Phillies GM Ruben Amaro hit the apple on the head yesterday when he talked about the Phillies taking a new approach at the plate. They can’t pound the ball anymore like they did a few years ago, so they have to use a different strategy to score runs consistently.
“I think we have to have a different mind-set or approach than maybe we had in ’08 or ’09,” Amaro said. “I think it’s a different ball club. I don’t think we have nearly as much power. I think we have to rely on having better at-bats, being better with two strikes, and being better situational hitters. Frankly, those are things we’ll have to change if we want to be a championship-caliber club and get to the World Series.”
The went into in the playoffs as a favorite to win the World Series because of their starting pitching not because of their hitting. We all knew that it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Phillies offense struggled because they had struggled all season long.
Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels delivered, but poor outings by Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt put the Phillies in jeopardy and their hitting couldn’t save them. I knew after game two when Lee couldn’t hold on to a 4-0 lead that the Phils were in trouble.
If somebody had told me before the series that both Lee and Oswalt were going to have 7.50 ERA’s by giving up five runs in six innings, I would have told you the Phils were going to lose.
A few years ago, the Phils had enough pop in their lineup that they would have gotten a homer or a couple of extra base hits to get runs on the board. They’re not the same ballclub anymore.
Now they have to fight to get base runners and do a much better job of manufacturing runs. The Phils must learn to wear pitchers down by stretching out their pitch count by swinging only at strikes.
Unfortunately most veteran players don’t change their habits later in their careers. Some way or another Charlie Manuel is going to need retrain his hitters and that won’t be an easy thing to do.
DUH… we all knew this..
Howard needs to start with the basics and learn to be a hitter not think long ball all the time… he is the most frustrating hitter and i hate him for it..
Howard is Cerrano from Major League…
I really liked what Michael Bourne has developed into. I think that his OB% is fairly high, and he also led the league in steals. Ideally, he can play RF, CF- he did when he was here last, and possibly left field. Not to say that he is the greatest hitter, but he does at least work the count and attempts to get on base to start the inning. His speed is electric, he does demand a lot of money. He only is making 4.2 million and lastly, he is now a free agent. I think adding a player like this in the lineup helps us to replace Ibanez and add much more speed to the top of the lineup.
..correction… He doesn’t demand a lot of money.
Ideally, you can get much younger by letting Jimmie go. I know it sounds like blasphemy, but I think that this core has to be broken up. There is a lack of hunger with them. I think that they need fresh blood.
I beleive that they should go after Reyes. He may be a bone head, but he can hit. He like Bourne adds a great dimension of speed to. Imagine the two of them in the top half of the line up flying around the bases, followed by Hunter Pence batting third. You may be guaranteed two to three runs a game by them playing more small ball and being more opportunistic.
As much as I like Charlie Manuel I think the best solution is to fire him and hire Terry Francona. The Phillies have MORE POWER hitting than the did in ’08, ’09 Werth is the only guy not in the line-up from then and they added Ibanez and Pence. At the end of the day the Phillies do need a different mentality and from my perspective the only way to get that is with a new manager.
The phils have more power hitting then they did in 08 09 ???? Wat phillies team are you watchin butch
To Butch,
That may be the craziest thing I have read on here in a while… Are you ok???
Fire Cholly ,NOW !!! ,Who is he trying to B.S. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!This team is regressing and is getting old period . Let Rollins walk , trade Utley for youth when he still has trade value ,try to unload Polanco and Howard somehow !!! Flat out release , Ibanez,Gload and Shnieder . Cholly’s idea of a hitting coach is hit homeruns period ,and he is not going to change . He will never buy into the small ball consent ,meaning bunt , use the hit and run , steal bases ,anything to advance the base runners . Yes, FIRE .CHOLLY NOW !!! and hire Ryan Sandberg to manage before some other team grabs him to manage thier team .
To Riley1
Double check your contract status on Michael Bourne,
I am almost positve that he has 1 more year left on his Contract with the Braves and will not be a Free-agent to after next Season… I remember reading this is one of the main reasons the Braves traded for Bourne since they would have him for the entire 2012 Season as well instead of just
a couple of months..
Back to the Artice
#1) This is not Charley Manuels Coaching Style, he’s not a small ball type of Manager
#2) The Phillies have veteran players who cannot all of a sudden develop the techniques, talents and plate discipline to be edffective in small ball. They are what they are which is long-ball hitting team and when they are struggling, they will struggle to put th eball in play and score runs.. The biggest problem is as they players get older and more injured and don’t recover as well as they used to, these slumps last longer.. their bats are not as quick to get around as they were back in their primes. This Phillie Teams needs 4-5 pieces to it but to say you going to change the lifelong habits of the Managing Style of Charlie Manuel or the Hitting approach of players like J-Ro, Victorino and Utley at this stage of their careers is unrealistic and not going to happen…
As far as Firing Charlie, no way.. He’s under COntract for 2-3 more years,
the current Bench Coack Pete someone or another will probably take the Red Sox job so Charlie should promote Ryne Sandber as his Bench Coach with the arrangement that he will take over as Phils Manager when Charlie’s deal is up or retires.. I do agree that letting Sanberg go as a player was one of the Phillies biggest mistakes in Franchise HIstopry, and I would hate for them to lose him again as a Manager material who has the makings of a good one and will be in demand by many other clubs.. ..
even in failure, the phillies don’t invoke the wrath of the fans like the eagles do, manuel, in spite of his alleged shortcomings, is likeable, he is honest, he is one of us, the phillies management at least portrays themselves as one of us, the eagles management and coach disrespect the fan base, they are most hated by us who still live in the area, but it seems that the foreigners defend this organization, the time is at hand for reid’s departure, and a new era of eagles football will arise
It is amazing that the Phillies huge disappointing finish to what was supposed to be their “Dream Team” was met with any real outrage or the usual “fire the bumbs, get rid of this guy, or that coach”.. This Phillie team was 2nd only to the YAnkess in team Payroll of $170 Million and with the 4 Horses on the Pitching Staff was supposed to be a sure fire team to get to the Woreld Series and win it all… Wheres the outrage, where is anyone calling out Pithcher Cliff Lee for blowing Game #2 after a 4-0 Leade and gave life to the Cardinals squad who playerd better all around ball and desreved to move on… I heard way to many, we’ll see you next year or PItchers and Catcher report Feb 27… What kind of diehard fans are these… If you are satisfied with Winning 102 Games and winning the NL East by 8 Games than great.. but this team was built to win now and win the World Series, and going out in the 1st Round is pretty bad and just like losing a Wild-Card Round game in the Football almost means to me that you didn’t even make the Post-Season .. I guess many of the Phils fans are just happy they had a good season, but we will look back at this 5-6 Phille year-run and say to ourselves, how did this Phillie Franchise only win 1 World Series…and in the end, at least for this 2011, my dubbing this team as “Phillie Lite” back in March became a reality, for they were really a middle of the pack Offensive team in most hitting catergories and that is just not good enough to be a great baseball team or a Champion in today’s Baseball…
Am I happy they went quietly out with a only a whimper, of course not, I much rather be getting hammered by everyone claiming that I don’t know Jack, and the Phils are the best thing since Cheesteaks and Pizza.. but this tending did not surprse me one bit and it’s everyday line-up was overrated and looked old to me… .
paulman, you are out of touch with the pulse here, we are hugely dissappointed, almost like a funeral of a loved one who died who should not have or at his own hand, but there is not the anger like there is with the eagles, I was at the game five, they were busting their asses, and even though we thought it might end up poorly, we busted our assess with them, they are likeable, their manager is also, ownership, and their is a feeling they will be back to compete again for a championship, you are too far away, too objective in your analysis, this team has heart, it has pitching, it will be in the hunt for the forseeable future