Phillies April Report Card

[tbng]

Phillies April Report Card (plus 1 game in March)


Howard: F – He couldn’t have been worse

Utley: A+ - The best there is at second base

Rollins: I – Come back soon, J-Roll

Bruntlett: D+ – Started in the gutter but coming on

Feliz: D – Great fielder; so far that’s all

Burrell: A – Pat the Bat arrived

Victorino: I – Need the boy in center field

Jenkins: D – A disappointment to this point

Werth: B – You can’t get him out of the lineup

Dobbs: A – Mr. Clutch

Taguchi: D – He’ll get better – I hope

Ruiz: D – Pitchers love him; so do the other teams' pitchers

Coste: A – 35-year-old benchwarmer. Why?

Hamels: A – King Cole

Myers: C- – Maybe he was a closer after all

Eaton: C+ - A surprise when not blowing big leads

Kendrick: D – Sophomore jinx?

Moyer: C+ – Mr. Smoke and Mirrors keeps us in the game

Durbin: A – Can he keep on keepin’ on?

Romero: A – Sometimes it’s on a wing and prayer

Lidge: A+ - Giving up nothing

Gordon: B- - Oh, Lord, that opening day, but since . . .

Seanez: A- Oh, how some here laughed

Condrey: D – Not cutting it

Madson: D – Not getting the job done

[Steve Jeltz]

Uncle Charlie's grade

Bat Manuel: F+ Bat has already cost the Phillies 3 games this year. The first was on opening day when he bought Gas Can Gordon in to pitch the 9th against the Nats in a tie game, essentially conceding defeat. The Nats happily accepted Bat's gift and scored 6 runs off of Gordon.

The second was a few days later in Cincinnati, when he left Eaton in to pitch the 8th with a one run lead and watched him promptly cough it up. In the 9th, Manuel eschewed bringing Lidge into his Phils debut in a tie game. The Reds get runners on 1st & 3rd with 1 out. Bat again bungles Baseball Managing 101 and does not intentionally walk a Reds hitter to force a putout at every base and the Phils lose.

Game 3 was at Milwaukee. With both Durbin and Romero ready in the pen, Bat leaves Hamels, with over 100 pitches, to start the 8th with the Phils nursing a one run lead. After Hamels gives up a leadoff double, Bat again refuses to lift Hamels and lets him pitch to Fielder, who already had homered in the game. Fielder blasts a 2 run HR of Hamels. Game over.

At this rate, Manuel will cost the Phillies about 15 wins this year with his managerial genius. He has probably cost the Phils 15 wins every season since 2005. We didn't need Jim Leyland.

[Judway]

I think Charlie is a great baseball man, he has a flaw however, and that is his mindreading is weak. Looking into the future is not his strong point.
By the way, how arw the Tigers doing?