Last night, coming off a dismal 2-0 shutout by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday, Roy Halladay took the hill and looked as if everything we'd all been worried about with him has been fixed. His cutter found the edge of the plate routinely, his fastball peaked into the nineties, and he controlled a tight game through six innings, yielding only one run on one hit - with 8 K's.
Even Chase Utley and Ryan Howard did something they hadn't accomplished yet this season -- both hit solo home runs off of a left-handed pitcher (Wandy Rodgriguez). Howard even managed to hit his on a breaking pitch.
Typically, a performance like this from a Phils' starter would lead to a discussion about how dominating this team can be when it plays, well, like a team. Last night, though, a three-quarters-full Citizens Bank Park looked like a Double-A game being played in Harrisburg. Fundamental mistakes and errors (Marte should not have been credited with a ninth-inning triple) on offense and defense, and a brutal showing by the bullpen gave the Bucs a 5-3 victory.
Jimmy Rollins, who has always enjoyed the support of fans and management, made three costly mistakes in this game (94WIP's Angelo Cataldi referred to it as the "hat trick of errors") yet, on the scoresheet, you can't actually "see" any of the miscues. In the bottom of the 1st, Rollins sends a solid line drive into center field. Apparently unaware that Andrew McCutcheon has one of the strongest arms in the Majors, Jimmy decides it's OK to leg out a double. McCutcheon's throw is near-perfect, and Rollins is toast.
Rollins' second mistake of the game came when Humberto Quintero (Phils' catcher) tried to pick a runner off of second after a pitch; Jimmy caught the ball in plenty of time to nail the runner, but missed the tag!
The trifecta of blunders occurred in the bottom of the fifth, with Utley on first, Rollins on third, and Michael Young at the plate. Young hits a medium-hard bouncer to short, Pedro Alvarez tosses to second for the force, and Rollins - who broke late for the plate - can't beat the throw from Neil Walker (2B) to catcher Russell Martin. Toast again.
Jimmy wasn't the only ailment Wednesday evening. Reliever Antonio Bastardo gave up a homer on a meatball to Pedro Alvarez and Mike Adams - who was appearing for the third time in four games - looked exhausted in the 8th inning, and couldn't get his usually mid-90's fastball anywhere close to normal velocity.
Then there was the aforementioned triple by Starling Marte in the top of the ninth. With Clint Barmes on second, two men out, and the Phillies positioned in the hated "no-doubles" defense (which I believe is as useless as the Prevent D in football), Marte hits a pop-up behind first base near the foul line. The ball was well out of Ryan Howard's reach (whom we all know can run the 40 in 4.2 MINUTES), so with the right fielder out of position, Chase Utley is the closest man to the ball. He turns away from the ball to make an (unnecessary) over-the-shoulder basket catch, yet the ball hits the heel of his glove and bounds toward the stands. By the time Utley chased it down, Barmes had scored and Marte was standing on third. I enjoyed Comcast SportsNet's Larry Anderson's call of disbelief when the official scorer put "HIT" on the board. Larry says, "They've given him a hit; it's gotta be a triple. Are they nuts?"
My friends, last week I wrote about how Charlie (Manuel) might be a genius. Today, I need to reflect, and wonder if "genius" and "insane" really do mean the same thing. Either way, he and his team need more than just Doc; they need a real doctor.
In the words of the former Eagles genius Andy Reid, "Time's yours."
ERNDroid
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