… are down 4-1 in the sixth today in Cincinnati, and Chase Utley leads off the inning with a single. Ryan Howard strikes out, but then Pat Burrelll singles. First and second, one out, Geoff Jenkins up. Jenkins is lefthanded, so Reds’ manager Dusty Baker removes starter Edinson Volquez, who’d been terrific, in lieu of lefty reliever Jeremy Affeldt.
Jenkins grounds out. Baker then goes to a righty reliever, Jared Burton, who strikes out righty Pedro Feliz to end the threat.
Question: Jenkins is part of a right field platoon with Jayson Werth, who hits righthanded. If a lefthander had started the game on the mound for Cincy, Werth would have started in right. So why didn’t Werth hit for Jenkins once a lefty was in the game?
OK, it probably didn’t matter, since the Phils lost 8-2. Managers’ moves are generally overrated, and the last thing This Space wants to do is pile on Charlie Manuel, who’s no genius but takes far too much crap from the clueless. But this one seems so obvious, considering the way the Phillies roster is set up, that it almost wouldn’t have been a move.
If the Reds - who used three pitchers not only in the inning, but in back-to-back-to-back at bats - were acting like the game was on the line, why weren’t the Phillies acting that way?
