All hands on deck

The easy part about baseball is second-guessing. Sometimes, second-guessing the moves made throughout a game is also the most fun part of watching a game.

But if there is one thing that’s evident is that managers and coaches HATE being second-guessed. I can’t say I blame them. Who wants some smart-alecky guy who can watch the game high in a perch above the field with TV monitors and a laptop at the ready to look up any information needed?

Back when he was managing the Yankees, Billy Martin always had a direct answer for any questioner challenging his moves. When asked why he made a certain move, Billy invariably said: “Because I’m the bleeping manager, that’s why.”

Billy Martin was Charlie Manuel’s first manager in the big leagues back when he came up for the Minnesota Twins in the late 1960s, and the Phillies’ skipper has – from time to time – recited Billy’s old line, though with less colorful language.

That said, since Manuel is the manager and his decisions are what they are, I’m curious about some of the choices the skipper made for his bullpen in last night’s game as it extended into extra innings. Knowing that the Dodgers had won in Colorado and a loss would send the Phillies to two games off the pace with just four games to go, I’m surprised Manuel remained so compartmentalized and rigid with his use of the bullpen.

How so? Didn’t he use the reliever he had? Well, yes and no. He used Clay Condrey, who pitched great, and Fabio Castro, who was shaky in notching his first big-league save, but what about Randy Wolf? Why couldn’t Wolf be used in the ‘pen?

Wolf pitched Monday night in Philadelphia and is slated to go on Saturday in Miami, but when the Dodgers won and the game went into extra innings, it was all hands on deck as far as I was concerned. Plus, since there is talk of Wolf being bumped from his next start so that the Phillies can move up Brett Myers and Cole Hamels to pitch on short rest, perhaps it would have been smart to get the starter ready.

Then again, the game only lasted 14 innings. Perhaps Wolf was going to pitch from the 15th inning on?

About last night

The Phillies' bullpen presented a host of plots and sub-plots in the loss to the Astros last night. For one thing, there were a bunch of curiosities regarding Ryan Madson’s stint in the eighth and ninth innings.

Let the second-guessing begin.

To start, it was odd that Madson was instructed to intentionally walk Mike Lamb with one out and a runner on second and Willy Taveras on deck. Yes, first base was open and the intentional walk is the “baseball move” in that situation. But no matter if there were a force at second or not, it would have been very difficult for the Madson or the Phillies to coax a double play out of Taveras. Obviously, Taveras is very quick. His 29 stolen bases, leadoff position in the Astros’ batting order, and recent 30-game hitting streak seem to indicate that.

But what about the fact that Taveras has grounded into just five double plays in 519 plate appearances this season. Or the fact that it took me less than 30 seconds to dig up those numbers on Taveras – surely Charlie and his staff had those digits next to them in the dugout.

Right?

Yet after Madson struck out Craig Biggio for the second out in the ninth, the right-hander’s night should have been over. With switch-hitter Lance Berkman coming up, surely Charlie knew that the Astros’ slugger was hitting .270 against lefties as opposed to .322 against righties… right? Never mind the fact that Madson has a documented weakness against lefties. Following my long drive which left me a bit wired after dodging trucks and construction on the Turnpike, I dug up a little info before I was finally able to sleep. So thinking back on that hanging curve that Madson threw Berkman with two strikes, two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth, I read this from the annual Baseball Prospectus yearbook:

… The difference between his somewhat lucky 2004 and his slightly disappointing 2005 was that left-handed hitters figured out the tall righty, but he should be able to recover if he returns to throwing his fastball inside to lefties to set up his plus change outside. He also features an average curve with a slurvy break.

Interestingly, here’s what Charlie said when asked about Madson offering that slurvy curve with two strikes to Berkman:

“I would have liked to see him bust him hard in,” Charlie said after the game.

Of course the big question was why was Madson in there to face Berkman to begin with. Why didn’t Charlie turn to closer Tom Gordon? Well, Charlie wanted him to start the 10th inning. How about 21-year-old lefty Fabio Castro or slightly more seasoned lefty Eude Brito?

“I thought about [Castro], but I thought maybe that he would walk the guy,” Manuel said. “I thought it was putting him in a tough situation.”

Lefty Aaron Fultz? He’s nursing nagging shoulder soreness.

So how about 16-year veteran Arthur Rhodes? He’s a lefty and been around long enough to know that the situation was tailor made for him to come in and get the Phillies out of the jam. Besides, wasn’t Wednesday night’s game the perfect example of why the Phillies traded away Jason Michaels to get Rhodes?

So Charlie, why not bring Rhodes in to face Berkman?

“Rhodes told me he couldn’t go… “

What?

“He said his shoulder was sore.”

Let’s get this straight. The veteran lefty specialist couldn’t come into a September game that very well could affect the Phillies’ playoff chances because he shoulder was sore? He’s getting paid $3.7 million this season to pitch in those types of situations and his shoulder is sore?

Isn’t Rhodes the same guy who called out Cory Lidle for eating ice cream after games and pursuing off-field interests like poker and flying airplanes? Forget the fact that Lidle never missed a start during his time with the Phillies, except for the time when he had one pushed back to take care of a family emergency. In the end, it was Rhodes who didn’t answer the call.

If the Phillies fail to make it to the playoffs for the 13th straight October, they can blame the bullpen.

Observations for early Friday morning

Maybe this is just me -- and I really dislike second-guessing, but then again, that's what we do -- but I probably would have turned to the bullpen to start the seventh inning in yesterday's game vs. the Brewers. Here's why: Cole Hamels was at 90 pitches after running a bunch of deep counts through the first six innings with a 4-1 lead. His strike to ball ratio, to be frank, was bad. Even more troubling was that Hamels' efficiency was so bad despite the fact that he had been the polar opposite during his quick run through the minors.

At the same time, after 35 minor league starts, Hamels reached the 100-pitch plateau just a handful of times. Sure, earlier this month he tossed 114 in a complete game shutout, but he was throwing strikes back then. Certainly at 90 pitches, the often delicate Hamels had put the Phillies just where they wanted to be where they could go Ryan Madson in the seventh, Arthur Rhodes in the eighth and Tom Gordon in the ninth.

That's how it was set up, right?

Of course there are reasons to allow Hamels to start the seventh, too. For one, he had been pitching well, probably felt good and 100 pitches isn't really that much. Why baby the kid -- he's in the big leagues now.

Besides, Madson, the demoted starter and now setup-to-the-setup man reliever, has looked lost on the mound in his last few outings. To use the old baseball writer cliché, Madson is a fireman whose best weapon is gasoline.

Precious, precious gasoline.

Anyway, perhaps we'll delve more into Madson's troubles tonight, because it's interesting since he is a pitcher who is pretty sharp and definitely gets it. But maybe he would have pitched better yesterday if he had started the inning instead of coming in with runners on base.

As an aside, Cole Hamels is really good.

Here come the Red Sox This weekend is shaping up to be a pretty exciting one for baseball fans in Philadelphia. The Red Sox, one of the big-money, trendy glamor teams, have a tendency to put fannies in the seats. But more importantly, the series gives the Phillies a great opportunity to show which team they are.

You know, who they are with four months remaining in the season.

But after playing in a bunch of one-run and two-run games during the 3-3 road trip, in which the bullpen wasn't so great, clutch hits came in bunches in the late innings, Ryan Howard went to the hospital with food poisoning but still bashed a pair of homers to win a game, and Hamels made his much-anticipated debut, it should be interesting to see how this weekend shapes up.

Then they go to New York for three games against the Mets.

Thank you, sir, can I have another? If you're like me, you drive a lot. Not because you want to, but because the office -- via the Turnpike and Expressway -- is roughly 85 miles away from home. That means money spend on gas can add up, so I refer to this site as much as possible, though some of the better (read: cheaper) gas stations are a bit out of the way.

Meanwhile, is it me or are hotel rates and airline fares up significantly this summer?

What's going on? Well, actually, it's not hard to figure out... I just don't want to say it out loud.

Those who can't do... For the life of me, I never have been very good at fantasy baseball. I can't figure it out, either. I regularly talk to scouts and managers -- both general and field -- and think I have some pretty good insight on which players are regarded as "good" and which ones are not. Based on my insider info, I have put together a team over the past three years that looks good, at least according to traditional baseball folks, but I'm always in the second division of the league.

What's going on?

My guess is that I don't have enough statboy in me. I regard player who can actually play the game with more credence than the ones who simply post numbers. That's might be the way to build a winning baseball team, but not a make-believe one.

Just look at my roster: P Akinori Otsuka, Tex P Brad Lidge, Hou P Francisco Rodriguez, Ana P Jason Isringhausen, StL P Trevor Hoffman, SD P Tom Gordon, Phi P Vicente Padilla, Tex P Keith Foulke, Bos P Bobby Jenks, ChW P Noah Lowry, SF P Roy Oswalt, Hou P Cole Hamels, Phi

BATTERS C Ivan Rodriguez, Det 1B Nick Johnson, Was 2B Jeff Kent, LA 3B Chipper Jones, Atl SS David Eckstein, StL OF Bobby Abreu, Phi OF OF Torii Hunter, Min OF Jermaine Dye, ChW OF Jose Guillen, Was OF Preston Wilson, Hou 2B/SS Craig Biggio, Hou 1B/3B Brandon Inge, Det Util Wily Mo Pena, Bos DL Jason Repko, LA

If anyone has any suggestions on how to get this club out of the cellar, send them in. I think my team might be getting old -- too many veterans, right?