No Deal? No surprise.

Let’s be honest.

The Phillies backed into the division title last year, and did nothing in the playoffs. I’m not sure they even showed up, since all I remember is the Rockies winning every game and the Phillies going home with their tails between their respective legs. This year, they once again fail to make any moves to improve their club before the trade deadline, which is WHEN YOU GET GOOD PLAYERS (not in a month, off the waiver wire).

Every year since Gillick has been here I’ve heard the headline, “Phillies stand Pat” – yeah I get it, their GM’s name is Pat…very original (almost as original as whenever Jayson Werth has a good game and the headline inevitably reads something like “Right fielder proves his Werth” or some other overly obvious pun on his name.

Unfortunately, there is a bigger issue: Charlie Manual stinks. I know the Phillies are on a 5 game winning streak, so this may seem like odd timing to bring it up (by the way they just swept a team that is in last place). Although Kyle Kendrick pitched well enough to win yesterday 8-4, what I continue to see in how Charlie manages his pitching staff has me worried. If you watched the game yesterday, you saw Kendrick pitch a good game into the 7th inning, only giving up 2 runs. With 2 outs in the top of the next inning, he is up to bat. This is where I pinch hit for him. But why, if they are up 8-2? Because I know what happens next. I’ve seen it literally hundreds of times, including last year’s playoff series. I pinch hit for Kendrick because I know that in the next inning, he is coming out. Sure enough, after 1st and 2nd, he gets pulled.

But they won, and they didn’t need to score any more runs. So what, you ask, is the problem? Well, you could wait until the end of the season when the games matter or the playoffs IF they get there. If you’d rather not wait, I will explain. When Charlie uses this strategy late in the season or post-season, The Phillies will not be up 8-2, because they will be facing better pitching and better hitting (against say, probably the Mets!). The score at that time will be 3-2, 2-2, 4-3, you get my point. It will be close, which means these decisions will matter. So if you take last night’s game and put it in the last week of the season, with the Mets close by (probably in the lead) and the Marlin’s probably still in the race, Charlie lets Kendrick bat for himself and probably strike out. No big deal, we’re still up 3-2. So Kyle starts the 8th inning and gives up a hit, then a walk. That’s ok, let’s bring in Ryan Madson. Woops, there goes a double over Victorino’s head. Now, those 2 guys Kendrick left on base make it a 4-3 game, instead of an 8-4 game like last night. See where I’m going yet?

THEY LOSE!! Not because they don’t have enough pitching, or another lefty out of the bullpen (although that would have been nice). And not because they can’t score runs, although that doesn’t help (since the team that scores the most runs usually wins). No, I will once again put the blame squarely on Manual and his inability to manage the fundamentals of the game. Until he is gone, this team will never win a playoff series, and possibly not even a single game! Well, I guess it could happen by accident, but no thanks to good old Charlie.

P.S. Can you feel the frustration of 100 seasons without a championship?