Random Though

Random thoughts waiting for the second half to begin....

The Florida Marlins announced they are closing the upper deck of Sun Life Stadium to cut costs. The two people who sat there this season will be relocated to Las Vegas.

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The All Star game was watched by fewer people than at any time in its history. "Fair and balanced" Fox News announced the viewership was the "network’s best night of prime time since the “American Idol” finale in May." Maybe Fox can boost ratings next year by combining the two.

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An article online at ESPN suggests scouts are not sold on Jair Jurrgens stuff and that the Braves should consider trading him while his value is at it's peak. I'd bet the rest of the league would love to have his stuff on their staffs.

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Many sources suggest the Phils are considering obtaining Hunter Pence from the Houston Astros. The right-handed bat of Pence would come at a steep price, perhaps the Phils' top pitching prospect. Of course the Astros' GM Ed Wade loves talking turkey with his former employers so this rumor probably has some merit.

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The jurisprudence threads in professional sports are gaining more prominence every day but the public is weary of the steroids-related trials still pending. The most notable alleged abuser still before the bench is Roger Clemens, on trial for lying to Congress, not for using. Lying to Congress! That one is sure to capture the imagination of the American public.

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Last rant on the All Star game:

If you want to know one reason viewership for the All Star game is so low these days, take a look at the box score. Scott Rolen actually started for the NL at third base. He's hitting .241 and still wears that grim expression that fans in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Toronto and Cincinnati love.

No Stars

What a joke!

The All-Star game used to be fun until baseball's lords on high started messing with it forty-one years ago when they decided to have two games in 1960. That was the beginning of the end.

Skip ahead to today. Whereas the biggest news used to be who got snubbed and who got in but didn't deserve to, the current climate is all about defending or decrying decisions by those actually chosen and whether they decide to play or not to play. Oops, let's make that "show or not show". Derek Jeter, undeserving this year but a great player over his career, was chosen for this year's game but declined to play. Yesterday, he even declined to show up. Now everyone who thinks he could hit a fastball has jumped in with an opinion. I neither condone nor condemn Jeeter. Why single him out?

Trust me, no one gives a damn whether he or anyone else plays or not other than the network broadcasting the whole sorry mess and ESPN, which usually fawns over the home run derby contest the night before like it meant something to anyone other than Budweiser or Geico.

Here's all you need to know about baseball's All Star game: fans are invited to vote online early and often. That's right. You can vote up to something like 28 times. MLB even makes it easy by remembering your selection(s) so you don't have to re-enter anything other than the security code each vote.

The All Star game is beyond fixing. It should be taken out and shot.

Anybody Home?

What if they held an All Star Game and no players came?

We're not there yet but this year will see more elected players fail to perform than any time in the history of the mid-season "showcase". Fifteen players have withdrawn from the game, among them several starting pitchers who are ineligible to play because they pitched the previous Sunday. There's an actual rule for that circumstance.

A few elected players are on the Disabled List and unable to perform. Some are nursing injuries and could use the rest.

Who knows, maybe a few were elected but would rather take the kids to Great Adventure or fix that leaking downspout.

Whatever the reasons, the post-election movement of players on and off the roster has never been so dramatic. The question is, does anyone care?

The players' union chief has stated publicly all the excused absences are legitimate. Bloggers and their commenters throughout the land are divided. Bud Selig is oblivious to it all but one wonders how long his honor (with a decidedly deliberate lower case "h") will sit by and watch the contest he's tried to pump up become the only game of musical chairs where those circling don't want a seat!

Selig tried to inject life into the game a few seasons back when it was decided the winning league in the game would get home field advantage for the World Series. That, he insured all, would make the players put a little more effort into the proceedings. It sure does make a difference if the NL wins home field advantage if you are a Phillies fan. Four potential games, including the first two of the Series, without a DH is a distinct advantage.

But in this era of astronomical salaries, incentive clauses and bonuses for election (are there caveats that a player must be elected and play to collect, one wonders?), players put far more stake in their health and future contract negotiations than a mere showcase.

Derek Jeter should be this year's poster boy for all the changes that have taken place. Chasing 3000 hits and struggling at the plate most of the season, Jeter was injured and went on the DL. Still, he was elected the starting shortstop for the AL, a result not unusual for fan favorites whose production has nevertheless dropped. But Jeter returned from the DL, achieved his milestone, going five for five the day he passed the magic number, and then announced he would take a pass in the All Star game for a chance to rest. The argument made for electing aging stars over more deserving players has always been the fans deserve to see their heroes one more time. Apparently, the feelings aren't mutual.

The solution is to junk the game altogether and go back to the rotation system for home field advantage in the Series. Come to think of it, junk the DH, Interleague Play and just about every other "innovation" his honor put in place, upheld, sustained or dreamed up. Nobody seems to like them but him.

Chill

It's a real burden being a glass half empty kind of guy.

What could possibly be bothering me after this weekend's series with the Braves? The Phils took two out of three games to increase their lead over Atlanta to 3.5 games. They sport the best record in baseball going into the All Star break. They scored a ton of runs on Sunday. Rookie Domonic Brown shows flashes at the plate of the stardom expected of him. The big three of Halladay, Lee and Hamels had a superb first half.

Well, for one thing the Phils beat the Braves but didn't face two of their three aces. Jurjens and Hudson will be tough the next time around. And on Sunday the Phils beat up on the righties in Atlanta's bullpen because Fredi Gonzalez was forced to overuse them after his superb lefties worked the night before.

Oh, come on, man, enjoy it.

After all, the Phils played without two of their starters, both of whom were elected to the NL All Star squad.

Chill. Take three days off. Skip the All Star game, especially the home run derby. See you Thursday.

Pitch Hitch

Tommy Hanson's delivery looks like that of a man who is changing his mind in mid windup. He draws back, hesitates at the apex, then flings the ball homeward. The hitch is deceptive to batters, according to all reports, and the results confirm it. Hanson, a highly touted rookie a few seasons ago, has become a premier pitcher. He certainly was one yesterday as he stymied the entire makeshift batting order of the Phils with the lone exception of his opposite number, Cliff Lee. Lee belted the first home run of his career to give the Phils a brief lead.

Dan Uggla tied the score with a four-bagger of his own and that's the way things stood until the eleventh inning when the Braves scored a run on an rbi single by Alex Gonzalez, who is fast becoming a member of the Phillies-killer club and baseball's number one member of that exclusive organization, Brian McCann, launched a two run home run.

The Lee-Hanson matchup certainly lived up to its advance billing. Michael Stutes, who has pitched brilliantly all season, surrendered the Braves winning runs to take the loss.

Cole Hamels faces Derek Lowe in the series finale this afternoon. The Phils look to increase their lead to 3.5 games over the Braves at the break and even the season series at six apiece.

I Told You He Was Great

I take it all back, Raul. You are swift afoot, sure-handed, with a quick bat.

Last night the much-maligned (especially in this space) left-fielder crushed a ball in the tenth inning for a walk-off home run that propelled the Phils to a 3-2 victory over Atlanta in the opener of a crucial three-game series.

The other hero of the night was even more improbable: journeyman pitcher Juan Perez struck out the side in the top of the tenth inning on nine pitches. That's right, fans, the minimum number of pitches to retire the side. Atlanta's contributors to this rare event were Jason Heyward, Nate McLouth and Wilkin Ramirez.

Roy Halladay started for the Phils and allowed Atlanta's two runs in seven innings of work. The Phils hit the ball well all night, totaling eleven hits, but had little to show for it before Ibanez' extra-innings heroics.

The win extends the Phils' lead over the Braves to 3.5 games insuring they will hold onto first place by the All Star break. Game two is this afternoon. A fellow named Lee faces a fellow named Hanson.

Crucial Series

Anyone who says the weekend set with Atlanta isn't a crucial series is seriously mistaken.

The two teams have met nine times thus far in 2011 with the Braves holding a 5-4 lead. Over the last five weeks the Braves have the best record in baseball. On top of that, they began the season on a losing note for the first month and have rebounded dramatically to close the gap with the Phils to 2.5 games. If the Braves take the series they leap into first place. If they take 2 of 3, they close the gap further. If the Phils win, they open a nice lead in addition to making a statement. Everyone in the Phils dugout knows what's at stake.

Atlanta's starting rotation is very strong; their bullpen is even stronger. The offense has sputtered as has the Phils', especially Dan Uggla and Jason Heyward. Should they rebound, the Braves throw a formidable lineup out there every day.

The Phils enter the series without sparkplug Shane Victorino, an enormous loss. They have their rotation set up perfectly with the big three ready to go. They also miss Jair Jurrjens, whose 12 wins lead the NL, and Tim Hudson. Apparently, Fredi Gonzalez didn't feel it necessary to set up his rotation for this series to have his top two available. Don't read too much into that. Gonzalez sees this as a big series, too.

Lousy Loss

Last night's loss to Florida never should have happened as the Phils blew 4-0 and 6-3 leads. They might have been due for a stinker but this one came courtesy of several base-running mistakes, including an uncharacteristic one by Chase Utley, and a characteristic big fat walk-off home run pitch by Danys Baez to Mike Stanton.

John Mayberry celebrated his latest return to the majors by hitting two line-drive home runs, but he also dropped a line drive in the seventh inning. Domonic Brown had an adventurous night, too, misplaying a ball in the third inning that allowed Florida to get back into the game early when two runs scored. He was also called out for missing second base, a call that is virtually never made and in this case probably should not have been upon unofficial review. Still, Brown continues to make the sort of mistakes that leave one wondering and concerned just how focused he is.

With the loss and Atanta's win, the Phils remain three games in front of the Braves. Wouldn't you know it, the schedule makers knew this would happen?! The two teams meet this weekend at the Bank. And wouldn't you know it, Charlie Manuel had this figured all along as well: he has his three aces lined up for the series?!

Game Of Inches & Coincidents

Baseball, its fans love to point out, is a game of inches. Sometimes, those inches can be stretched a little.

Yesterday's loss in Toronto came down to one play, when Shane Victorino broke too soon from second base and was picked off. Raul Ibanez followed with a double that would have scored Victorino and given the Phils a 5-3 lead. That may have been enough padding for Cliff Lee to work what turned out to be the fatal eighth inning a little differently. Instead, Lee was rocked for three home runs as the Blue Jays stormed back from a 4-0 deficit to take the finale of the three-game series and interleague play for this season.

Another common coincidence baseball fans love to point out is how often the guy who just made a great play leads off the next inning. I guess the opposite phenomenon was in effect in Victorino's case; to wit, the coincidence of a player making the game's bonehead play and then asking the fans to vote him into the All-Star game the next day. Oh, well, Shane, all is forgiven. You deserve to go to the AS game and I am voting for you.

While on the subject of interleague play, here's one vote to abolish it immediately. Not only has the novelty worn off years ago, but the schedules are invariably uneven in a given season with some teams playing a lot of contenders while their division rivals play a bunch of patsies. Naturally, interleague play is here to stay because, after all, it is the brainchild of the same alleged brain trust that maintains a DH in one league but not the other. The DH is the premier travesty that really comes into play in the World Series. Should the NL team win the All Star game and thus gain home field advantage for the Series, the only bright idea to come out of the AS game in decades, it can neutralize the AL's clear advantage with the DH being a fixture in that league by hosting four of the seven games, including the first two, if the Series goes the limit.

With new rumors of realignment brewing, the end of the DH fiasco may finally be at hand. Of course, the alleged brain trust could vote to have it in both leagues, something the Players' Union would probably love.

Homecomings

Chase Utley is back and with his return the Phillies' often-moribund offense takes on an altogether different look to opponents. Utley, of course, missed all of Spring Training and nearly the first two months of the season, forcing him to get into game-shape on the job. Frankly, he looked over-matched those first few weeks, facing pitchers who were already deep into their second month of the regular season.

Slowly, he flashed signs of his devastating short, compact swing and yesterday, facing a left-hander, he delivered the game-winning hit, a two run homer, allowing Roy Halladay to win his Toronto homecoming. It was a sort of home-coming for Utley as well.

With Utley hitting again, the Phils lineup is far more potent with Shane Victorino, Utley and Ryan Howard surrounded by an always erratic Jimmy Rollins and steady, dependable Placido Polanco. There aren't any easy outs in that bunch though Rollins and Howard are too prone to get themselves out.

Halladay has had an unusual season. He pitched his sixth complete game of the year yesterday and improved his record to a league high 11-3 with an era of 2.44. Yet he has looked vulnerable at times, leaving more balls over the plate than he did last year, having to work more from the stretch, wiggling in-and-out of jams. But the bulldog in him, and make no mistake this is one fierce competitor, nearly always finds a way to reach back and make the pitch he needs.

Lehigh Legion

It's hard to say what may be churning inside them, but the rookie troika of Vance Worley, Michael Stutes and Antonio Bastardo all looked cool as cucumbers on the outside as they led the Phils to a 2-1 victory over the Red Sox last night. All three players began the season at AAA Lehigh Valley.

Raul Ibanez, batting 1 for his last 22 prior to the night, paced the offense, driving in both runs while falling a triple shy of the cycle. And in the don't-look-now-but category, Chase Utley had two hits to raise his average to .281. Utley also had a stolen base. Watching him run the bases, one would be hard pressed to believe in the Spring he was suffering from a serious injury that might have ended his entire season.

The Lehigh Valley legion was impressive, none more so than Worley. The only Red Sox run came on a double by pitcher John Lackey. After the game many Boston players expressed admiration for Worley's mound presence and assortment of pitches. No one, however, was more impressed than his own manager and teammates. On a squad that doesn't lack starting pitching, the kid held his own.

Stutes pitched a perfect eighth inning and Bastardo, pressed into service as the team's fourth closer of the season after Ryan Madson went on the DL, pitched a perfect ninth. Both have been nothing short of stupendous this season and despite their youth and lack of big league experience, they come into games at critical moments and dominate.

What, us worry?

Efficiency Expert

Cliff Lee is one efficient pitcher. Run to the mound. Run from the mound. Get the ball. Throw the ball. Stick with two pitches (fastball and cutter) in the main. Throw in a very occasional curve. Oh, and win.

Lee threw his third straight shutout last night, the first Phillie to do so since a fellow last name of Roberts accomplished the same more than half a century ago. In the process, he won his ninth game of the season, the third ace on the staff to reach that level, and he extended his scoreless innings total to 32. Too bad he allowed a single run in the previous outing.

On a night when yet another injury left the Phils facing the prospect of using their fourth different closer of the season, Lee forestalled the possibility by going the distance again.

Lee doesn't say a lot, at least not to the press or public. He isn't surly or shy or averse to talking. He's just being efficient.

Rube's In A Cube

The Inquirer's Ray Parillo summarized this season best in his piece this morning:

Maybe this is what the Phillies are: a team that sends its fans filing out of Citizens Bank Park moaning about the futility of its offense, griping about the couple of hours of boredom they endured, stewing in the same frustration that grips manager Charlie Manuel when his impatient lineup helps make another opposing pitcher look like Walter Johnson.

Maybe it's time for those fans to come to terms with the reality that the Phillies are going to be all about pitching and defense.

Or they can do this: They can check the standings each day, find the team is in first place, and tell themselves all is right in their imperfect world.


Rube's going to have to make some moves because he knows better than anyone else with the exception of his manager this team was built to win this year. He has to acquire another bat at the very least and could use some bullpen help given how much he is relying on two young guys and an injured Ryan Madson. We won't even talk about Madson's impending free agency or that his agent isn't exactly Philly-friendly. Those are post-season problems and the the Phils have plenty of problems to solve this season.

Comings And Goings

Roy Oswalt always looks like he'd rather be somewhere else, perhaps sitting on a tractor in Mississippi. He sure doesn't look happy to be here. Last night Oswalt gave up a home run, a few seeing-eye hits and lo and behold he was down 4-0 after two innings. He really looked like he wanted to be riding that tractor. He's a man of few words, none of which seem to express much pleasure in playing baseball any longer.

Truth is, Oswalt has never sounded particularly happy to be in Philadelphia either. Last night, after two innings of mediocre work, he left the game claiming his lower back tightened. Oswalt has had back problems in the past. He's even spent time this season on the DL recovering from miseries. Combined with a loss of velocity if not words, Oswalt just looks like a guy who wants out. One of the heralded four aces before the season began, Oswalt hasn't received much support in some of his outings but, he hasn't exactly pitched well in others.

It isn't much of a stretch to speculate that Oswalt would like nothing less than to just go home. When a tornado ripped through his home town in early Spring he did just that...for a week...with the Phillies' blessings. I have no idea how popular or not Oswalt is with his teammates, but he sure doesn't go out of his way to make himself well-liked to the rest of the folks around these parts.

His latest injury combined with Joe Blanton's problems presents the Phils with some issues to resolve. Kyle Kendrick and Vance Worley are the available choices to fill their spots; indeed, Worley is already poised to permanently fill Blanton's fifth spot provided he can do the job consistently. With Oswalt's injury the Fab Four are down to three. Moreover, the injuries to him and Blanton preclude the possibilities of trading them at the deadline for a needed right-hand bat.

The Phils have an option for Oswalt next year; he has a no-trade clause and a huge salary. My crystal ball sees him riding a tractor sooner than later.

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The Sixers drafted a big center out of USC with the the sixteenth pick in last night's draft. With all the guys playing basketball around the globe, to be the sixteenth pick says a lot; so, too, however, does the fact that fifteen teams passed on Nicola Vucevic before the Sixers grabbed him. No one knows how a draft pick will turn out. Evan Turner wasn't very impressive last season and he was one of the first guys chosen. Meanwhile, some late picks blossom into real stars.

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The Flyers stunned everyone in hockey, especially Mike Richards, when they traded the their captain and his buddy Jeff Carter to two different teams yesterday. I was not surprised Richards was sent packing. He was a good two-way player who would disappear at times offensively. Last season he had a terrible offensive game for much of the end of the season and the playoffs when measured by goals and assists and it was only afterward we learned he had an injury.

But that's not really the reason they moved him now. The coach, the owner and the media didn't like the often sullen and defensive captain. There's a good chance those feelings extended to the locker room, too. If a player's production is deemed inadequate, a sour personality won't save him, either. Richards wore a pained expression just about any time he had to answer a question from someone outside the locker room. It always seemed to be such a chore for him to speak.

I don't suppose he has a tractor waiting for him somewhere just yet, but perhaps Roy Oswalt can suggest a model when Richards is ready.

Phils Take First Two From Cards In Presence of Genius

Apparently the Phils have found a way to win in the presence of self-anointed genius, a.k.a., Tony LaRussa.

For the second night in the row the Phils beat the Pujolsless Cardinals and in the process increased their major league best winning percentage. Cliff Lee continued to do it all, pitching, fielding, hitting the ball hard if not safely. Lee is a real pleasure to watch. Get the ball; throw the ball; field the ball. The Phils' TV commentators love to talk about athleticism. In Lee's case, they cannot say enough.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Rollins hit his fourth round-tripper in June and Ryan Howard belted a two-run shot, his ninth at the new Busch stadium, a major league best. The cameras immediately cut to his jubilant family in the stands. The Big Piece likes to hit in his home town.

Tuesday night's bizarre win featured another fine performance from Roy Halladay, who got no decision despite holding the Cards to a lone run. The 43 minute eighth inning, in which the Phils scored nine runs without benefit of an extra base hit (fourteen batters only managed four hits that inning) was vintage LaRussa. Hit batsmen (probably on orders from the bench in the case of Howard), five pitching changes. Management only a mother could love.

Wanted: A Right-Handed Bat

This latest loss sticks in the craw.

The temporary offensive surge of the last home stand came in part at the expense of the currently worst team in baseball, the Florida Marlins.

The two losses in Seattle underscored the ineptitude of the Phils offense, particularly from the right side of the plate. Sending Ben Francisco out there in any capacity, DH or position player, is an experiment long-since deemed a total failure.

Are the Phillies so old these days that several starters have been getting a day off? Do we really need Minnie Mart in left field instead of John Mayberry?

The real sign of Cole Hamels' maturation, everyone agrees, has been his ability to take adversity in stride. Based on the lousy support he's received on too many occasions this season, this is ONE MATURE GUY!

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Speaking of the Marlins, they are rumored to planning to name Jack McKeon the new manager. McKeon has been there before and won it all, but at 80 years of age you have to wonder what all parties are thinking. Stay tuned. If McKeon does take the job, will the Orioles bring back Earl Weaver?

Report From The Dark Side Of The Moon

Two games, two different results.

Most observers including this one thought game one on Friday night was going to be tough to win.  The Phils were:

1. Flying across the country after a day game, arriving at their Seattle hotel in the wee hours of Friday morning.
2. They were facing a young pitcher they'd never seen before.
3. They were sending Roy Oswalt to the mound, he of the diminishing stuff.
4. Raul Ibanez was playing left field.

Sure enough, the Phils didn't manage a hit until the sixth inning. Meanwhile, Ichiro, the greatest player on the planet few if any of us know, reached base three times and scored three times.

The Phils had some chances, but as is their wont, squandered them. Results: an expected loss.

Game two was Saturday night. The Phils would be well-rested if by well-rested one means they went to bed and woke up in the same time zone.

Vance Worley, back from another stint at AAA, was the starter for the Phils. Opposing him was the Al reigning Cy Young winner, Felix, the King, Hernandez. The Phils scored early against Hernandez but squandered a chance to score more. One had the sinking feeling they'd failed to really get to Hernandez early and would regret it later.

The feeling grew when Vance Worley struggled in the first. He wasn't fooling anyone as the Mariners hit the ball hard against him, but he wiggled out of the inning. Fortunately, unlike the night before, he kept Ichiro off the bases in that first inning or things would have turned ugly early.

While Worley struggled the rest of his stint, yielding a home run to highly touted Mariners' rookie Dustin Ackley and being bailed out with a play at the plate that nailed Mike Carp, Hernandez kept the Phils at bay until they scored two in the seventh inning on Shane Victorino's chalk-hugging ground rule double.

Michael Stutes and Antonio Bastardo followed and held the Mariners in check and Ryan Madson closed the game striking out, fittingly, Ichiro Suzuki, who rarely strikes out.

It was a good win for the Phils who can clinch the series behind Cole Hamels this afternoon.

Wake Up!

The Phils are on a roll so, naturally, they boarded a plane last night and flew to the most distant part of the contiguous 48 states last night.  Egad, they are on the dark side of the moon.  The 10:10PM start times are well past my bedtime.  What's a fan to do???

Worse, this is one of our few opportunities to watch one of the best players of this generation, Ichiro Suzuki.  Even though Ichiro is reportedly in somewhat of a decline, hitting a very mortal .269 (he's a lifetime .329 batter), he is still worth watching.

I am going to have to stay awake.

The Butcher Of Left Field

Just when Raul Ibanez thought it was safe to give out his private email address, along came last night.

He was absolutely brutal in the field, costing Roy Halladay a possible victory single-handedly by failing to catch an admittedly tough ball near the foul line, one which a good fielder would have had, and then completely butchering a ball hit back toward the wall a batter later.  Ibanez is an utter liability in the field, more than neutralizing his feeble offense.

Speaking of that feeble offense, his stepping out and adjusting his batting gloves while spitting is getting so old to the point of being positively nauseating.  I've never seen an allegedly solid veteran batter fooled by more pitches than Ibanez, who can no longer get around on a fastball, bails out on breaking stuff, and is always vulnerable to high hard stuff.

Frankly, I'd bench him permanently and give John Mayberry one last full time chance.  At the very least the Phils would have a good glove out there.

 OK, watch now, Ibanez gets fifteen hits today and makes a top ten play in the field.  NOT.

Tops In MLB

How do they do it?

The Phils beat the Cubs again yesterday and saw their record improve to a major league best 40 wins.  One is tempted to repeat the maxim "good pitching beats good hitting."  In the Phils' case this truism would largely apply were it not for the utter lack of consistent, good hitting they have suffered much of this campaign.  But the numbers don't lie.  Forty wins by the second week in June and only a week since most of the anticipated starting lineup was intact.

They still have to sort out the back end of their starting rotation.  Meanwhile, the middle portion of the bullpen, the seventh and eighth inning guys, seems to be sorting itself out...for now at least...with the emergence of Michael Stutes and Antonio Bastardo.  As for the back end, that job now seems securely held by Ryan Madson.

On the offensive front, the continued development of Domonic Brown is critical.  Lately, he is producing prodigious uppercut swings aimed, it always seems, at producing home runs.  Once he calms down and levels off his swing the line drives will come and he will be more productive.  Veterans Jimmy Rollins and Raul Ibanez have to survive the coming long, hot days of summer.  Chase Utley has to regain his stroke and adapt to the periodic days off he never liked but appears willing to accept.  Ryan Howard has to go to left field more.  His plate discipline is forever wandering but the rbi's seem to come anyway.  Shane Victorino has to stay healthy as does Placido Polanco. 

As for Chooch, well, if he hits his weight he's still the key to the Phils' success.  He just knows how to handle pitchers and manage a game. And in this latest pitchers' era, having an outstanding field general behind the plate is of incalculable value.