In Monday night's loss to Arizona, Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel had a decision to make. Allow an effective starting pitcher (Freddy Garcia) to bat, or pinch-hit in hopes of a rally, and spin The Bullpen Wheel of Doom. Charlie chose to pinch-hit, and his bullpen blew the game. Twice.In Tuesday night's game, Manuel was faced with the same decision. Leave Adam Eaton in the game, or pinch-hit. Manuel chose to allow Eaton to bat. It was just a different path to the same precipice. Eaton blew the game in the next half-inning, sending the Phillies to another loss, 3-2.
There were some positives. Eaton allowed only 3 ER over 7 innings, lowering his ERA from 8.18 to a spiffy 7.43. (Unfortunately, he gave up 450 ft.+ HRs to Eric Byrnes into a restaurant, and Tony Clark, a titanic blast that landed in Toronto's Rogers Centre.) Greg Dobbs, starting at 1B for an injured Ryan Howard, homered, as did 2B Chase Utley. Utley's HR was dunked into a swimming pool past the outfield fence.
The Arizona announcers performed ably, with their high point being a Joe Dirt reference made with Eric Byrnes (and his mullet) at the plate. Announcers always receive bonus points for JD references, as Joe Dirt is one of the greatest classics in the history of the motion picture. After Clark's titanic blast into orbit, a D-Back player in the dugout was heard on the microphone, saying,"That JUST got out of here." Also quite humorous. But there were no paper airplanes or Pet #5 Starters in this one.
It was kind of a desultory effort for the Phillies (only 5 hits). Might not have been worth staying up until 1am to watch. They play at 6:40pm Wednesday, in the final game of the series. Hopefully, Jamie Moyer can outduel Randy Johnson in a matchup of old and wizened pitchers.
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