Post-game Cheese: Letting Galvis hit, Pierre in left, and more
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Post-game Cheese: Letting Galvis hit, Pierre in left, and more
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
I just filed my column for tomorrow, which focuses on Freddy Galvis' seventh-inning at-bat as an example of the multitude of decisions that Charlie Manuel has to make while weighing offense and defense. I outline the rationale for letting Galvis hit with two men on and one out in a game the Phillies trailed 5-0. Manuel highlighted his desire to show confidence in the rookie he knows he is going to need to have in his line-up on a daily basis. But from a pure baseball standpoint, what was his better option?
Laynce Nix was on deck waiting to pinch-hit for the pitcher. Either Nix or Thome is going to hit in that spot. Also on the bench were Ty Wigginton, Pete Orr and Brian Schneider. He could have pinch-hit Wigginton against righty Anibal Sanchez, but that would have forced Nix or Thome to face the lefty that the Marlins were going to bring in from the bullpen. No more right-handed bats on the bench. He could have let Nix or Thome pinch-hit for Galvis, but again, the lefty would have come in. Wigginton can only bat for one of them. The other was going to have to face the lefty. Same problem if you bring in Orr or Schneider. Even if it wasn't the same problem, do either of them give you much of a better shot than Galvis? Both finished last season with a lower slugging percentage than Cliff Lee. Schneider has a longer track record. But he is also the back-up catcher.
And that doesn't even take into consideration defense, where Galvis is head and shoulders above any other option. They could have put Wigginton at third and moved Polanco to second, but Manuel has given no indication that he views that as a smart move.
And then you factor in the need for Galvis to get a hit at some point.
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None of the Phillies' defensive lapses ended up costing them the game. The consensus amongst Manuel and the participants involved is that John Mayberry Jr. should have retreated to first base on Emilio Bonifacio's bunt in the sixth instead of charging and leaving the bag open. Galvis had no chance at beating Bonifacio to the bag. Still, Mayberry is a solid defender. Stuff like that is going to happen.
The bigger question is in left field, where the Marlins clearly did not respect Juan Pierre's arm. In the fourth, Hanley Ramirez stretched a single into a double. Pierre was forced to hit the cut-off man, and the relay arrived to the bag was not in time. There really is not a good answer. The Phillies think Pierre can get on base and do enough things with his legs that he can help the line-up. But the only option is to play him in left field, even though Mayberry is clearly the team's best defensive corner outfielder.
A defensive lapse has already cost the Phillies one game. Tomorrow night, when Roy Halladay and Josh Johnson are dueling in what seems destined to be a low-scoring game, the Phillies can't afford to allow the Marlins to have extra outs and take extra bases. The biggest impact of extra outs might be the extra pitches they force Halladay to throw, which will decrease the length he can pitch into the game, and as we saw on Sunday, the bullpen has yet to prove it can close out more than an inning.
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One thing that was obvious today was the lack of energy in the stadium, which is a natural symptom of a lackluster offense. Most home openers, the stands are mostly filled when the Phillies make their entrance down a red carpet in the outfield. Today, they were mostly empty. By the time Galvis hit his double and gave the Phillies their only runs of the game, there were a ton of blue seats visible from the press box.
Driving into the stadium today, I heard a radio advertisement from the Phillies telling fans that tickets remain for all home games on the schedule. I'm sure nobody is too concerned about the shutout sellout streak, but it is worth mentioning.
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All of this comes with the usual disclaimer that it is a long season and the Phillies are a veteran team and despite their injuries they still have legitimate weapons like Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins. If the starting pitching continues as it has, you have to think that wins are inevitable.
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Today was one of those days where you almost felt guilty driving to a baseball game and dissecting the performances of professional athletes. Every day in our city, people like Lt. Bob Neary and firefighter Daniel Sweeney report to work knowing that they could be asked to respond to a situation that endangers their lives for the benefit of our community. After one of the Phillies' NLDS games in San Francisco in 2010 I had a beer with Inquirer columnist Phil Sheridan and listened to him talk about what it is like having a firefighter for a father, the constant uncertainty, the neurotic monitoring of breaking news headlines, the uncertain moments before you know your dad is OK.
The times that I think about my own life within this context are far too few. I'm sure the same is true for most of us. Maybe the most impactful condolence we can express is to live our lives with the same loving abandon that makes men like Robert and David run into the mouth of a five-alarm blaze.
dave, i love my phillies. have done for 65 years (began following when i was 9). what's happening here is painful, and i'm sitting on a beach 9000 miles away. pity the poor folks sitting in the stands or on their sofas at home. i read the posts, agree with a majority of them. and yes, i put much of the blame on the ruben and charlie show. doesn't help, tho, does it. so i'm gonna try an experiment. years back, i used to teach alpha mindpower at penn. i use it myself all the time. i believe in it. now, what if i use it on the phillies. and what if all those who love the team as i do have a go as well, just as an experiment. i'm going to 'see' the phillies winning on wednesday, 6-1. i'm gonna 'beam' this 6-1 win to cbp. nonsense? maybe. but it's better than driving myself meshuga by kvetching about r & c.— bubba church & granny hamner- I don't think the Phillies had any hitters on their bench who are an improvement over any of the guys in the line up.— jtj06
- Two straight games now where Domonic Brown drives in the winning run. Jake Diekman comes in the the ninth and gets three strike outs to get the 1-0 save. The Pigs are more exciting than the Big team but that's not saying much.— Dull
- What a lousy blog— scars73
- I agree with most of your points. They have to let Galvis bat. That's part of learning. As long as he's making the plays on defense, they need to tolerate his hitting. Mayberry wouldn't have beaten Bonifacio to first. Hamels shouldn't have thrown the ball. Poor defense is a killer when you're not scoring runs. Since it was a 1pm game people were probably still getting settled in but Phillies games are boring compared to what we're used to seeing. Condolences to the firfighters' families. Was there a moment of silence at the game? But at the same time, most people know that sports is a diversion so they're not forgetting about the real world, just putting it aside for a few hours. Maybe it's different for reporters and players who live sports 24 hours a day but most fans see it as a diversion.— AvoidSundanceVacations
Comment removed.- Spring training is usually meaningless, but this year the play of the Phils seemed a precursor for early season offensive impotence. Early on I was serious about the Phillies moving the fences back, since their team resembles the 60's Dodger teams who thrived in cavernous
Chavez Ravine. Note yesterday: Phillies, no home runs; Marlins get two homers from Infante that barely made the seats. Course they can't and won't do that until they see that the sellout craze will die down. Unless the make-up changes they need to consider this what with the pitching prowess and power outage. Reality: It's early. And if it's a rugged season, who really thought they'd win the division every year into eternity?— retzlaff - Good thing nobody felt this way about guys like Howard, Utley, Rollins, thome etc. Give Galvis a chance. If the rest of the offense wasn't so bad Galvis' slow start wouldn't even be noticed. The Phillies need to stop looking at spring training as useless. These guys can't find 'the switch' when the 'real' games start.— rolenfan
- Those defenses are expected when you have players playing out of positions and most important, players that have not spent a lot if time playing together. It took the manager until the last weekend of the season to give us a hint of his starting line up when Pierre made the team and was used regularly in LF and Wigginton at first. But in opening day, he surprised us when Mayberry started in LF. Then Nix started at first in the 2nd game. In the third game we had another starting 1B, Jim Thome. And in game 4 we have another 1B in JMJ and Pierre finally started in LF. That's 4 different first baseman in 4 games. You won't win many games shuffling and juggling the line up like that.— EL Zorro
- We have a Hall of Fame 2nd basemen...one of the best in history..in the system. Why not?? Why not ask Ryne if he can still play?? The instincts have to still be there. He looks to be in great shape. Isn't that better than breaking in a rookie? Can't Sandberg hit at least .250?? I'm serious here. We can't afford a project in the lineup.— highhopes22
- defense lapses, I meant. .. Dull, yes Brown had his second rbi hit, but in the same inning he was picked off of second with only 1 out. Those are the mental lapses that we saw him make in the big show, along with his bad defense. You can't make those kind of blunders in a 1-0 game.— EL Zorro
- Galvis has to play everyday. He saves runs with his glove. The Phillies are not losing because of him. Polanco is not hitting his weight and J-roll has no xbase hits out of the 3 hole. The team is not getting any production out of Nix, Wigginton and Thome, the 3 offensive upgrades Amaro got us. We only on HR (Pence) and a total of 4 xtra base hits, doubles by Pence, Mayberry and Galvis). Galvis and Pierre of all people, are tied for second in RBY (2). Pence has 3. With one swing Galvis is among the leaders in two categories. So what are you talking about.— EL Zorro
- Reading is 5-0...meanwhile the big leaguers will be lucky to win 5 games this whole month of April! Gregg Gross will be replaced by Milt Thompson by May 1st...offensively this team is worse than any team in the late 80's and most of the 90's! Bullpen is a disaster as well. May as well call Don Carman to pinch hit!— tralala
- Wow, I can't stand the negativity. Maybe we should all be Mets fans, they're undefeated! Seriously, every time I read these comments I get shocked at the incredibly dumb comments made, but highhopes22, you have set the bar (albeit temporarily). Sandberg? Really? How long ago did the guy retire because he couldn't play the game anymore, and you think he can come back cold and hit .250? Have you reproduced? If so, the nation's IQ just got lower.— mjc1
- it's a long season. Ups and downs. Everyone is in a new slot in the batting order. Once they get use to it, they will produce.— palmyra21
