Charlie Manuel terrible managing tonight

[msubulldog]

my problem with manual was two thigs.

1- why did he bring in durbin who has the highest era of any relief pitcher on staff with over 20 innings pitched. was listening on radio driving home and could tell by play-by-play men durbin did not have it. should have pulled him after he walked leadoff batter. durbin for season 68 innings pitched and 90 men have reached base.
2- defense. when roy was brought in why have howard guarding the line; glove on wrong side and slow plus don't think huff could pull one of roy's fastballs down line. if howard playing regular easy out.

just my 2 cents worth and hope everyone has a good weekend.

[BeatingBaseball]

Could be because Werth is a TERRIBLE bunter. Sluggers in the 3rd, 4th and 5th spots are rarely good bunters.

Rollins is one of the best bunters if not the best in all of baseball. And in a tied game on the road, you need the go-ahead run.

All valid considerations to be sure - but I think you get my point. It's just too easy and unfair to assess decisions in retrospect.

Charlie Manuel may not be the most articulate guy in the game - but you can be sure that as a pro baseball lifer who is managing in the NLCS and won the last two of them he could give you a half dozen other considerations that applied to Rollins' AB - factors that have not even been mentioned here.

On the subject of TERRIBLE bunters BTW - Mark McGwire was once ordered to sac bunt for the A's in an ALCS vs Toronto.

[CrimsonQueen]

The fact that he didn't start Halladay but used Oswalt anyway is beyond me... and now I think he needs to use Hamels on Saturday and Oswalt on Sunday... IF there's even a Saturday or Sunday..........

[smitch124]

I think I'd go with Lidge then back him with Oswalt if the game goes on.

[gryfyn1]

is Brad Lidge hurt? they used 5 pitchers, but not Lidge

This, of course, made me puke.

Even worse they defended this move on ESPN with the line " Lidge is your closer, you want to save him for when you have the lead and there's something to close"

Sure, its better to lose a game with your top reliever on the bench, cuz you pissed away a tie game.

[phLLyphan11]

You say this but had the Phillies won this thread wouldn't have even been started. Everyone scrutinizes the hell out of players/managers/calls/etc. because it's the playoffs. Relax there a bit bud.