Charlie is mad
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Charlie is mad
Andy Martino
Here is some of what an agitated Charlie Manuel--more agitated than at any other point this season, in my view--said after the broom fell.
On his players: “I hear some of them talking, saying we’re a team that plays better when we have to,” he said. “(Expletive) the last couple years. What the hell? That don’t mean (expletive). Last year is dead and gone. We play for today.” On the series: “We did everything we could to lose. You name it, go back over each game. Any time we needed to hit we didn’t. Any time we needed to pitch, we didn’t.
On why the Phils have so far failed to show they can play as well with a September cushion than while chasing the New York Mets: “How come we couldn’t play better now?” Manuel said. “Or more relaxed now? Answer me that. And we’re sitting in a better place.” On the importance of Raul Ibanez to the lineup: “You know something? We need Raul to get his swing back,” he said. “You have to remember, when we’ve got (Chase Utley, and we’ve got (Ryan) Howard, and Ibanez hitting the ball like he was the first half of the year, we’ve got two very professional hitters standing there. In between, we’ve got Howard in the middle of them. We become more dangerous as far as knocking in runs in the middle of our lineup, no doubt. Raul was hitting the ball all over the field, and he’s hitting home runs.”
The good news is that Howard is now having realy good at bats. Before, when he had two stikes, he almost always struck out. Now he's more slective and is just trying to make contact. Similarly, Ibanez has to stop trying to swing for the fences. He is fundamentally a gap hitter but has gotten caught up on the Phillies' perpetual home run derby. The home runs will come of themselves. Rollins and Victorino need to be sent to a two-week reeducation course in situational hitting. But it's basically the same problem. The lure of the home run.— JayW- Thanks Andy for pointing Charlie's blunders yesterday. It was about time a writer with cojones said something about the manager. He's brutal in close games. Yes Charlie, ''last year is dead and gone.'' Last year the team was on autopilot the last few months of the season. Even Gus, the second most famous groundhog in Pennsylvania, would have coached the team to the championship. Did any of you guys see Charlie asking his coaches for advice when the Astros had the bases loaded? He didn’t know what to do, when it was very simple, bring a Eyre to face Bourne. Lefty against lefty. To that point Park was having his worst outing since he was demoted to the pen. How can he said Park had a better chance to strike Bourne out when he allowed back-to-back doubles to RH hitters and had just walked Michaels to batters later? Bourne has a .385 OBP and a .302 BA against righties. Unbelievable.— EL Zorro
- When the Phils are hitting, Charlie does not have much to do to manage a game. When the game is close, he has to make key decisions like whether to leave a pitcher in (usually wrong) and what pinch hitter to use (they all stink). It's not hard to identify the weaknesses on this team. Charlie/Ruben please fix them!!!!!
- Yo Andy, Michael Bourn is not Jason Bourne, so stop spelling his name that way, you have all week— robm0202
- Manager is not the problem. It's the players. How many of them are hurt and still playing? Utley, Ibanez, Victorino? Slumping occurs but this is a very BAD time of year for it to happen. They need to put the nail in the coffin of ATL/FLA and rest the injured. If not, good bye pennant.— therefump
- The manager is not the problem, he is part of the problem, however.— EL Zorro
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- Charlie is full of it. Why does he continue to say "Lidge is my closer"? I think we all need to go back to looking at Charlie for the ignorant, braind dead hillbilly that he is. Last year, he was "folksy". Now, he is just a buffoon.— thingfish
- Curious is not the right word for that decision not to bring Eyre in. Be honest instead of sugar-coating it. It was a DISGRACE.— Bob1
- Any knucklehead can win with a team with 9 current or former All Stars, including the first 6 hitters in the lineup, two MVPs, the best young power hitter in the game, one of the best all around players in the game, a couple of Cy Young Winners, Gold Glovers and Silver Slugger winners. Now, when things go bad, good managers find a way to win the tough, close games with smart moves. So far all we see with our skipper is all those rants in hope of inspiring his players when the team is struggling. Winning a nice chess match against an opposing manager will be nice. But I guess we’re asking too much from him. Real baseball followers enjoy a good played and managed game. Anybody who doesn’t understand that is a real dope.— EL Zorro
