Charlie, We Need to Talk

First and foremost, Tom Gordon has been placed on the 15 game disabled list for being bad recently...I mean because he has a bum shoulder and inflammation of his pitching elbow. The Phillies have recalled left-handed reliever RJ Swindle. I'd assume JC Romero will move to the set-up role, though he has not faired much better as of late. The addition of Swindle gives the Phillies another much needed left-handed arm out of the pen. Please pitch well RJ.

Secondly, before I discuss my frustration with Charlie Manuel, I'd like to make it clear that I do not directly blame him for the loss yesterday. The offense struggled again, what else is new?

Now, I must mention something that did bother me with the skipper. Why in God's name would you fucking pinch-run for Pat Burrell at first base with 2 outs and the bases loaded? Geoff Jenkins is not going to run through the batters ahead of him. Not a chance in hell. Also, the go-ahead run at the time was on second place. Burrell scoring would have been nice, but it wasn't a necessity for the Phillies to take the lead.

So now we're left with Geoff Jenkins in the outfield who is a little faster and a better fielder than Burrell, but his positives there do not overpower is ineptitude at the plate. Not by any means, which we later saw after Jayson Werth tied the game up with his home run, but Jenkins struck out and grounded out.

Charlie, stop pulling your best right-handed hitter, your most powerful right-handed hitter, your only guy in the lineup that reaches base more than 40% of the time for Geoff Jenkins, Eric Bruntlett, and So Taguchi. Just stop. You're really being an asshole with these moves. The only guy that deserves some playing time out of that entire group is Bruntlett. Taguchi and Jenkins do not even deserve roster spots. The fact that Taguchi was left on the roster over Snelling is a joke.

I know you mumble and speak with pathetic grammer, but I truly hope you're not that dumb Charlie. I truly hope that is not the case for your sake. From here on out, please, stop pulling Pat Burrell from the lineup. I've yet to ever see you pull Ryan Howard for a defensive substitution, so why does Burrell have to be pulled.

Stop being an asshole and keep your best players on the field at all times. Outside of Greg Dobbs and Bruntlett on occassion, you have no bench depth (I'm pretending Chris Coste is more of a starter).