A hunch that might have back-fired
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A hunch that might have back-fired
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
The cool thing about Twitter is that it makes market research available to anybody. And if Charlie Manuel's use of John Mayberry Jr. were a pilot episode, there's a good chance it never would have made it onto the airwaves. Most people weighing in at Twitter.com/HighCheese felt the manager erred in tapping Mayberry to hit with the bases loaded in the seventh. And the ensuing strikeout gives their beef some merit.
Long story short, Manuel played a hunch. Ross Gload wasn't hurt. There wasn't a lefty warming in the bullpen. Manuel just wanted to use Mayberry.
According to the Official Managerial Handbook, the situation called for Gload, a veteran left-handed hitter who had faved the soft-tossing Livan Hernandez six times in his career (with a couple of singles to show). The bases were loaded and the Phillies were trailing 5-1 with the pitcher's spot in the order due up. So with righty Heranandez on the mound, the pinch-hitter-to-be represented the tying run. But there was only one out in the inning, and there were still two more frames to be played.
Still, Manuel liked the right-handed Mayberry in that situation.
Here was his reasoning after the game:
“I put Mayberry up there because, actually, I liked him on Hernandez, although Hernandez threw a couple of slow hooks there and he kind of chased them. I liked Mayberry most of all because the wind was blowing out to left field. With the bases loaded and one out, I thought maybe if he doubled or got one up in the air, that’s about the only place we were going to have a chance to hit the ball out of the yard. He’s definitely capable of doing that. We weren’t going to hit one to right field unless Howard got into one. The ball that Ankiel hit, he crushed it, and it didn’t go anywhere. And Mayberry’s been hitting good. I figured we’d still have Gload in the ninth.”
In the end, Mayberry struck out, and Shane Victorino quickly followed suit. The Phillies would score two runs in the eighth and a run in the ninth (lefty Sean Burnett closed the game, so Gload didn't get a chance to hit), but wound up losing 7-4.
There's no telling whether Gload would have come through. The odds still would have been against the Phillies. But this was one instance in which his gut apparently mis-led him.
Hey, it happens. The Phillies are 7-3, and on Wednesday Roy Halladay faces the Nationals, who haven't scored a run in their last 22 innings against him (the only run Halladay allowed against the Nats last season came in the first inning of the season-opener).
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Is that all you can come up with Dave? That is REALLY REALLY LAME. He was riding a hot bat. Period. And his thinking on the wind was right on logic. Get another job, you lazy second guesser.— TheSage- Following the game online, my first thought was that Gload was hurt when Mayberry stepped to the plate. A single in that situation would have plated two runs and set up another man in scoring position for the top of the order. I would understand going with Mayberry in the 9th when you need the long ball, but there was no need for desperation in that situation.
- I understand Charlie's thought process, but I still disagreed with his decision not to use Gload.— PortCity
- Phillies need to know hat they have in Mayberry this year and the better the chance he gets to show what he has, the more I like it. On the Charlie Manuel 'to do' list this year is to see what he has in Mayberry going forward because it determines whether the team needs to go aggressively for outfield help in the off-season or perhaps before.
Unless the Phils are a half dozen games back at the All Star break, no point in pulling our hair out although I'm sure many here will.— Claudio Vernight - The rap on Mayberry is he can't hit breaking stuff. Sure looked like it last night -- and breaking stuff is basically all Livan has at this point. But let's face it, we lost the game the minute Blanton took the mound. He's basically and automatic L at this point and having a veteran like him chatter on about needing to learn how to pitch from the stretch doesn't exactly bolster one's confidence.— eman
- Charlie's decision is a microcosm of the Phillie's fault. They refuse to play situational small ball. That comes from the manager. Charlie is great for the team when things are going well, everyone's happy, out enjoying the game. Problem is when the team is not hitting, things aren't going well, Charlie just let's them keep doing the same old thing. Sometimes a manager has to get players to do it the right way, even when they don't want to.— blah
- The wind was blowing out?!?!?!? WHAT? Its unbelievable that Charley gets so much leeway. How about a base hit? That move is indefensible with Gload there. Just dumb.— gluteman
- Dumb move dumb, dumb dumb. Young aggresive hitters are meat for Livan. Charlie will have a hard time topping this one. Gload is one of the best pinch hitters in the game yet Manuel sends Mayberry up. Livan knows if he gets ahead he wont have to throw him a strike. If you think that was a good move well I wont finish the sentence. If M. hits a grand slam its still unfathomable.— Don w
- Charlie always try to be smarter than he is. Stupid move. Like some of you have said already, you don't bring a rookie with no much experience in the big league, let along as PH, who is still learing to hit the breaking pitch to hit against a veteran junkballer, when you have one of the best pinch hitters in the game, who happens to be a LH hitter. Don't care about the wind or the fact that Mayberry was 4-3 as a pinch hitter. Stuff like this lose you games in the playoffs.— EL Zorro
- tries— EL Zorro
- As usual, Charlie just couldn't resist the big bomb to get back into the game. A simple single would have meant so much and closed the gap and kept the inning going and the pressure on the Nats. They would have folded easily after that. So much for small ball. And tell me this.....since the wind was blowing out so strong to left last night, why would Blanton keep throwing inside to hitters like Werth and let them take advantage of that wind? Livan was living on and off of that outside corner and the ump was giving him stuff 6 inches off the plate. He just kept going there. So why didn't Blanton? Stupid.....— Mark1npt
- The right move there was to go w/ Gload because he's lefty and a veteran...but that's Charlie.
- It didn't work out but the decision was understandable. Charlie went w/the conditions and the hot bat. Every ball hit in the air to right turned into a lazy pop fly. He totally gets a pass on this one.— mtairy1
- It's easy to have 20/20 hindsight. I was okay with him using Mayberry because he was hot, but he did look awfully bad missing those two pitches by about a foot.— phillyinsd
- Again, Chollie looking for the long ball to bail out the club. He MUST get past this bent he has for the homerun. Play the % and keep the inning alive. Forget about getting the homerun every time.— scootch
