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Bad Time Charlie
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What’s a good remedy for the worst slump of a young slugger’s career? If you ask Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, you tell him that he’ll have a game or two off so he can clear his head. But instead of letting him sit, you send him up to pinch hit in a 1-1 game, on the road, to lead off the eighth inning!
The result was predictable. Ryan Howard, not accustomed to a pinch hitting role and batting well below .200, promptly struck out. If you want Howard to snap out of his funk, this was a bad time, Charlie! Why didn’t you just tell him to lie down in the dugout and give him a swift kick in the ribs? That may have been less painful than his 33 rd strikeout of the season.
If the game is tied late, wouldn’t it make sense to lead off the inning with a guy who’s more likely to make contact and get on base? Instead, you put your slumping slugger into a pressure situation and send his batting average and confidence even further south of the Mendoza line. If you’re going to give Howard a couple days off to clear his head, let him clear it! Don’t fill it with more doubt!
Fortunately, the two guys who have carried the Phillies offense, Chase Utley and Pat Burrell, provided the necessary offense later in the inning to give the Phillies a 3-1 win over the Brewers in Milwaukee.
This move made about as much sense as using Geoff Jenkins, another strikeout artist, as a pinch hitter when contact is a must in a close game. This has already happened more than once this season.
I think Manuel has held up incredibly well under the pressure from Philadelphia fans and media while keeping his players loose, but his in-game decisions continue to boggle my mind. For future reference, if a guy is in a ridiculous slump, don’t send him to the plate as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning of a tie game on the road. It’s a bad time, Charlie!
| This user is a Philadelphia Phillies fan. |
On the contrary, there's more pressure on a slumping player to produce four times a game then just one, so the move shouldn't have come as a surprise. He was leading off the inning, no one on base, how many AB's has he had this year leading off an inning? I'd bet more than 10. And since Howard goes to the plate with two strikes on him EVERY at bat, the fact he struck out shouldn't be a surprise either.
If you disagree with that, OK, your perogative. Look at it from the lineup standpoint.
Greg Dobbs was the first baseman for the day, hitting second. The pitcher's spot leads off. Which means, even if the Phils went down in order, Howard stays in the game in the ninth spot on the double switch, with the pitcher hitting second. As it turned out, as Scott said, the Phils rallied, so Howard actually hit again in the ninth, which is a good thing.
It's Manuel's job to manage his lineup, which he did. If Howard hit one out, Manuel would be a hero.
It's Ryan Howard's fault he can't hit, not Manuel's.