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We all know that Charlie Manuel does not exactly have the speaking presence of JFK when he is in front of cameras. But people continually claim that Charlie is one of the best hitting coaches around. Really? So you mean to tell me that bumbling guy in front of the mike is a hitting guru of sorts?
How is that possible? Well, Charlie gave us an answer when he explained better than anyone why the Phillies have been struggling so much offensively this year. I’ve heard all sorts of answers from no swagger to a delayed World Series hangover to the whole Cliff Lee situation. Both nothing concrete until now.
"They've made adjustments to us, and we haven't made adjustments to them," Manuel said. "If you sit there day in and day out and watch us play for the last couple of years, especially Jimmy and Victorino, they got more fastballs. Now they get a lot of breaking balls, a lot of changeups. Then the pitchers like to ride fastballs up and out of the strike zone. And they're aggressive and they like to chase them. And they go to school on a lot of our hitters.”
That is pretty insightful by Charlie Manuel, don’t you think?
"When they make adjustments, you're supposed to make adjustments with them. We need to improve. We can make adjustments. If I want to summarize it real quick, they pitch us backward. They start us soft and finish hard. If they get ahead of us, they'll try to finish us up and out of the strike zone."
Then he discussed the issue of walks. See, the Phillies rank 9th in the league with 298 walks. After ranking first in 2005, 2006, and 2007, they dropped to fifth in 2008, seventh last year, and now ninth.
"We do not walk," Charlie Manuel said.
"We don't teach walking," Manuel said. "But get a good ball to hit. By getting a good ball to hit, it means you're working the count. When you see us up 3-0 or 3-1 and we're chasing a changeup or breaking ball, that's focus. That's not discipline. That's getting away from the things that we had before."
As good as it is to hear a solid answer as to why the Phils’ offense has done nothing all year, it is alarming to hear those comments. If batters refuse to adjust to pitchers and take what they are giving them, they have nobody but themselves to blame for missing the playoffs.
If pitchers are pitching backwards, we should not be seeing first pitch swinging. You swing at the first pitch because you assume you will get a good fastball to hit. If you aren’t getting that fastball, DON’T SWING.
That’s what they were doing in the beginning of the year. Remember how we were working pitch counts and walking a lot? Giving patient at-bats?
It's not fire that the Phillies are missing, it's discipline. Yes, injuries have hurt this club. But when you give undisciplined at-bats and refuse to make adjustments, you have given up the right to use injuries as an excuse. |
