The Rotation

by Jim Salisbury

  “People think you can jump around and scream and kick them in the ass, and they’re going to react, but let me tell you something, that ain’t going to do anything at all,” Manuel said during the losing streak. “I can scream with the best of them, and I can get just as tough as anyone, but believe me, sometimes that ain’t the way.

  “Players nowadays can tune you out. I can get a response from my players, and I think I have the respect of my players, but at the same time we just got through clinching and we got home-field advantage. We came out the last few days and haven’t played good. Now is not the time for me to go in there and start hollering at people.”

  The Phillies eventually ended the eight-game skid and finished the regular season with four straight wins. In those final days of the regular season, The Rotation served notice it was ready for October. In their final starts of the regular season, the Big Four starters—Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt—combined to pitch 25 innings and allow just three earned runs for a 1.08 ERA.

  For the season, the Phillies starting pitchers had an ERA of 2.86, the best in baseball since 1985. Through all the injuries and all the offensive ups and downs, they were the team’s one great consistency—just as expected.

  One day in late September, someone asked Manuel where the team would be without its starting pitchers.

  “I’d say that we might be getting ready to go home,” he said.

  After completing their sweep of the Reds to open September, the Phillies flew to Miami for a weekend series against the Marlins. For much of the season, the club had three pitchers in the discussion to be the NL Cy Young winner. A bout of shoulder inflammation knocked Cole Hamels out of the race in August, but Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee remained very much in the hunt, along with Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw.

  While the NL Cy Young race lined up for a close finish, the competition in the American League was turning into a runaway. Detroit’s Justin Verlander won his 20th game on August 27 en route to leading the majors with 24 wins. Verlander also led the majors with 251 innings and 250 strikeouts.

  Checking into a Miami hotel before that weekend series against the Marlins, a Philadelphia writer bumped into a scout from an AL club. The scout had just seen one of Verlander’s starts.

  “He’s the best pitcher in baseball,” the scout said.

  Hold on here.

  Best pitcher in baseball?

  That title belongs to Doc Halladay, doesn’t it?

  “Verlander’s the best,” the scout said emphatically. “Detroit’s going to be a bitch if they can get to the World Series and he can pitch three times.”

  It was difficult to argue with the scout’s assessment of Verlander. The right-hander’s fastball approaches 100 mph and he commands it like a finesse guy. He walked just 57 in those 251 innings. He changes speeds. He’s a horse. Maybe he had indeed usurped Halladay’s throne.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” the scout said. “Halladay’s great. I mean great. He’s done it for a long time, and that means a lot. But right now,Verlander’s the best. He’s got weapons. He beats you with his stuff. Halladay beats you with his smarts, his pitchability, his mind. He wears you down and never gives in.

  “They’re both great,” the scout said in the lobby of that Miami hotel on that Friday afternoon in early September. “But Verlander’s the best.”

  Charlie Manuel makes his off-season home in Florida. He loves the state. But if he had his druthers, he’d never take a team to Miami on a weekend.

  “I don’t like those Sunday afternoon games,” he said. “Not only is it hot, but you run into that South Beach problem.”

  Yes, players have always liked “taking their talents” to South Beach on Saturday nights, and sometimes it shows in their play on Sunday afternoons. In former Phillie Lenny Dykstra’s case, it was his non-play. On May 9, 1994, a Sunday afternoon, the Phils were set to play the finale of a series in Miami. Dykstra, as they say in baseball parlance, could “run it” with the best of them, and on that Sunday afternoon, he looked like a man who was in no shape to play a ball game and had no interest in doing so. Manager Jim Fregosi knew this but had Dykstra in the lineup anyway, leading off. With no day off, Dykstra orchestrated his own. He led off the game by taking a called third strike, instigated an argument with home plate umpire Angel Hernandez, and was quickly ejected. Mission accomplished. The Dude spent the rest of the day chilling in the air-conditioned clubhouse.

  This trip to Florida marked the Phillies’ last to the stadium that the Marlins had shared with the NFL’s Dolphins since Major League Baseball came to Florida in 1993. Though two World Series championship teams called the stadium home, it had always been a bad fit for baseball, a garish teal and orange behemoth that lacked baseball charm because it had been built for football. Rain delays were frequent at the ballpark, which has had six different names over the years, and fans were few. The Marlins believe things will change on both counts when they move into their new, retractable-roof, baseball-only stadium in 2012.

  In addition to Dykstra’s day off, the Phillies had some memorable visits to Sun Life Stadium, as it was known in 2011, over 19 seasons. During one trip there, Phillies second baseman Mickey Morandini threatened to knock out the organ player if he didn’t stop playing the theme to The Mickey Mouse Club when he batted. Bobby Munoz two-hit the Marlins in one hour and 54 minutes on July 27, 1994 (the guys must have been in a hurry to get to South Beach that night). Curt Schilling struck out his 300th batter in his final start of the 1998 season in the ballpark, becoming just the fifth pitcher in big-league history to have back-to-back 300-strikeout seasons. Hurricane Georges forced two postponements that weekend. Phillies players busied themselves by playing paintball throughout the stadium one night—Schilling bought all the supplies—and that didn’t make the cleanup crew very happy.

  On the final day of the 2002 season, the Phils were bidding to finish with a winning record and the game went into extra innings. Finishing with a winning record meant a lot to Manager Larry Bowa, but not first baseman Travis Lee. The Marlins scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th. Lee made a catch in foul territory down the right-field line to allow the winning run to score. He could have let the ball drop into foul territory and prolonged the game and the Phillies’ chances of winning it, but his forgettable three-season stint with the team was coming to an end. He made the catch and barely broke stride as he hailed a cab to the airport and out of a Phillies uniform. The Phils finished 80-81.

  In 2006, Manuel’s second as skipper, the Phillies were eliminated from wild-card contention on the final weekend of that season in the Miami ballpark. The Phils’ playoff drought grew to 13 years with the elimination. Sitting in the dugout on the final day of the season, the day after the Phils were eliminated, General Manager Pat Gillick tap-danced around questions about Manuel’s future. Gillick was clearly thinking of firing Manuel. In the end, he stuck with Manuel and the Phillies have gone on to win the NL East five straight times. They won the World Series in 2008. In December 2010, Gillick was elected to the Hall of Fame. Asked at the time what his best move as Phillies GM was, Gillick said, “Sticking with Charlie.”

  Of course, the Phillies’ finest moment in Sun Life Stadium came on May 29, 2010, when Halladay pitched just the second perfect game in team history. So it was kind of fitting he got the ball for the Phillies’ final game ever in the stadium on September 4. It was a Sunday afternoon game, and, to no one’s surprise, strange things happened. The Phillies played the game under protest after the umpires took away a potential extra-base hit from Hunter Pence because of a fan-interference infraction. The umpires made their call after watching video replays. The Phillies squawked because replays aren’t supposed to be used to review defensive plays. The umpires said they determined the fan interference while trying to see if Pence’s ball was a home run.

  “Even if the umpires were wrong in their decision to go in and review it, they got the play right,” Florida Man
ager Jack McKeon said. “Isn’t that what we want from the umpires—to get it right? That’s like a ballplayer who misses a sign and then hits a home run. He screwed up, yet he got it right and hit it out of the park.”

  The Phillies lost the protest and the game, 5-4. Halladay was long gone by the time David Herndon walked in the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning. The game lasted four hours, 47 minutes and finished with only a smattering of fans in the stadium. The Phils ended up going 74-78 in the Marlins’ starter house. Even Halladay, who had authored a great personal memory in the stadium, was happy to put the place in his rearview mirror.

  “I’ll be glad to get out of here,” he said as he headed to the team bus for the flight back to Philadelphia and a brief, three-game home stand against the second-place Atlanta Braves.

  Lenny Dykstra could not be reached for comment.

  The Phillies looked flat in losing the final two games of the series in Miami. That happens during the course of a long season, especially when a first-place team on cruise control plays a dead-end team in a lifeless ballpark. Charlie Manuel couldn’t wait to get out of Miami, not because of South Beach and all its trappings, but because he knew his team was going home where it would be invigorated by the energy of another Citizens Bank Park sellout. What’s more, the Phillies were about to embark on a stretch of seven straight games—three at home, four on the road—against Atlanta and Milwaukee, two potential playoff opponents. The intensity figured to be high and Manuel liked that.

  With Citizens Bank Park in a full, throaty roar, the Phillies opened a quick, three-game home stand with a 9-0 win over Atlanta. Cliff Lee was masterful in registering his sixth shutout, the most posted by a pitcher in a single season since Tim Belcher had eight for the Dodgers in 1989. Lee held the Braves to just five hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out six as he positioned himself for a backstretch charge in the Cy Young race. Coming out of Miami, Chase Utley had been locked in a 2-for-28 slump and Hunter Pence was 0 for his last 11 at-bats. Both hitters came to life in backing Lee at home. Utley had two hits and Pence three RBIs. Rookie Vance Worley picked up his 11th win the next night.

  In a foreshadowing of the damage they would ultimately inflict on the Braves’ season, the Phillies swept the series to go 42 games over .500 and run their lead to 10½ games in the NL East, effectively ending the Braves’ chances of winning the division. But not everything went well for the Phillies in that series. In the finale game, Utley took a 94-mph Eric O’Flaherty fastball off the back of his batting helmet. When the Phillies’ charter flight left for Milwaukee after that game, Utley was not on it. He spent the entire seven-game road trip at home, recuperating from the latest ailment to befall him—a concussion.

  The Brewers were rolling toward the NL Central title and figured to be a good late-season test for the Phillies. They had formidable starting pitching with Zack Greinke, Shaun Marcum,Yovani Gallardo, and former Phillies left-hander Randy Wolf, and a power-packed lineup led by the thundering bats of MVP candidates Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. The Phillies, of course, had some weapons of their own with Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Vance Worley set to pitch in the series.

  Before the first game, Wolf was running in the outfield when he spotted Rich Dubee.

  “Do you have the easiest job in the big leagues, or what?” he playfully shouted to the Phillies pitching coach.

  It was a question that Dubee himself had pondered way back in February when he joked about bringing a recliner to spring training.

  “To have three starters on one staff with ERAs under three—that’s truly remarkable,” Wolf said. “And then they have a guy like Worley step in his first year and go 11-2. Facing that team is the equivalent of a pitcher having to face a team full of .330 hitters.

  “It’s really an awesome staff. Cole throws ninety-four, he cuts it, and has a great changeup. Halladay’s ball never stops moving. Cliff has that pinpoint control. . . .”

  Wolf, who rejected an offer to stay with the Phillies after the 2006 season, shook his head in amazement.

  “Ruben pulled a Houdini,” he said of General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. “He let Cliff go, then got him back. All you heard was he was headed to the Yankees or Rangers and all of a sudden the Phillies got him. It says a lot about that organization that he would go back.”

  HAS ANYBODY SEEN DOMONIC?

  Domonic Brown had a difficult season in 2011, but he did manage to make some history.

  On July 30, he became the first player in major-league history to send himself to the minor leagues.

  The Phillies traded for Hunter Pence on July 29. At the time of the trade, the media speculated that the Phillies would make room for Pence on the roster by sending Brown to Triple-A. MLB Network went a step further than speculating. In the crawl at the bottom of the screen, it reported that Brown had been optioned to Triple-A. The network credited reporter Jon Heyman for the news.

  Brown read the report when he returned home from Citizens Bank Park after the game on July 29. He rose early the next morning, drove to the stadium, packed his equipment, and headed to Lehigh Valley, arriving in the early afternoon for that night’s game. There was just one problem: Brown hadn’t been sent down.

  Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. got a call from a member of the Lehigh Valley staff.

  “Domonic’s here,” the official said. “What should we do with him?”

  “What?” said an incredulous Amaro.

  Amaro had planned to go briefly with one less pitcher and keep Brown around for a couple of days as a pinch hitter before sending him to the minors.

  Amaro phoned Brown from Manager Charlie Manuel’s office in Philadelphia.

  “Domonic, did anyone indicate to you that you were being sent down?” Amaro asked.

  Brown responded that no one had told him anything, that he had read it on his television screen and assumed it to be true. Rather than have Brown drive back to Philadelphia, the Phils went through with the option. They faxed Brown the necessary paperwork, and he played in Triple-A that night.

  Brown returned to the big club in September and laughed about the rookie mistake that cost him a couple of days of service time.

  “I guess it shows I’m dedicated,” he said.

  “To his credit, he went right to work,” Amaro said.

  Wolf added that in addition to being talented, the Phillies staff “probably feeds off each other and pushes each other with a friendly competition.”

  All season long, members of The Rotation pooh-poohed suggestions of such internal competition. But, on that first night in Milwaukee, Hamels confirmed Wolf ’s belief. He had just pitched a four-hitter to lead the Phils to a 7-2 win. It was the staff ’s major-league-best 17th complete game and Hamels’ third. He was still four shy of Halladay and three shy of Lee.

  “I’m trying to keep up with these guys in complete games,” Hamels said.

  Aha! One-hundred-forty games into the season, the truth comes out.

  Halladay and Lee followed Hamels with strong starts and the Phillies won the first three games in Milwaukee. The Big Three combined to pitch 24 innings and allow just four earned runs in those starts. The Brewers salvaged a win against Worley in the series finale, but, all in all, it was a successful visit to the land of bratwurst and beer. It was also entertaining. Second baseman Pete Orr, filling in for the concussed Utley, nearly got pancaked by one of Miller Park’s famous racing sausages as he made his way to his position in the sixth inning of the second game. Everyone in the dugout had a good laugh as Orr escaped death by encased meat, but it wouldn’t have been funny had Halladay been impaled by a Polish sausage. Sacrificing a utility infielder to the baseball gods is one thing, but the best pitcher in baseball? Or the second best? No way.

  “I was about to walk right in front of them,” Halladay said of those speeding sausages. “I actually saw them coming and stopped. Pete didn’t.”

  It’s a good thing Halladay saw the sausages coming. Imagine the zap ha
d he been hit by one.

  Lee and three relievers combined to beat the Brewers, 3-2, in 10 innings the next night and that brought out some gallows humor from the Milwaukee media contingent as it rode the elevator from the press box to the clubhouse.

  “What a grind it must be for Charlie Manuel to manage that team,” one reporter said after the game.

  “Yeah, tonight he actually had to use the bullpen,” another Cheesehead said. “I thought they welded the door shut.”

  “I hear tomorrow the relievers are going to watch the game at Karl Ratzsch’s,” added another, referring to the famous German restaurant in downtown Milwaukee.

  Yes, the Phillies were flying high. They had won six straight games against potential playoff opponents and, at 94-48, were 12 games up in the division. But even as they steamed toward the regular-season finish line and 100 wins, they knew that six months of greatness would quickly be forgotten with a poor showing in October.

  “We’re on a great pace,” Ryan Howard cautioned. “But at the same time, we know what the main goal is. All of this is fine and dandy, but it’s all for naught if you don’t go out and achieve the ultimate goal.”

  The words would resonate all winter long.

  With the magic number for clinching a fifth-straight division title dwindling, the Phillies headed to Houston on September 12 for three games against the Astros. It was a matchup of the team with the best record in the majors against the team with the worst, but you would never have known which was which in the first two games. Houston won the opener, 5-1, as Phillies exile Brett Myers outpitched Roy Oswalt, who made his first start in Houston since being dealt to the Phillies 13 months earlier.