CHARLIE'S MANUEL
Charlie Manuel is a fantastic motivator. We hope he remains the Phillies manager. However, Manuel frequently makes poor strategic decisions. We guarantee a post analyzing Manuel's decisions for every Phillies game. Please click on our aliases below to email us.
Blog Archive
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Expected, but not good
That is not bad. The bad part is, however, that Shane Victorino will likely move down to the seventh spot in the order. Jimmy Rollins is coming off a season where his OBP was .296, and he isn't getting any younger. The .296 will certainly rise, but his career OBP is .329; Polanco had a career low in OBP last year at .331 and that will almost certainly rise as well due to his low BABIP in 2009.
Victorino is coming off two consecutive years over .350, and is career OBP is .347. There is no question who the lead off man shoud be in 2010, but it seems that he will be hitting 7th. Unfortunately, the Phils will probably score fewer runs than they should this year.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Carcillo vs. Gaborik
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Preliminary results
Thursday, January 7, 2010
The NHL seriously dislikes the Flyers, loves the Penguins, or both
Sunday, December 27, 2009
More awful officiating

This was a 3rd down play. Brown was down by contact past the 29 yard line, which would have been a first down. The ref decided to spot ot at the 28, for no reason, and Reid did not challenge. The Birds had to punt it away and the Broncos got the tying score on the ensuing possession. Just terrible officiating today.
It's easier to sack the QB when you're offsides
This is the play where McNabb fumbled. The end who sacked him is clearly lined up offsides. I seriously do not understand what the linesmen are watching before the snap. The NFL loves to enact all these rules to "protect the QB," yet they refuse to enforce the neutral zone infraction, which would obviously cut down on QB sacks. Terrible, Mr. Goodell.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
John Fox is dumb
Instead of attempting a 52-yard field goal, which is about a coin-flip for NFL kickers, Fox decided to opt for the high-percentage 35-yard Hail Mary attempt. Shockingly, it fell incomplete and the score stayed 7-6.
John Kasay is 37-74 on 50+ yard FG attempts, exactly 50%. Also, I'd imagine that the majority of those misses came from longer than 52 yards. For Fox to have made the correct decision, the Hail Mary pass should have to be completed about 25% of the time. I'm not even sure that a Hail Mary from the 35 is completed 5% of the time.
If the Panthers lose a close game and the Eagles finish a game behind the Vikings, you can thank Fox for the Eagles' having to play a first-round game.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Done deal?
Monday, December 14, 2009
Hot Stove
Sunday, December 13, 2009
More NFL incompetence


At this point, there's really nothing to say. The Eagles should have had a 50-yard FG at the end of the half, and there should have been about 4 seconds on the clock. Vick scored with 12 seconds left, and they ran it to 10. The fumble recovery occurred at 2 seconds left, and it ran to zero.
But Goodell will tweak the celebration rules before the clock operators.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
ESPN is confused
Unless they are trying to use as few characters as possible to break a news story, it's evident that ESPN doesn't care about its headlines.
"nab [næb]
Notre Dame did not arrest Brian Kelly, catch him in wrong-doing, or seize him suddenly. It was evident a few days ago who they would hire. His name was in headlines before Planet Cholesterol was dismissed. ESPN is either lazy or confused, but since I'm a nice guy I'll claim the latter.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Weird hockey rules
47.11 Instigator - An instigator of an altercation shall be a player or goalkeeper who by his actions or demeanor demonstrates any/some of the following criteria: distance traveled; gloves off first; first punch thrown; menacing attitude or posture; verbal instigation or threats; conduct in retaliation to a prior game (or season) incident; obvious retribution for a previous incident in the game or season.....
This rule is ridiculous. By this definition, every fight will have an instigator. I don't think I have ever seen gloves off at exactly the same moment in time, both players throw a punch at the exact same time, or cowering attitude/posture. Someone must always drop the gloves first, and someone probably asks something along the lines of, "you wanna go?" before every fight due to the penalty of forcing a fight (not making sure it is mutual).
Also, this one:
47.6 Face Protection - If a player penalized as an instigator of an altercation is wearing a face shield (including a goalkeeper), he shall be assessed an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Should the player (including a goalkeeper) who instigates the fight be wearing a face shield, but removes it before instigating the altercation, the additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty shall not apply.
So while the league is interested in protecting players, they coerce you into getting more penalty minutes if you wear a visor.
P.S. I miss John Stevens
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Placido Polanco: The new third baseman
Polanco is a fantastic second baseman, but he hasn't played third base since 2005. Feliz was above-average defensively, so Polanco will probably either equal Feliz's ability or become a slight downgrade. However, Polanco is more mobile and his range may exceed that of Feliz. The defensive difference between the two is likely small.
Offensively, however, Polanco is vastly superior to Feliz, which makes this decision a no-brainer. Polanco has a career .348 OBP, and he has never had a full season below the .330 mark. Feliz, on the other hand, has a .293 OBP and never had a full season over the .308 mark. Their SLG% are a wash (Feliz .422; Polanco .414).
Neither Feliz nor Polanco walk much at all. The difference between the two is their strikeout rate. Feliz strikes out 15% of his plate appearances, while Polanco strikes out at a 6% rate.
This seems to be a perfect move for the Phils, but I am concerned as to where he will be placed in the lineup. Jayson Stark has this to say:
"The Phillies declined the option on third baseman Pedro Feliz last month to see if they could find a righthanded-hitting offensive upgrade who could help balance their left-leaning lineup. They envision Polanco hitting second behind Jimmy Rollins, a move that would drop Shane Victorino lower in the order."
That would be bad. Rollins' career OBP is much lower than both Polanco's and Victorino's. My vote is Victorino as a lead-off man and Polanco in the two-hole, while Rollins swings away from the 7-spot. Regardless of the lineup, however, the Phils have improved pretty significantly.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Phillies upgrade from Paul Bako
Good signing for the Phils.

