Scapegoat

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Disgusted

View from the Left Coast by a Lefty: Disgusted

Just finished watching Cliff not get a win in his 11th start. I'm almost beside myself, but now my anger goes in a different direction. There was no excuse for the Phils to not win that game. He should have come out after the first batter top 8. So now the question is who's fucking fault is it... Chollie's or Dubee's? I assume Chollie has the last say but don't know for sure. I also said last time I'd speak up on pitching. Well now is the time.

Who (beside me) predicted Blanton would come back and actually resemble the guy we traded for? Who (NOT ME) ever thought Doc would get hurt? *Nobody* could have predicted Cliff Lee winless on 6/15. I think Vanimal has held up his end as well. KK? Basically same old up/down and can't win at home. Hollywood has been the only dependable piece. This pretty much equates to their record of 31-36. Even though DB29 got a late start, in preseason he did predict the Phils to be 41-46 at the All Star break. But he also predicted Utley and Howard coming back and in Sept after jelling they make a charge and win the division for a 6th straight year. I wish, but can't see it.

Guess which 2 can't coach

So where does the problem(s) lie? Right now I blame the coaching staff, who this year have actually had to make decisions that affect games. I blame, in order, 1) Unca Chollie because he can't rely on past performances to get the job done. 2) Rich Dubee... if you are advising Unc on pitching changes it looks like you don't have a clue on what you're roster pitchers can actually do. 3) Base coaches... mostly Juan Samuel who has cost them single handedly 3 games sending runners home and also Sam Perlozzo, who is definitely no Davey Lopes, no help to runners trying to steal, and just standing there at 1B with his thumb up his ass getting runners into scoring position. Right now this team is just sad, deserving of their position in the NL East.

 Are we having fun yet? I'm fucking not. I'm having enough trouble sleeping at night without a 31-36 team invading my personal time with no answer in sight. You guys may have laughed when I said previously that I would take 2 weeks and teach Howard how to hit again like he did 5 years ago, and offered to Lee and Hamels to teach them the Carlton pickoff move. Well now I add to this teaching Dubee how to use his pen, because Qualls AIN'T NO 8TH INNING GUY, he should be released. And then again, who the hell is actually in the pen now? Where do I get the idea I know what to do? I only played baseball for 25 years. Was all state as pitcher and outfielder in same season in NJ. I had the most excellent coaches my entire life, learning the fundamentals every player should know. But does it really matter my qualifications, when all of you are thinking the same thing? FML.

Thankfully a neighbor just came back from Mexico, and brought me a bottle of Centenario  and we're doing tequila shots. This stuff makes Patron taste like shit, and is only $5 for a 750ml. You East Coast people can pay outrageous amounts, and I don't apologize for it lol. Maybe after a bottle or two I can come up with a better solution, but right now I swear the Phillies should hire me.

So to quote CJ and Wriz, let's get bunted... and here's to Utley, Howard, and Nix coming off the DL and continuing what they did today.

--Netfather

Can We Manage?

If there is one thing the Wriz hates to do, it is to admit he made a mistake.

I remember sitting in my normal Sunday Plan seats at Citizen's Bank Park in the unforgiving summer sun, cursing Charlie Manuel. I said there is no way he should be a National League manager. Not then. Not EVER. The country bumpkin didn't know how to double switch, a necessity for an NL manager. But it got even worse. I actually considered giving up my seats after a particular game against the Houston Astros in 2005. The Phillies and Astros were in the battle for the wildcard. Entering the bottom of the 9th, the Phillies trailed 4-2 and this is what happened:

PHILLIES 9TH: LIDGE REPLACED VIZCAINO (PITCHING); Bell flied to
right; LOFTON BATTED FOR LIEBERTHAL; Lofton singled to shortstop
[Lofton to second (error by Everett)]; Victorino grounded out
(first unassisted) [Lofton to third]; Lidge threw a wild pitch
[Lofton scored]; Howard walked; KATA RAN FOR HOWARD;

What the play-by-play from retrosheet.org doesn't  tell you is how inept Manuel managing was in that inning. As Dan Baker announced that Matt Kata was running for Ryan Howard, I figured he was the fastest bench player available. That Endy Chavez was unavailable due to some type of nagging injury.

  Rollins doubled to right [Kata to third];

As I watched the ball roll down the right field line I'm yelling, "Send him, send him!" Kata strolled into third standing up, the crowd was going nuts, the Phillies had the tying run on third and I was like, "FUCK Chavez would scored easy."  For those of you who had yet to catch Phillies Fever, Endy Chavez was the fastest Phillie I had seen since Jeff Stone. He had a lousy bat and was mediocre in the field, but my man could run like a degenerate gambler with an underpaid bookie on his tail.

CHAVEZ BATTED FOR WAGNER;
Chavez struck out; 1 R, 2 H, 1 E, 2 LOB. Astros 4, Phillies 3.

And there is was Chavez and all his speed stranded in the batters box by strike three. The Astros went on to win the final 2 games of the series and the Wild Card over the Phillies by one stinkin game. One fucking game!

Fast forward 3 years and on October 29th, 2008, Brad Lidge fell to his knees and moments later the frenzied crowd was chanting "Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!" My friend Doug turned and said, "What do you think of Charlie now?" "He's ok. He gets a pass," I responded. And there lays my mistake, thinking that fool could actually manage.

I like Charlie. I'd buy a car from him.

This year, more so than any other the Phillies NEED a manager who can actually manage, The upgraded bench is all for nothing if its not used correctly. Take last night for example. In the 8th inning the Phils are down 4-2. Pence grounds out, Wiggy follows suit. Manuel sends up Thome. There's 2 outs. Nobody's on and you're going to send up Thome to swing for the fences? He can't field and he can't run. Ok, where's the sense in that? I guess it's better to lose by one? I haven't studied the new tiebreakers in the new playoff system but I guess run differential ranks pretty high.

Maybe Charlie can prove me wrong once again and maybe Juan Pierre and throw a one hop laser from the warning track that cuts down Michael Bourn tagging from third. You never know.

Maybe he better suited for this?

See ya at the ball park!

Jay Wrizight
jaywrizight@yahoo.com