MIAMI GARDENS -- It's already been a long night, and the clock is tick-tick-ticking toward my flight to Atlanta. But here are some leftovers from a strange game that capped a bizarre week in South Florida.* Jon Lieber has impeccable control. Impeccable. So, does anyone else find it a little fishy that Lieber threw a pitch behind Dontrelle Willis in the second inning? Willis did. "The guy hasn't hit anybody the whole year, and he didn't hit anybody the rest of the game," the Marlins' ace said. "I have to defend myself." To Willis, that meant throwing behind Lieber in the fourth inning. "I returned the e-mail," he said. What ensued was a dugouts- and bullpens-clearing rumble that lacked nothing except actual punches. But there's plenty of time for that. The Phillies and Marlins play nine more times, although not until Aug. 7-9 at the Bank. For the record, the Phillies say Lieber wasn't throwing at Willis. OK, sure.
* One night after failing to block the plate and allowing the tying run to score in the ninth inning, Rod Barajas made another gaffe. In the sixth inning, he attempted a swipe tag on Miguel Olivo but dropped the ball, allowing the Marlins to take a 4-3 lead. Barajas said the throw from first baseman Chris Coste was up the line and away from the plate just enough that he couldn't set his body. Olivo, a fellow catcher, may also have jarred the ball loose with his foot. "It was a late slide, so he had a lot of momentum," Barajas said. "I was surprised the glove stayed on my hand."
* Third-base coach Steve Smith lamented his decision to send Michael Bourn to the plate in the eighth inning. "Bad play. Terrible play," he said. "I feel bad for these guys. They played their [butts] off and I made a decision like that."
* Read more about Charlie Manuel's decision to use Brett Myers with a four-run lead.
Talk to you tomorrow from Atlanta, where I should have another Myers update.
6 comments:
Scott,
When is Charlie going to replace Steve Smith? I can't say I've ever seen a third base coach get as many runners thrown out and made as many bad decisions as this guy. His insane decision to send Howard to the plate with no outs in the 8th inning in San Fransisco (Howard was easily out) likely contributed to the big man's DL stint and may have cost the Phils that game.
I can't think of a third base coach who gets runners thrown out the way Smith does, but I do know someone who makes more bad decisions" Charlie Manuel. I think Gillick is a close second.
Scott it is a shame that Coste has been sent to Reading. I am getting more fed up with Gillick by the day. What else can the guy do. He would be a much better backup than Barajas and his 2 mil or whatever it was contract.
Hopefully the Phils are just keeping Coste around until the date they can trade their free-agent signings. Maybe we can find some suckers to bite on Barajas, and then bring Coste up to back Ruiz up or even split time with him, as well as at third and first, which he's played both of in the minors.
Now Smith cost the Phils a run last night by NOT sending a guy home.
This guy is unbelieveable. I've been watching baseball 30 years and can't ever recall getting angry at a third base coach. They should be invisible.
Anonymous: Steve Smith isn't having a good season. There's no doubt about that, and he's the first to admit it. Remember, also, that Smith wasn't the Phillies' first choice to coach third. They hired Art Howe but watched him back out of a one-year contract to be the bench coach for his close friend Ron Washington in Texas.
But, as I wrote the other day, Charlie said he's going to stick with Smith. It isn't often you see coaches replaced during the season, in Philly or anyplace else.
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