Manuel reports no pain after watching Lidge throw off mound
Charlie Manuel told reporters that he felt no pain while watching Brad Lidge throw 30 pitches off of a mound on Thursday.
“I really felt good out there today,” Manuel said of his Lidge-watching session. “A lot of people didn’t know this, but I watched in a good deal of pain for most of 2009 when Brad was on the mound. It’s one of those things you just have to fight through and keep watching though. Today’s outing was a good sign that I may be able to stay pain-free all year.”
Manuel also suffered through bouts of Jimmy and Cole last season in addition to the painful Lidge outings, but according to team doctors, being able to watch Roy Halladay every fifth day should help the manager stay healthy and pain-free.
Rollins ends prediction business to pursue career in baseball
Local fortune teller Jimmy Rollins will leave his profession of nearly 10 years to pursue his life-long dream of becoming a successful leadoff hitter in professional baseball.
“It’s been years since I’ve made good on any of my predictions, so I figure I’d cut my losses and give baseball a try,” said Rollins, who was a standout high school baseball player in Oakland, CA, but fell into the fortune telling game after graduation. “They say you never really leave the [soothsaying] game once you get in, but I’m done. It’s over. Time to go after the dream.”
The Phillies have extended an invitation to the retired prognosticator to come to Spring Training and compete with Juan Castro for the open shortstop position. Manager Charlie Manuel also promised him a shot at leading off if he makes the final 25-man roster.
“He’s a high energy guy with loads of speed and talent,” Manuel said of Rollins. “If he can just get on base — consistently — ahead of our big hitters, there’s no telling how far our team can go. It’s been a while since we’ve had a guy that could get on base at the top of our order. Typically, that’s what you need in a leadoff hitter: to get on base. Hopefully Jimmy will get on base for us.”
Manuel would later add that Rollins needs to “get his ass on base.”
Manuel slams Ruiz for not covering field with tarp after game
The Phillies took another awful loss to the Yankees on Sunday and while several thousand things went wrong for the Fightins during the game, it may have been what didn’t happen after the game that set Charlie Manuel off the most: Someone at Citizen’s Bank Ballpark forgot to roll the tarp out onto the field.
“That’s the catcher’s responsibility in that situation,” Manuel said of Carlos Ruiz, although several members of the grounds crew were spotted closer to the tarp with nothing else to do after the game. “He’s faster than most of the grounds crew and I think he’s got to know that when there’s rain in the area, he’s got to be the guy to make sure the field is covered at night.”
Ruiz, who has only struck out five times in 93 career postseason at bats, will bat eighth again for the Phillies in Game 5 despite being one of the only hitters to lay off of balls thrown well outside of our planet’s orbit on a consistent basis.
Guy can’t remember where he was during game-winning hit
While almost everyone will be able to remember where they were when Jimmy Rollins created one of the most memorable moments in Philly sports history, one local man can’t, for the life of him, recall where he was at the time.
“I want to say I was sitting somewhere in my kitchen, but we don’t even have a TV in there,” said Stephen Pastora of Ardmore. “I noticed that my couch was flipped upside down and there was a half-eaten sandwich stuck to the wall in my family room, so maybe that’s where I was.”
Rollins hit a two-out double off of Jonathan Broxton in the bottom of the ninth, scoring Eric Bruntlett and Carlos Ruiz to give the Phillies the 5-4 win and a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Dodgers in the NLCS.
“Jimmy came up huge for us when we really needed him,” Charlie Manuel said after the game. “I don’t think he’s there yet, but if he works on getting on base a little more, he could win an MVP or two some day.”
Manuel: I trust my bullpen, just not around my wife or a baseball
Charlie Manuel answered questions on Friday about his decision to go with potential Game 3 starters Joe Blanton and J.A. Happ out of the bullpen after Cole Hamels — who apparently couldn’t wait until February to knock his wife up — left after five innings in the 5-4 loss to the Rockies.
Some have said Manuel brought in his starters because he no longer trusts anyone out of the bullpen.
“Everybody says I don’t trust my bullpen and that’s just not true,” Manuel said. “Just because I don’t want them anywhere near my wife or to pitch in a game ever again doesn’t mean I don’t trust them with other things…like driving to the ballpark and dressing themselves.”
Though Blanton and Happ’s use in Game 2 doesn’t prevent either from starting Game 4, it does mean that Pedro Martinez will start for the Phillies on Saturday for Game 3. It also means that Kyle Kendrick and/or Brad Lidge’s spot on the playoff roster could have been filled by John Mayberry Jr., who could have pinch run on Thursday instead of risking Cliff Lee with the game on the line.
Manuel also suffered a mild stroke in the seventh inning when he was forced to bring in Scott Eyre to replace Happ, who took a line drive off of the leg and had to leave the game.
“It’s not that I won’t use the guys from the ‘pen,” Manuel explained on Friday. “They’re just last on my list after I’ve used the starters and asked all 46,000 or so fans if they want to take a crack at it first.”
Lee unavailable for Game 2 after clutch nine-inning save
It appears the question of who the Phillies’ playoff closer will be was answered yesterday as Charlie Manuel called upon Cliff Lee in the first inning to close out Game 1 against the Rockies.
Manuel’s hunch paid off as Lee dominated for nine innings in relief, giving up only one run in the final frame as he closed the door for the Phillies in a 5-1 victory.
“Cole [Hamels] was ready to start the game,” Lee said after the game. “But with the score knotted at zero in the top of the first, I guess Charlie didn’t want to take any chances.”
Lee will not be available to pitch in Thursday’s Game 2 matchup and will likely sit out Game 3 as well, due to being overextended on Wednesday. This means Manuel will have a tough decision to make should Hamels throw an incomplete game on Thursday.
“If Cole can go out there and give me nine innings, that would make my job a lot easier,” Manuel said. “If we have to dip into the bullpen, I’m just gonna go with what the gut tells me. Right now it’s tellin’ me Cole should just go ahead and throw nine innings.”
Procrastinating Phils finally get around to clinching division
The Philadelphia Phillies clinched their third straight NL East title after putting it off for the past week by spending entirely too much time on Failblog and Hulu-ing those old episodes of It’s Always Sunny they missed.
“It was rough, man,” Ryan Howard said of the Phillies’ late-season procrastination. “As much as we wanted to secure our spot and get it over with, someone would send out an email about a funny video and by the time you start looking at all the related videos, you look up and it’s the ninth inning and you’re down by like 10. At that point, you just try again the next day, but then Chase [Utley] starts talking about how Journey is the greatest band of all time, which starts a three-hour-long debate and you end up in the same place as yesterday.”
The Phils finally pulled it together on Wednesday to down the Astros 10-3, though technically the team clinched the division a few minutes before the game ended due to Atlanta losing on an epic Matt Diaz baserunning error to end the game against the Marlins.
In a moving gesture to once again prove his commitment and eternal love for Brad Lidge, Charlie Manuel called on the team’s pseudo-closer to record the final out of the 10-3 route in a non-save situation. Lidge warmed up for about five minutes and threw one pitch to Lance Berkman, who grounded out to Ryan Howard at first base to end the game.
“Any other guy would have left me by now, but Charlie isn’t just any other guy,” Lidge said after the game. “We pledged our lives to one another when I signed here and I’m blessed to be able to have him right by my side no matter how badly I screw up. I’m definitely one of the lucky ones.”
The Phillies also paid a fitting tribute to the late Harry Kalas by embracing the HK sign in left field after the game. Harry is still very much a part of this team and I personally hope the Phillies are able to pay the greatest tribute to him by rolling down Broad Street one more time, in his honor. Go Phils!
Manuel elevates Madson’s official role to ‘bullpen janitor’
Charlie Manuel rewarded Ryan Madson’s efforts in Tuesday’s win over the Nationals by giving him a special role for the remainder of the season as the bullpen’s designated orderly.
In his new role, Madson will shadow the team’s current closer, Brad Lidge, to tidy up any mess left behind as well as change an occasional bedpan.
“When Charlie pulled me into his office yesterday, I thought he was going to name me the team’s new closer,” Madson said on Wednesday sporting his new uniform with clip-on ID badge. “But he just said Lidge is still our best option and handed me this mop and a can of toilet bowl cleaner.”
Madson bailed out Lidge and the Phillies by recording the final two outs with the bases loaded against two of the better hitters in the National League in Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn.
“It was one of those situations that shows you’ve got the stuff to close out the tough games,” Madson said of his performance. “But as much as I’d love to continue this interview, Brad just shat the bed again. Duty calls.”
Lidge confident Manuel will regain form at some point
Brad Lidge came out once again on Monday to throw his full support behind Charlie Manuel in hopes that the manager will find his ‘08 form and finally pull him as the Phillies closer.
“Charlie was on top of his game last year,” said Lidge. “I would’ve been gone in June if this was ‘08 Charlie. This year is a totally different story and here we are in September dealing with him struggling to make the right decision. I think he just needs more time though.”
Lidge blew his 10th save on Saturday, allowing two runs in the bottom of the ninth against the Astros. The closer now has an 0-7 record and a 7.15 ERA in 57 appearances, easily setting the mark for the worst season of any closer in the history of both Major and Little League Baseball.
“That’s my guy, come hell or high water,” Manuel said of Lidge on Monday with his head more than halfway submerged in the sand. “If you just take away his bad outings, he’s been a solid pitcher this season and that’s what we have to focus on…to keep from pulling out my hair and rocking in the fetal position all day and night at least.”
Back from completely-abled list, Hamels shuts down Giants
Cole Hamels returned to the mound after a five-month hiatus to allow only two hits in a complete game shutout against the Giants.
Hamels, who also struck out nine in the win, spent the past five months on the completely-abled list with undisclosed wellness.
“There wasn’t anything wrong with the guy,” said Charlie Manuel. “He was healthy and fully able to pitch but almost felt a little too good after we won the World Series. We had no choice but to CL him.”
The Phils will look for more of the same success from the lefthander as he works his way back after the long layoff.
