Overuse Of Lidge May Cost The Phillies

• Marlins 10-Phillies 8:

I know what Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was doing when he used Brad Lidge to pitch

the ninth inning last night trailing by two runs to the Marlins, but in the long run with seventeen games left and four games of ultra-importance to the Phillies playoff chances against the reeling Brewers this weekend, wouldn't it have been better to be more prudent with Lidge's workload and give him a night off in what was likely a hopeless cause?
The case to be made for using Lidge is easy. The Marlins bullpen has not been good lately and they're using a patchwork closing corps; the Phillies had Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell scheduled to bat in the bottom of the ninth and with that, they're two swings from tying the game; and Lidge isn't going to beg out of a game unless he's in agony and physically unable to perform, but what were the odds of another comeback in the bottom of the ninth trailing by two?
I also understand that J.C. Romero and Chad Durbin have been ruthlessly overworked this

season, so it was better to use the durable Lidge, but the strategy could have been manipulated better to perhaps double switch and get another inning out of Ryan Madson rather than to use Lidge when they didn't need to. He only threw seventeen pitches, but we're talking about cumulative use as the season moves along and, as brilliant as Lidge has been, the last thing the Phillies are going to need as the season winds down is to have Lidge reach back for that little bit extra and find he has nothing left to give. Even with that, the division race between the Mets and Phillies may end up as meaningless because...

• Reds 5-Brewers 4; the Brewers are collapsing:

If this season is proving anything, how great or bad a manager is at his job, a manager's importance is only realized when the season comes down to a game or two and it's talent and

performance that dictates the end result. Jim Leyland and Bobby Cox are both having forgettable seasons and Joe Maddon, whose quirky style was met with quizzical looks as his team was winning 61 and 66 games in his first two seasons, is now being feted as "innovative" and "progressive" in his treatment of his Rays now that they're heading towards the playoffs. That being said, there are two examples of how a manager's demeanor can permeate his clubhouse and result in those extra three or four wins at the end of a season that can mean the difference between playing in the playoffs or watching the playoffs on TV.
Joe Torre's calmness and resume throughout any firestorm has allowed the Dodgers to maintain their cool throughout any adversity, injury, controversy and whatever else has happened; Ned Yost's Brewers are stumbling again with talent that other teams look at, shake their heads and wonder what's going on in Milwaukee.
Even though Yost isn't really to blame for the Brewers two losses to the Reds because of any strategic gaffes, there's something about the Brewers that makes them fold whenever they're pushed. A mental toughness is lacking and no amount of power in their lineup or aces in their rotation are going to be able to account for that and keep them in contention. A team with playoff aspirations like the Brewers cannot be losing two straight games to a Reds team (that isn't as bad as they've been portrayed) but is still going with a lot of young players and is playing out the season.
I like Doug Melvin as a GM, but he signed a guy in Jeff Suppan for a lot of money when

Suppan is at his best as a back of the rotation starter who comes up big in post-season games; Suppan was awful last night. Melvin also could have fired Yost earlier in the season and replaced him with the veteran baseball man Ted Simmons; the Brewers bad start would have shielded Melving from any criticism for the move and as the Mets are proving now, sometimes just making the change in the manager's office gets everything in line. (Speaking of which, I don't care what politically correct comments he makes to the contrary, Carlos Delgado must've despised Willie Randolph.)
The four games this weekend against the Phillies are going to determine whether or not the Brewers make the playoffs and it has to be noted that C.C. Sabathia isn't scheduled to pitch in any of them. After Ben Sheets pitches the opener on Thursday, the Brewers are sending Manny Parra, Dave Bush and Suppan to pitch to that Phillies lineup; it might get ugly on and off the field for the Brewers this weekend with a lot of questions about why, since they so aggressively acquired Sabathia to go for everything now, they didn't take a long hard look at their manager and make a cold-blooded and calculating decision to bring in someone who was able to navigate the ship through the storm. They're going to be sorry if and when they sink. They're well on the way.

• Blue Jays 3-White Sox 1; Blue Jays 8-White Sox 2:

I have zero intention of buying into this Blue Jays hot streak as a portent of a leap into contention next season. If you look at their finishes in 2006 and 2007, they had similar hot

streaks (not 10-straight wins hot, but hot enough) and ended with respectable records to put forth the illusion that they're finally "turning the corner" under GM J.P. Ricciardi and I ain't buying it.
Each time, the hot streak has conveniently happened as the team had no chance of making the playoffs; each time they've looked like a team on the rise and able to overcome the infighting and injuries that happen to them every single year, but they again fall to the mediocre team they've been since Ricciardi took over. Add in that they're going to lose A.J. Burnett to free agency (that may not be all that bad a thing because I'm very wary of

injury-prone pitchers who have their career year at age 31 just as they're primed to make a big haul of cash on the open market); that every year there's some embarrassing, alibi-laden controversy (or two; or three; or five) between Ricciardi and a player (from his team and others) a reporter or whoever else, that makes them look like their operating a circus instead of a baseball team; and that they're in a division with the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays and you'll see the exact same thing happen a year from now as is happening now. It's like Groundhog Day except the ownership never seems to catch on, much to their detriment.

• A message from my Sith alter-ego:

I sense a mocking tone in the power of Darth Escribus, Lord of the Sith as on the front

page of the blogsite an ad for the new Star Wars game is popping up. Such an attitude is a horrible mistake. When my apprentice Darth Moneke arrives, she will...take care of you...

Uncle Charlie's Bizarre Strategic Decision

• Mets 6-Phillies 3:

Charlie Manuel's main attribute as a manager is that his players like him, like playing for

him and, for the most part, play hard for him 24/7. They know that he's in their corners as evidenced by his frequent ejections and, even when he does strange and unexplainable things (think of the theme from The X-Files), they do as they're asked and don't question him publicly. Even though Manuel abuses his relievers, and overmanages in times of stress, the bottom line is that the team wins for him rather than in spite of him. The manager of the Phillies before Manuel, Larry Bowa, was a strategic ace who the players hated----and it showed in their results. Even when they had playoff level talent, they were never able to make it over that hump for Bowa; the argument could be made that if they had a manager for whom they wanted to go above and beyond the call of duty, if for no other reason than to save his job, they might have wound up with a better record in one of those years. Even with

that, Manuel's most diehard supporter in and out of the Phillies clubhouse has to wonder what's going through his head when he does some of the things he does.
In tonight's game against the Mets, the Phillies entered the eighth inning with a 3-2 lead. Having been overused up to this point in the season and due to last night's 13-inning affair, J.C. Romero and Chad Durbin were apparently only available in an emergency; because of that, Manuel had to use former lefty specialist Scott Eyre for two innings and veteran journeyman Rudy Seanez as his eighth inning man. Seanez retired Luis Castillo and David Wright before allowing Carlos Delgado's second homer

of the night to tie the game. After Carlos Beltran's infield single, Manuel removed Seanez and inserted closer Brad Lidge with the game now tied.
Disregarding that Lidge gave up the hits that scored three runs for the Mets, why was Lidge even warming up in the beginning of the eighth if Manuel wasn't going to use him while he still had a lead? In what has been a brilliant comeback season for him after two subpar years with the Astros, Lidge has not been used for more than a one inning save once this year----not once; yet Manuel not only had him warming up in the eighth inning, but only used him after the save opportunity was gone! It made no sense on so many different levels that it's going to be hard for the reporters to get viable answers from Manuel as to what he was thinking because there's too much to have to explain away.
First of all, if Manuel says that Clay Condrey, Durbin and Romero weren't available; that he

didn't want to use the rookie Andrew Carpenter in that situation; that Seanez was his best and most reliable option and didn't want to use Lidge for more than one inning in a relatively meaningless game in late August, then fine; that would be a legitimate explanation; but he had Lidge warming up anyway! He ended up using Lidge in the eighth inning anyway! If the guy was warming up, what was he warming up for if he wasn't going to be used to save the game? Once the call was made to warm Lidge up, then why wasn't he brought into the game to pitch to Carlos Delgado, who has crushed Seanez in his career? Then he brought Lidge in as there's one runner on base in a tie game, has him intentionally walk Ryan Church after the runner, Beltran, steals second and sees Lidge give up a game-losing double to a rookie in Daniel Murphy. It literally made no sense whatsoever.
Add in that this game was, in the cosmic scheme of things, meaningless. It's late August and if the Phillies had held on and won, they'd have had a lead of 1 1/2 games; it's clear by now that this season the National League East is going to come down to a similar war of attrition as it did last season with the managerial gaffes and who abuses their pitching staff more being the deciding factors. The difference last year was that Charlie Manuel and former Mets manager Willie Randolph traded inept maneuvers throughout the entire month; it just turned out that Manuel was luckier and got better and guttier performances from his players; now the Mets have a manager in Jerry Manuel who has an idea of what he's doing and if it comes

down to which Manuel is a better strategist, then the Mets are going to win.
I have no problem with a manager doing something that appears odd if it's done for a reason. It doesn't even have to be a good reason or one I agree with; a reason with some basis in logic is enough. Had Manuel stayed with Seanez and not had Lidge throwing it would've been one thing, but he ended up using his closer regardless and he lost the game. It was another example of Charlie Manuel's way of running things biting him on the behind and what made it worse is that it was a completely unexplainable decision not just because it didn't work, but because it was stupid.

Fallout From The Baby Boss And Other Stories

• Hank Steinbrenner's perceived towel-toss and the fallout:

There's been a strong reaction to the perception that Hank Steinbrenner is, at the very least, giving his players an excuse for not making the playoffs. I said yesterday that I don't

think it was an attempt by the Hank to give his players an alibi as much it was to give himself an alibi. Even as his father becomes less lucid and aware of the state of his team, there will always be the spectre of the demanding George M. Steinbrenner III hovering, barking, challenging and belittling his sons to win, win, win. If they don't, there has to be an reason even if it's absurd and nonsensical. They need it for themselves more than anyone else.
Mike Francesa went into it in depth during Mike and the Mad Dog implying that Hank was telling the players that it was okay if they didn't make the playoffs this year----Thoughts On Hank. I don't see it the way Francesa does in that I don't believe the players pay much attention to Hank one way or the other. If it were a predominately young corps of players, then maybe they'd think it was acceptable to let up a bit because if the owner isn't going to be angry about the team not making the playoffs, then what's the big deal if they fall short? But the Yankees have guys like Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera who have never, ever missed the playoffs in their entire big league careers; and Andy Pettitte who only missed the playoffs

once, and that was with the Astros; there are veterans like Mike Mussina who wouldn't see it as acceptable if one of his last chances to win a World Series was ruined by such an attitude as well.
The idea that the owner making such statements compromises the chance for a comeback by planting the seed into the heads of the players is hard to reconcile because there are very few owners who are so open with their feelings as Hank is. How many owners are even visible enough to say something like this? There are owners who people know like Fred Wilpon, Tom Hicks, Jerry Reinsdorf and Frank McCourt, but none make the type of off-the-wall proclamations that Hank does and he hasn't yet followed through on his threats; he says things, is assuaged and they sort of disappear without frantic reaction from Brian Cashman and his staff.
While it may not have been the smartest thing in the world for Hank to say these things, it isn't going to be a deciding factor for the Yankees making or not making the playoffs; no one pays him much attention anyway because he doesn't know what he's talking about and his bloviating is just a way to let off steam and quiet that voice that must be entrenched in his ear

asking why the team is faltering.

• Brewers 7-Padres 1:
  

C.C. Sabathia wins his seventh game for the Brewers without a loss. Cha-ching!

• Rockies 6-Diamondbacks 5; Dodgers 7-Phillies 6:

The Diamondbacks have done everything they could possibly do to wake the team from the slumber that has dropped them from a high of 21-9 after 30 games, and 40-50 since. They were having trouble in the bullpen, they acquired Jon Rauch for far less than one would think required to get such an established and

versatile reliever; they needed power bats and, while whiffing on Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixeira, acquired the respected Tony Clark and a pure slugger in Adam Dunn; and they're still stumbling along. Other than unfairly firing manager Bob Melvin to try and wake the team up, I can't think of anything else for them to do, but with the way they're playing and the way they're going for it this year, they might have to consider the drastic action to try and save the season.
The Dodgers on the other hand have been allowed to hang around and the Joe Torre late-season magic is beginning to work. The additions of Casey Blake and Manny Ramirez have helped of course, as will the return from injury of the likes of Brad Penny

and possibly Takashi Saito, but the Dodgers have a better feel than the Diamondbacks do at the moment and part of that is due to the resume and cachet carried by their manager. The Diamondbacks have let the Dodgers stay within striking distance and more when they could have buried them; with each passing day the Dodgers get healthy, improve and gain momentum and the Diamondbacks continue rotating on the treadmill like a hamster.
One note about the Phillies: as I mentioned the other day, there's a bad vibe about them that's hard to pinpoint, but they, like the Diamondbacks, have made a series of deals that have gutted the farm system and they're not working; the Mets have pretty much stood pat and are getting feel-good stories from the likes of Fernando Tatis. It's always a bad idea not to bury a team when the opportunity is presented and I'm getting the idea that Brad Lidge is in worse shape than is being let on.

• Cardinals 6-Marlins 4; desperation yields a closer?

Just when it looked as if Cardinals manager Tony La Russa was coming close to calling Rick Ankiel in from center field to try and close games in a return to the mound (that's a joke), desperation and the repeated failures of his veterans has led him to using 22-year-old Chris Perez in the role and he's getting job done. Perez is a little wild, but he strikes out a batter an inning and a save is a save is a save; after watching Ryan Franklin, Jason Isringhausen, et al blow game-after-game, at least they've got someone doing to job for the moment.

Yankees Acquire Xavier Nady And Damaso Marte

• Yankees acquire Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte from the Pirates for Ross Ohlendorf, Jose Tabata, Phil Coke and George Kontos:

Yankees GM Brian Cashman finally used some of that "organizational depth" he constantly

refers to and filled two gaping holes. In acquiring Xavier Nady, it's hard to believe that the Yankees are under any illusions about what they're going to get out of him. He's not the .330 hitter he's been this year and he's had a history of being injury prone and/or unlucky; that being said, he's a good guy in the clubhouse; handled New York before and got some big clutch hits with the Mets; is a decent enough outfielder and can play first base; and he also hits well enough to the opposite field that the short right field porch at Yankee Stadium will be put to good use. With Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada both out or hindered for extended periods, the Yankees needed to beef up their offense and Nady is just good enough to do that. He's going to make a lot of money in arbitration this winter given the year he's having, but the Yankees have a load of money coming off the books and if Nady plays well, they're not going to blink about paying him.
Damaso Marte is a former Yankees farmhand who's bounced around and found a home with the Pirates as more than just a lefty specialist. His numbers against righties are good

enough that he's no Mike Myers/Tony Fossas where leaving him in to pitch to a righty----any righty----is done so at their own risk. He was a workhorse with the White Sox before and during their championship season and pitched well for the Pirates as a set-up man and occasional closer. He has a $6 million team option for 2009, but the Yankees won't think twice about exercising that or extending it if Marte does well for them.
The Pirates had previously been asking for the moon for both Nady and Marte, but acquitted themselves well enough in this trade. They probably wouldn't have gotten more from any other interested team, so it was smart to take the Yankees deal when it was offered. Ross Ohlendorf struggled as a long-man/mop-up man for the Yankees this year

and they projected him as a reliever, but he showed potential as a starter in the minors and may be better off in that role as a potential innings-eater at the middle-to-back-end of the rotation. He's big enough (6'4" 235) to handle a heavy workload. George Kontos is a right-handed pitcher who's also big (6'3" 215) and has put up big strikeout numbers in the minors as a starter. (Presumably both Ohlendorf and Kontos are smart as the former went to Princeton and the latter went to Northwestern.) Phil Coke sounds like more of a project than prospect since he's already 26, but he's lefty and has put up promising strikeout numbers. The big part of the trade for the Pirates, other than stockpiling some power arms, is Jose Tabata.
Tabata was one of the Yankees "untouchable" prospects that they were reluctant to

include in any trades for veteran pitchers like Johan Santana (although I think Cashman was just trying to find excuses not to trade for Santana and then have to pay him as the Mets did). Tabata is still a baby as he's only going to be twenty next month; his walk totals imply plate discipline impressive in such a young player; he can run and will develop power as he matures; he's struggled a bit at Double A this year, but not enough to raise any questions about his future. If the Yankees make the playoffs and get what they need out of Nady and Marte and the Pirates get use from at least one of the pitchers and Tabata becomes a productive big leaguer, neither team is going to regret making this trade which had to be made from both ends. The Yankees couldn't afford not to improve both their bullpen and injury-ravaged outfield and the Pirates couldn't let their demands stand in the way of clearing salary for players they probably weren't going to keep past 2009 and who weren't going to be present when the Pirates become true contenders anyway.

• Now that you mention it, the Padres should trade Jake Peavy as well:

Joe at Statistician Magician commented on my last posting that if my logic that the Padres should trade Adrian Gonzalez is accurate, then they should also deal Jake Peavy, and he's right; more so, in fact. Peavy is Tommy John-surgery waiting to happen with that motion and if

the Padres are going to replenish their organization as quickly as possible, they should take advantage of Peavy's gaudy results to hypnotize another team into surrendering a big chunk of their farm system to get him and let them worry about when his arm is going to explode. The problem is that I have no faith in the Padres hierarchy to make a Marlins-like deal to extract slabs of another organization's best, blue chip prospects and develop them into stars; so as long as they still have the current management team, it's a big risk to do anything of consequence that would haunt the organization if it doesn't work.

• Mets 7-Cardinals 2:

Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen is going to get the credit for the development of Mike Pelfrey, but the hot streak started well before Warthen arrived and while Rick Peterson was

still there. Peterson's departure probably helped guys like Oliver Perez (who's a head case), but it doesn't diminish the good work he did with the Mets. I don't think anyone could've expected Pelfrey to mature and develop this fast and he has a chance to win 16 or 17 games if he keeps it up, and who would've predicted that?
I had to look back into my previous postings to make sure I never said anything too derogatory about Carlos Delgado and I didn't. While guys like Mike Francesa and the other "experts" at WFAN and in other places were saying that Delgado should be dumped or released----released!----my view was that as a veteran player who has lost bat speed, Delgado can't catch up to the fastballs of top-notch pitchers anymore, but since they had other holes and few alternatives, the Mets had little choice but to keep writing Delgado's name in the lineup and hope for a resurgence. Well, that hope has come true (for awhile at least) as Delgado has carried the Mets during this hot streak.
Looking at it objectively, Delgado's lack of production was considered age-related when it

may have been just a slump. If he were ten years younger, no one would've said a word about releasing him; they would have come up with other suggestions, but releasing him and saying that he's "finished" wouldn't have entered the conversation (or PEDs might have been suggested); but with a struggling veteran at age 36, in the age of testing for PEDs and, possibly more importantly, amphetamines, it's harder for such a veteran to regain the public confidence without a sustained streak like Delgado has had. That he's had it has made people like Francesa look foolish. And this isn't an indictment for the statements that were made; Delgado did look finished for much of the first half; my problem with these critics is that they have to come up with a justification for their statements and still try to weasel away from making the credibility-accruing admission: I was wrong. And if Delgado continues this hot streak, they still won't admit they were wrong; and I don't think they realize how such an attitude damages credibility, but if they haven't figured it out yet...

• Rockies 7-Reds 2; Dodgers 3-Nationals 2:

Don't look now, but the Rockies are only six games out of first place. Their position is so precarious that the next few days will determine whether they aggressively try to trade Matt Holliday, but after last year's comeback it's starting to look like they'll hang onto him at least

into the winter to see if they can come up with another hot streak.
I'm going to maintain my belief in Joe Torre and the Dodgers. They've been lucky that the Diamondbacks haven't taken control of the division and, with all their injuries and horrendous performances (see Jones, Andruw), they're still right there at the top of the division. By late August, they're going to start getting their injured veterans back; the cooling weather will rejuvenate guys like Jeff Kent and Nomar Garciaparra and they'll have a characteristic Torre-run to make the playoffs. The Wild Card, though unlikely, isn't completely out of the question for any of the three teams either.

• Braves 8-Phillies 2:

It doesn't look like that comeback against the Mets on Tuesday spurred anything in the

Phillies other than Jimmy Rollins's mouth and the benching of Rollins and his attitude could eventually become a problem within that clubhouse. Nor does it help that Brad Lidge got lit up for the first time this season last night against the Braves; it also came at a characteristically inopportune time for Lidge, who looked like he was returning to his Astros, "Lights Out" Lidge glory, but in important games, there has to be concern about his mental state and resulting performance.