On Monday, when the Phillies announced they added RHP Joe Bisenius to their opening-day roster, manager Charlie Manuel promised he'd use the hard-throwing prospect. He said Bisenius' last three spring-training outings, including a scoreless inning last Friday night against the Red Sox when he fanned Manny Ramirez, reassured him that Bisenius wouldn't be overwhelmed by the major leagues. Manuel even waxed poetic for a few moments about the old days when players used to cut their teeth in the majors instead of spending years in the minor leagues."He's definitely worth a shot because of his talent," Manuel said. "He's got good stuff. I'm going to pitch him. He's going to get to pitch. He's going to be used in some tough times."
Well?
The season is two games old, and the Phillies are 0-2, largely because of their bullpen. While it's true that their vaunted offense hasn't scored many runs (six in two games against Braves pitching), the Phillies were four outs from winning Monday's opener and three from winning tonight's game. Both times, they lost the lead, then the game in extra innings. And, both times, setup man Ryan Madson served up the game-winning home run. Tonight, closer Tom Gordon gave up a two-run, game-tying homer to Brian McCann before Scott Thorman won it against Madson.
Bisenius, 24, has never pitched above the Double-A level, and because of that, the Phillies were hesitant to include him on the opening-day roster. In fact, they told Bisenius that he was being sent to Triple-A Ottawa after last weekend's exhibitions against the Red Sox. But injuries to Freddy Garcia, Jon Lieber and Chris Coste opened a roster spot.
They shouldn't be reluctant to use Bisenius in late-inning, close-game situations. Two years ago, the White Sox called up Bobby Jenks from Double-A, and he became their closer in the postseason, helping them win the World Series. Last season, Joel Zumaya became a dominant setup man for the Tigers after only eight games in Triple-A the previous season.
While GM Pat Gillick keeps searching for a setup man, the Phillies might as well find out if they have one right under their noses.
2 comments:
Clearly, this is the post that everyone needs to heed. If not Bisenius, then someone. It's so hard to imagine why PG lets guys like Hermanson, Rincon, and Villone sit while this bullpen struggles. What role could they possibly 'not fit' to at the very least be considered? I hope you're spot on with the Lieber note that puts him in in late inning relief. Madson simply isn't catching anyone by surprise the way he did a few years back. Hindsight says we shouldve given Fultz what he wanted.
Id like to know the last time two consectutive 100+ pitch games by Phils starters were thrown. That's gotta tell you something.
Watching this team is just so frustrating. We all expected the worst when Hamels was pulled, but Geary got out of it and had us all thinking 'finally' -- only to be outdone by Flash. It's stereotypical to say that it's typical Phils baseball, but it really SEEMS like it happens to us all the time.
The only thing Gilick has under his nose are nose hairs. He and Manuel saw their days a long time ago
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