleplay. Yesterday, Manuel gave it right back.

"Actually, I get upset when somebody asks me that - because that's not baseball," Manuel said, his eyes widening, his blood warming. "I don't give a damn who's played 20 years or 50 years and think they know. That's not the right way to play the game."

Everybody who saw the game knows the setup: Jimmy Rollins on second base, Shane Victorino on first, one out, Chase Utley at the plate, full count. Manuel chooses not to start the runners. Utley hits into a doubleplay, although replays show he is safe at first. McCarver hammers the decision at some length, saying, "I don't understand why they didn't send the runners in that situation."

Then yesterday came the emphatic reply.

"You know what - I didn't have to think about that," Manuel said. "You know what - that's bad baseball if Utley strikes out and Rollins gets thrown out at third base. Or if we hit a line-drive doubleplay and we run into a doubleplay,

we've got one of the best hitters in baseball standing on-deck

[Ryan Howard]. Between Utley and Howard, we've got 80 home runs. We've got over 200 RBIs and things like that right there. That's our game standing right there in front of us.

"And, also, it's an out process there. It's an out-elimination process. We've only got five outs left in the game, we've got our biggest offensive threat standing at the plate. There's no way we could afford to make a mistake there. Those guys have to hit for me. I'll do that as long as I live."

Feisty, funny, steady as she goes - that was Manuel on the day after the Phillies' 3-1 loss in Game 2 at Yankee Stadium. If he is worried about anything, it is hard to tell. If he is intent on

delivering a message to his team that everything is fine, with the series tied at a game apiece and the next three games at Citizens Bank Park, it was a message he delivered with his wit and his

demeanor and with his actions, too.

There is no public panic, and, so, he announced that he will be starting Joe Blanton in Game 4 tomorrow rather than pulling Cliff Lee out of his comfort zone and starting him on 3-days' rest for the first time in his career. As Manuel said, simply, "That's really pushing him because he's never done it before."

There is no open worrying, even as it seems that more than just Greg Dobbs and Pedro Martinez have been under the weather. As Manuel said, drawing a laugh from reporters, "What the hell, we don't want everybody to know what's going on. You'll find out on your own, probably, but at the same time, I'm not going to tell you [who is sick]."

There is nothing that happened in Game 2 that irreparably harms anything the Phillies might have planned in their head about how the series might play out. The reality is that, however Cole Hamels pitches for them

tonight, the Phillies need to get to the Yankees' Game 3 starter, Andy Pettitte, or this probably isn't going to break their way. That has been the truth since the beginning.

A Hamels start reminiscent

of 2008 would be an enormous boost, but they need to get to

Pettitte. And it's funny. If they were guilty of anything in Game 2, it was being too passive against Yankees starter A.J. Burnett. They were patient the first time through the lineup, and they got his pitch count up, but they did not attack his fastball later on. That was the error.

Still, against Pettitte, Manuel said that patience will be the key. He said that Pettitte's stuff has started to "dwindle down," and that the Phillies' approach has to be selective and, "Make him throw the ball over the plate to us, don't swing happy."

"I feel good where we're at," Manuel said. "I'm sure [the Yankees] feel probably the same.

We're even. Now it becomes the best three out of five. We're at home, and we've played good at home, and this gives us a chance to get in front of our fans, and . . . our ballpark creates a lot of energy and stuff."

He has played his hunches all month and done it well. Hunches, gut feelings - Manuel has been the man with the golden gut. He has been criticized after both of Pedro Martinez' starts, both losses, but that has been it. And know this: Charlie Manuel hasn't changed. *

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