Charlie Manuel Watch Thread - 2010 Edition

[Ivytalk]

Howard homers! First Phils bomb in ten days! So what if they're losing...again!

[93henfan]

Howard homers! First Phils bomb in ten days! So what if they're losing...again!

I got some quality AM radio time in tonight on the way to pick up my wife from PHL. The Phils went 68 innings without a homer. Now that's a slump. Here's hoping they start to break out.

Paul Jolovitz had an interesting suggestion for the lineup. He said that Chuck should move Werth to leadoff temporarily to get him to stop swinging for the fence every pitch. Might not be a bad idea.

[GannonFan]

Well, on the positive side, it's getting easier and easier to be able to afford resigning Werth for next year with each crazy at bat he has.

Good to finally see a HR - amazing that this team can go for so long without one. It'll turn around eventually, it's just a question of when. A lot of guys coming back from the DL soon - JRoll could be back this weekend or next week, Happ is throwing off of a mound now, Lidge has been cleared - it'll get better.

[93henfan]

Well, on the positive side, it's getting easier and easier to be able to afford resigning Werth for next year with each crazy at bat he has.

Good to finally see a HR - amazing that this team can go for so long without one. It'll turn around eventually, it's just a question of when. A lot of guys coming back from the DL soon - JRoll could be back this weekend or next week, Happ is throwing off of a mound now, Lidge has been cleared - it'll get better.

They already announced that J-Roll is staying on the DL. Happ should be back after three or four rehab appearances. Polanco could be back by the weekend. Lidge is just another injury waiting to happen.

[JMU DJ]

I was at the game last night. Watching Hamels warm up, I knew things weren't going to turn around. He airmailed his first warm up pitch to the back stop.

Good to see people getting on base and nice to see Howard hit a dinger. Now they just need to get those people in, instead of stranding them. At least I got all my $7 beers paid for.

[bluehenbillk]

Howard homers! First Phils bomb in ten days! So what if they're losing...again!

I got some quality AM radio time in tonight on the way to pick up my wife from PHL. The Phils went 68 innings without a homer. Now that's a slump. Here's hoping they start to break out.

Paul Jolovitz had an interesting suggestion for the lineup. He said that Chuck should move Werth to leadoff temporarily to get him to stop swinging for the fence every pitch. Might not be a bad idea.

Either Jolovitz is a sage or Manuel must've mentioned something in his postgame, becuase lo and behold today's leadoff man is.... Werth.

[93henfan]

I got some quality AM radio time in tonight on the way to pick up my wife from PHL. The Phils went 68 innings without a homer. Now that's a slump. Here's hoping they start to break out.

Paul Jolovitz had an interesting suggestion for the lineup. He said that Chuck should move Werth to leadoff temporarily to get him to stop swinging for the fence every pitch. Might not be a bad idea.

Either Jolovitz is a sage or Manuel must've mentioned something in his postgame, becuase lo and behold today's leadoff man is.... Werth.

Wow! Jollie's other recommendation, assuming Werth at leadoff didn't work out, was to send the team a message for one game by batting in positional order (save for the pitcher still being #9) just to shake things up. If Chollie does that too, then we know he listens to WIP.

[93henfan]

Braves sweep. The slump continues. Phils have scored 13 runs in their last 12 games. 2.5 games back.

[JMU DJ]

The only thing that is making me happy right now, is the cornified site and the combination of "Play him off keyboard cat" with the "Reporter who turns ghetto in 2 seconds".

[youtube][/youtube]

[GannonFan]

Braves sweep. The slump continues. Phils have scored 13 runs in their last 12 games. 2.5 games back.

Well, when the Phils can't hit Derek Lowe you know they are in a major slump. Ibanez sees 9 pitches over 3 AB's - that's just brutal.

[Ivytalk]

Braves sweep. The slump continues. Phils have scored 13 runs in their last 12 games. 2.5 games back.

Well, when the Phils can't hit Derek Lowe you know they are in a major slump. Ibanez sees 9 pitches over 3 AB's - that's just brutal.

Actually, Lowe has pitched pretty well against the Phils over the years. That said, the Phils couldn't hit my 5-year-old neighbor's fastball right now.

[93henfan]

The only thing that is making me happy right now, is the cornified site and the combination of "Play him off keyboard cat" with the "Reporter who turns ghetto in 2 seconds".

[youtube][/youtube]

Very nice!

[93henfan]

Who the hell is this Lidge guy?

[GannonFan]

Well, a win's a win. But when the Comcast "Delivery of the Game" is Werth drawing a bases loaded walk it kinda speaks volumes about the Phils continued offensive woes. But hey, you take the W and move on. Still just early June - 2/3 of the season still to go.

[Ivytalk]

Old Man Moyer pitches complete game 6-2 win over Padres!

[93henfan]

Old Man Moyer pitches complete game 6-2 win over Padres!

He's not dead yet!

[Ivytalk]

Old Man Moyer pitches complete game 6-2 win over Padres!

He's not dead yet!

Next Friday still on, 93?

[93henfan]

He's not dead yet!

Next Friday still on, 93?

[SunCoastBlueHen]

Outside of Moyer pitching very well, it was good to see the Phillies hit the ball a little bit. Hopefully, that will start a trend.

[93henfan]

Outside of Moyer pitching very well, it was good to see the Phillies hit the ball a little bit. Hopefully, that will start a trend.

They better start hitting, with two and a half weeks of AL games starting next weekend.

[93henfan]

It's been sort of obscured by all the other storylines lately, but boy is Joe Blanton having a shitty year so far.

[Ivytalk]

Good old fashioned Phillies baseball last night: come-from-behind 10-8 win over the Fish, complete with dingers by Howard and Victorino, 4 hits by Ibanez, and a nail-biting 9th inning save for Lidge!

And another crappy start by Kendrick.

[bluehenbillk]

Don't like the feelings I'm getting on the Phils, now Chollie & Werth are going at it in the media over Werth pressing because of his contract.

[93henfan]

Don't like the feelings I'm getting on the Phils, now Chollie & Werth are going at it in the media over Werth pressing because of his contract.

Yep. This is creeping slowly toward a write-off season. They're about to enter that killer AL stretch, with two series against a decent Cincy squad, a series against Pittsburgh, and another Braves series before the all-star break. They really need to stay within single digits of Atlanta in the next month and hopefully get Rollins and Happ back by the break. I'm not sure of when Domonic Brown is due to be promoted, but Ibanez (last night notwithstanding) needs to be playing elsewhere. He's been toast ever since the PED rumors started last year.

Not giving up the Phils yet, but they are injured and dysfunctional right now.

[GannonFan]

Don't like the feelings I'm getting on the Phils, now Chollie & Werth are going at it in the media over Werth pressing because of his contract.

Yep. This is creeping slowly toward a write-off season. They're about to enter that killer AL stretch, with two series against a decent Cincy squad, a series against Pittsburgh, and another Braves series before the all-star break. They really need to stay within single digits of Atlanta in the next month and hopefully get Rollins and Happ back by the break. I'm not sure of when Domonic Brown is due to be promoted, but Ibanez (last night notwithstanding) needs to be playing elsewhere. He's been toast ever since the PED rumors started last year.

Not giving up the Phils yet, but they are injured and dysfunctional right now.

A "write-off season"? "Need to stay within single digits of Atlanta in the next month"? I have to say - are you crazy??? The Phils are 2 back of the Braves right now, and only 1 game back in the loss column. Sure the Phils have a tough June, but the Braves do too. They go to Minnesota next, then have Tampa, the White Sox, KC (think they get Greinke in one), then Detroit, and then the Nats with Strausberg in one of them. Schedules are fairly comparable. I sure hope we don't somehow lose 7 games in the standings to the Braves over the next 3 weeks.

This is still the same offense that led the league in runs up until a few weeks ago. And they're still the same offense that scored a bunch over the past two years. I agree that Ibanez is scraping along and certainly Werth is feeling the pressure of a contract year (Chollie's right about that - he's pressing for the big HR and SLG numbers). Same thing happened last year, and lasted longer than this. I'll wait to see where they are by the end of July before I'll be worried. Even without Happ the pitching has been pretty good, and if Halladay and Hamels (and even Moyer) continue pitching this well, that will be more than they had going for them last year.

As for Brown, I'd obviously love to find a way to ship Ibanez somewhere, keep Werth, and plug Brown into the lineup as late as the start of next year. Not sure how one does that with his contract and age, but if he could bring the average up another 20 points who knows?