Oswalt wanted to pitch in relief
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Oswalt wanted to pitch in relief
Daily News Staff
SAN FRANCISCO - Manager Charlie Manuel said in a postgame news conference that starter Roy Oswalt asked to pitch in relief in tonight's 6-5 Phillies loss to the Giants in Game 4 of the NLCS. The Phillies trail the best-of-7 series, 3-1, with Game 5 on Thursday night. "He [Oswalt] already told [pitching coach Rich] Dubee that he was ready to go. He wanted to be in there. I didn't ask him. Dubee told me Oswalt could go." Manuel was asked that since he used Oswalt, why didn't he just start ace Roy Halladay in Game 4? "I think I have answered that haven't I?" Manuel said. "[Joe] Blanton had a lead when he left."
About the Phillies' rally, Manuel said: "When we took the lead, we had momentum on our side. They went back out there and took it away from us. If felt like walks did us in in the fifth and sixth inning, leadoff walks."
About Jimmy Rollins popping up in the eighth inning with no outs and Jayson Werth on second base: "He pulls the ball. That's one of his strong suits, pull the ball. That's why we let him hit."
About the Phillies' plight, trailing 3-1 in the series: "I think if we like to play with our backs to the wall, we're there now."
Comments (21)
He pulls the ball???????????? This is a team so full of themselves and their ability to magically disregard the simple things in baseball because they are sooooooo great. Well now your season is done, and maybe a big whiff of humble pie will get these guys focused again.— zonaindie2- rollins should have bunted, its that simple— co-stan-za
- Who is Charlie kidding? This team lacks any ability to get a big hit. The Giants, made up of average players, have gotten key hit after key hit. They have scored 8+ runs with 2 outs and seem to always make the Phillies pay when errors or walks are committed. The Phillies, on the other hand, strike out on balls with 3-2 counts, pop up when a runner needs to be moved over, and not perform with RISP.— eaglegrn21
- the only thing rollins was pulling was Charlie's leg. that was the singular most brain-dead, self-centered, stupid at bat that I've ever seen - at any level of baseball. rollins owes everybody a massively sincere apology. what a jerk.— defg0003
- Charlie, you're the one who left Blanton out there to start the 5th inning with a walk to Andres Torres, a batter who was hitting so poorly he lost his starting job to Aaron Rowand.— Freedom Fries
- The big mistake was not allowing Contreras to continue pitching in the next inning. He looked like he was "on", had good stuff. Oh well, this team shouldn't be relying on singular moments or decisions to determine their fate....they should be gunning down this naturally inferior opponent.— andrew69
- The hand of time writes and, having written, moves on. The Phils will do the same tonight. Tonight is the first game of the rest of their season. I believe they will show their phighting spirit.— portmatilda
1. If J Roll gets a hit, the game is tied. However, if all the Phillies wanted was for Werth to move to 3rd, then J-Roll's pop-up was meaningless because Francisco and Ruiz struck out. Ruiz, who's been my favorite player throughout the postseason, looked terrible in that at bat. What was he swinging at? the 3rd strike was about 3 feet off the plate.— sdgeiger- RAJ should have stepped in & told Char to start Halladay— Serge_Matthews
- He pulls the ball??? Rollins is Willie "Mayes" Hayes. He pops out 90% of the time.
- Charlie... this one's on you bud. You've been great since you've been here, and I enjoy you as the Phillies' manager. But YOU F'd this up. You can have the BEST pitcher in the world on the bump for three games in a seven-game series, and you don't do it. If you had the offense you had in 2008, this is the way to go... but you don't. Say bye bye tonight. Phils can't win in San Fran... unless Doc pitches another no-hitter.— PSU DEJA BLUE
- I don't care what ya think about the Phightins Spirit, it's still here and we'll Phight until there is nothing left to go for. All you nay-sayers either suddenly jumping ship or bad-mouthing the team with all the arm-chair advice as you should've been coaching and you knew what to do. Contrary to many of you know-it-alls, we're still in this thing.— J-Joe
- Eight observations: 1 Learn when and how to bleepin' bunt... not only Rollins, all of you! 2. Learn to take the outside pitch the other way. 3. Swing at strikes and lay off balls...like the Giants usually do. 4.Blanton just sucks. 5.Charlie has many virtues, but just as he cost the Phillies dearly last year by not having them prepared to cover third on the Damon steal, in last night's game, he completely burned his bullpen to the point of the bizarro use of Oswalt. (Kendrick warming up...LOL!) 5. We will find out soon how hurt Utley really has been...watch replays of his swing and it's obvious. 7.It's not nearly as much fun to be the hunted as the hunter. 8.Let the retooling begin. Despite the best record and the nucleus of H20, this ship has sailed. Phils are dysfunctional and stale and need to get smarter, younger, and hungrier.— dasher
- Yes, rollins must move the runner & a bunt does it best. (Same goes for Chase v. Lopez.) But we don't play that way. The strikeouts by Francisco & Chooch were enormous. The Oswalt move, knowing that he volunteered for duty, isn't as crazy as it seems - if we go to extras, kenrick is the long guy. If we score in the 9th or 10th (or whenever) it's Lidge. The guy CM & RD don't trust is Romero. Do anyone think he was a better option for the bottom of the 9th? Hindsight - should've let Blanton make Posey beat him.Gives us more wriggle room in the 6th, 7th - still might've seen Durbin. The guys we got are the guys we got.
Go Doc - let's get back to Philly.— Ed3 - Just stop it. Rollins should not be bunting there. At this point of the series he's one of the only guys making solid contact at the plate. Even if he does get Werth to third, Francisco's got to hit a fly ball to score him. Who really thinks that would've happened? Not me. Francisco looked terrible striking out on three pitches. This team looks defeated right now, but it doesn't take much to turn it around. I fully expect Halladay to take the ball tonight and bring this thing back to Philly. Seriously, complete game, two runs max. If that happens, the Giants start doubting themselves a bit and now have to eliminate us at home. If this team has any heart, that will not be easy, but (obviously) we have to get out of that house of horrors with one win. And if the Giants beat Halladay on full rest twice in five games, then we weren't winning this series anyway.— NJguy
- Hammels cost us this series that sensitive baby. He DOES NOT want to pitch on short rest and Charlie does not want to tell him to pitch on short rest and thus he screwed us big time and did not let Doc pitch game 4 or a possible game 7. I will remember Cole for this for a long time.— Bob65S
- I think the Phils showed a lot of fight in them last night, but they also made a lot of mistakes. If they had played a clean game last night, we'd be talking about a win right now.— TerryW
- PSU Deja BluE--You make no sense. The best pitcher in the world on the bump for three of seven games and Charlie blew it? Yet, magically and inexplicably, this same "best pitcher in the world" is going to go out and lose tonight? Take your pick, you want Halladay pitching or not? If you're correct, he'll be 0-2 in the NLCS so it wouldn't have mattered if he pitched all seven games. Stop second guessing everything. Take a look around baseball... all four teams used four starters in this round. You need four starters without the off day unless you want to pitch all three of your pitchers on short rest. No team is set up to do that.— NJguy
- PSU Deja BluE--You make no sense. The best pitcher in the world on the bump for three of seven games and Charlie blew it? Yet, magically and inexplicably, this same "best pitcher in the world" is going to go out and lose tonight? Take your pick, you want Halladay pitching or not? If you're correct, he'll be 0-2 in the NLCS so it wouldn't have mattered if he pitched all seven games. Stop second guessing everything. Take a look around baseball... all four teams used four starters in this round. You need four starters without the off day unless you want to pitch all three of your pitchers on short rest. No team is set up to do that.— NJguy
- Who's running the show , Manuel the moron says it was Dubee who inserted Oswalt into the lineup. Why isn't Utley watching from the bench? I know all you Chase lovers will say he's hurt but try washed up. As Ricky Bo & Dutch said take yourself out if you can't help the team. I quess no hit Ibanez will be back tonight.The only one batting his weight is Howard.— joepir
- I think pulling Blanton was a mistake, he looked like he had another inning in him. Most of you miss the fact that Victorino was playing too shallow to prevent the single and gave up a double. I don't care how fast he is he won't catch up with the ball in the alley from a short centerfield position. Werth made a great play on the ball down the rightfield line considering the fact that they weren't guarding the line. Thats just bad defense, and we have been guilty of it way too often. It didn't happen when Jimy Wilson was here. Francisco, Rollins and Utley all booted playable chances and that hurt. I could go on but the bottom line is the Phils are beating themselves with the mistakes and lack of execution. I'm looking forward to Texas and the Giants. Lee will get to go up against Lincecum and beat him. Then you will hear the crying for someone's head. We need new management.— Wally 24
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