Aug. 9 -- MANUEL-MYERS CLASH

BY SCOTT LAUBER

About that nose-to-nose confrontation in the dugout tonight between Charlie Manuel and Brett Myers in the eighth inning:

Myers, as you might imagine, wanted to stay in the game. And he had a point. He'd pitched 7-2/3 superb innings. He had thrown only 93 pitches. Yes, the tying run was at the plate, but there was no sense that Myers wasn't in total command.

Manuel, as you might imagine, wanted to make sure the Phillies held a two-run lead, and with three lefties and a switch-hitter coming to the plate, he figured J.C. Romero and Chad Durbin had the best chance to do that. So, he took the ball from Myers, who made a very public demonstration of his frustration by yelling and stomping his way toward the dugout. When he handed the ball to Manuel, Myers didn't make eye contact. And when Manuel got back to the dugout, he tried to confront Myers, who kept walking. When Myers finally turned around, they came nose-to-nose.

After the game, though, tempers had calmed.

"I wanted to stay in," said Myers, who allowed one run on five hits, walked one and struck out six in 7-2/3 innings for his third consecutive quality start. "I'm a competitor. Sometimes, I let my emotions get the best of me. You've got to control your emotions, and I didn't do a good job of that. But we're all patched up. We're still buddies."

Said Manuel, "It was two strong-willed people who disagreed. Everything's all right. He was wanting to stay in the game. I like that. Two tempers kind of clashed. But it's OK. It's fine."

Myers has some boxing training. Manuel is a pretty tough dude. Not sure who I would've bet on if they had duked it out. Good thing I'm not a betting man.