Manuel mismanages the Phillies...again

Somehow I managed to watch the entire Phillies-Astros game last night, even though it was painfully obvious the Phillies would lose after that ninth inning, when Jose Mesa 2.0 blew a one run lead, and eventually followed by the original Jose Mesa blowing the game in the 13th inning.

I'm not going to blame Manuel for Alfonseca's bad game. The more remarkable part of the ninth inning was when Pat Burrell came up to bat as the Phillies' last position player off the bench. That just should not happen, especially in a tight game. I can't fault Manuel for using Chris Coste or Burrell, but there were other needless substitutions that could have helped them. For example, bringing in Aaron Rowand for Greg Dobbs, Abraham Nunez for Wes Helms, and Carlos Ruiz for Rod Barajas (though I don't mind that so much, I'm always in favor of sitting Barajas).

While all these moves improved the Phillies defense, this is the National League. The pitchers get to bat and thus pinch hitting in necessary. I'm sure you all know this, but apparently Charlie Manuel doesn't. How else can you explain wasting players off the bench in such a manner. I wasn't watching the game closely enough to realize initially that Burrell was the last position player available, so I was not entirely prepared to deal with Cole Hamels pinch hitting in the 11th, and worse, 44-year old Jamie Moyer making his first career pinch hitting appearance with the bases loaded in the 13th (resulting in a strikeout). I can live with Hamels pinch hitting at a time of desperation because he is a decent hitter, but Moyer? He's been an American League pitcher for 20 years and looks very uncomfortable at the plate. Given the options, Manuel had to go with Moyer there, but the point is that it should never have come to that.

In the American League, teams can afford the luxury of making various defensive replacements, because if they don't, why even have a bench? Pinch-hitting is not nearly so essential. But in the National League, teams cannot use position players so liberally. Someone really needs to explain this to Manuel. If that means that Michael Bourn and Abraham Nunez get more playing time than Pat Burrell and Greg Dobbs, then so be it. Use Burrell and Dobbs as pinch hitters, sacrifice a little offense, and save a few runs over the whole game rather than over the last inning or two.

The one thing I will say in Manuel's favor is that I love having Bourn in the starting lineup. His defense is excellent (as the Mets found out in the last series), though it's more due to his raw speed than instincts. He has a good eye and very good patience, and he's an absolute terror on the base paths. He is pretty much the ideal lead-off hitter (of course, SS Willie Mays Hayes just HAS to hit lead-off, so Bourn hits second). My only concern with Bourn is that his plate patience seems almost Burrell-esque at times, but that's something I can live with because even if he hit .200, but with Burrell's on-base percentage, his speed would still make him a dangerous player.

It will be interesting to see what the Phillies do in the off-season with All-Star Aaron Rowand (which sounds really weird to me). If they re-sign him, they could have the best outfield defense in the majors for a few years, with Rowands, Bourn, and Victorino, plus they could use his right-handed bat. Of course, Rowand is having a career year (in a contract year, no less) and is unlikely to repeat this performance, so the Phillies may not want to pay him like an All-Star. It's possible, with the large number of center fielders entering free agency, that his value will be driven down somewhat, but it's hard to know how that will play out at this point.

Deciding whether or not to keep Rowand need not be a priority for GM Pat Gillick, who needs to (finally) dump Charlie Manuel. He has cost the Phillies too many games already and, amusing as it is, I'd just as soon not witness milestones such as Moyer's first career pinch hit.