- Homers and hip plague Brett Myers
- Phillies' Manuel slimming down
- Jays' misery continues
- A call-up gone too soon
- Vote for Ibanez
- Mets get assist from replay review
- Working quickly
- Greinke impresses Greinke
- Trenton's Nova shines; Kendrick adds a victory
- Andy Martino: The Phillies Zone
- Photos: The 2009 Phillies
- More on the Phillies
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Blog Zone
Vote for Ibanez
The Philadelphia fans have acted as a 10th player throughout the years. Just 9-13 at home, Charlie Manuel says the Phillies may be trying to do too much but also has a message for the passionate Phillies fans.
"I notice sometimes when they're talking to us around the dugout, they're always talking about last year and thanking us for winning and all that," Manuel said. "Of course, they're enjoying the game and they love us, but . . . well, maybe they should get on us a little bit.
"If you notice, our fans are still into everything. They fill our ballpark up. And they stay. . . . And that's good. I want them to keep coming to the games. But I want our fans to start telling them, 'Hey, look: We've got to win this year, too.' "
While the Phillies have been getting love, Raul Ibanez hasn't in terms of all-star voting. The best player in baseball this season is only sixth in the voting for outfield behind Ryan Braun, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Beltran, Manny Ramirez, and Mike Cameron.
While the break isn't for over a month and it may be still early to vote (I'll wait until the end of June), Raul is definitely a deserving starting All-Star to this point. Chase Utley is the leading second baseman for the National League. Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins both rank third at their positions.
- http://phanamanda.blogspot.com
Stick with Lidge
Good thing that Charlie Manuel doesn't share the same level of impatience and lack of perspective that many Phillies fans have in regard to Phillies closer Brad Lidge.
"He should be placed on the DL, even if he isn't hurt!"
"He should be dropped to the seventh inning!" (because apparently runs in the seventh inning don't count as much as they do in the ninth inning).
"He should be dropped to the eighth inning because Madson is the man and should be the closer!"
"I can't believe they gave him $37 million. . . . What were they thinking?"
And on. And on. And on.
Charlie Manuel is dead on accurate regarding demoting Lidge:
"Right now, I'm not even going to talk about that," Manuel said of the Lidge situation before [Monday] night's 5-3 loss to the Florida Marlins. "I want Lidge to feel we have all the confidence in the world in him, because we do."
Mr. Lidge has proven that he can handle the pressure. He may be searching for some lost control via issues with his mechanics, but this does not look like a beaten man. And his sound bites after the two blown saves in New York over the weekend are not coming from some aimless closer.
