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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PHILLIES v DODGERS

October 16, 2009

Charlie Manuel

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Two

Q. Do you manage more with your gut in October than you do in the season?
CHARLIE MANUEL: I'd say how I feel, my gut feeling definitely comes into play quite a bit. I really -- during the game I talk to Rich Dubee a lot. As far as running the game from an offensive standpoint of hitting and things like that, I kind of -- I really get up into it, and that's kind of -- I can relax doing that.
But with the pitching, I definitely like to stay close to Dubee, and I talk to him a lot during the game, and I think he plays a big part in the moves that we make. He makes suggestions and I make a decision.
But at the same time I think it's very important that we have -- that we try to put ourselves in a good position of course to win the game and finish the game in a manner that we want that certain guy against their certain hitters. And I think that becomes big this time of year, and I think at times it's difficult, too.

Q. As a guy who will manage by his gut, do you think you developed that instinct as a Minor League manager where maybe you don't have all the resources of scouting, et cetera?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Yeah, I think I definitely -- that definitely plays a part in it. I think all the years I've been in baseball, all that comes into play. I think that sometimes -- I don't mind matching up and definitely when I look at a match-up sometimes, especially when a pitcher is dominating a hitter, like he's 0 for 10 with five, six, seven strikeouts, something like that, I definitely intend to look at those things.
But at the same time, I try to measure up who we have and what our guys got to basically put on the hitter. I think definitely that's when the gut comes into play.

Q. I know you know him well, but what did you make of the way Manny reacted after the home run? I know back when you played, that really wasn't tolerated.
CHARLIE MANUEL: I've been asked that a whole lot. I used to get -- I look at that -- this is a funny game. Some guys can hit a home run and stand there and kind of admire it, and they get away with it. Other guys hit it. People are going to say something about it. I think what's good for the goose is good for the gander. I think if you do it, and if you can back it up or whatever, I think it might be all part of who you are.
I think anymore nowadays it is kind of a show, because the game is a show, everything about it. It's a lot of color in the game as far as the uniform. Look at my bracelet here. I've got a little Phillies bracelet on. I don't think I would have worn that 20 years ago. (Laughter).
But anyway, I think that's what the game has come to, and I think the fans like that.

Q. Kind of going back to what Jim was asking, was there any discussion in the eighth inning of bringing Eyre, I think, to face Ethier? You had that opportunity. I just want to know what that discussion was like. Was that a gut decision to stick with Madson.
CHARLIE MANUEL: Basically I don't know if I'd call that a gut decision. That was kinds of a decision that we -- Rich and I were standing there, and the things that we talked over was we kind of had to let Madson go on Ethier because we definitely was going to give him problems if we took him out and have someone to hit for Manny, like put on Manny. So we decided that we got caught in kind of a predicament where that's what we had to do.

Q. You said you weren't going to talk about the rest of the rotation after Game 3 until you played a couple games. Are you going to wait until after today's game to get back to Philly or wait until after Game 3?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Probably we'll announce it I'd say probably when we get to Philly. That's something that we'll discuss after today, probably on the plane tonight. We've got plenty of time to sit and talk about that. We'll probably announce it sometime tomorrow.

Q. In terms of showing up, if we can stay on that theme, when Howie botched the throw in the pickoff in the NLDS, Cole got the ball back, snapped very flamboyantly. Yesterday when the double play ball was thrown into the dugout, he threw his hands up in the air. Do you accept that as a manager?
CHARLIE MANUEL: I don't know exactly -- actually they told me after the game, like someone told me about that. You know something, I didn't see that. Evidently I was watching the double play and what was going on on the field, and I didn't see him do that.
I think that's something that -- no. I mean, that's something that can be taken -- there's a couple reasons why you would get upset, and one of them is because a mistake is made on the field. First of all, I think Cole is more professional than that, and I think that right there is kind of being in control of yourself, and I know he's much better than that.

Q. Did you talk to him about it?
CHARLIE MANUEL: I will talk to him about it, yes.

Q. There came a point last night where both managers had a pretty big decision as to whether or not to take out their starting pitchers. Torre kind of let Kershaw in, whereas you went out and you got Cole out in the sixth inning. I was wondering what led to your decision to do that at that point?
CHARLIE MANUEL: I thought that he was high in the pitch count, and I felt like I wanted to put a righty on the guy. I felt like he was at the point where we were getting ready to take him out anyway.

Q. Ruiz had a great World Series last year. He's off to a great start in this postseason. What, if anything, do you see him doing different offensively?
CHARLIE MANUEL: I think he's been more patient. He's been getting ahead in the count a lot, and he's been more aggressive at swinging the bat, and he's taking a better swing at the ball. He's got better balance at the plate, and his swing is better.
And I think he's been hitting the ball up the middle a lot and some to right center, and of course yesterday he got up in the count, and he got around a fastball and pulled it. Yeah, he's been playing very good. He's been catching good.

Q. It's difficult from where we sit to see the bullpen. I just wanted to double check that Eyre was available last night and kind of why you decided to go to Bastardo to start the seventh against Ethier instead of go to Eyre there?
CHARLIE MANUEL: If you notice I had him up in the ninth inning I had him and Blanton both up. I was thinking about he might have had to go on Loney. But we wanted to keep him late in the game. I didn't want to use him at that time. I thought that was a good place to put Bastardo on, on a lefty. That's basically what happened.
I didn't double switch with Happ because I didn't want to. Like I didn't want to take one of our guys out of the lineup.

Q. I understand you want to concentrate on today's game, but could you talk a little bit about Game 3 starter, Kuroda, any thoughts this time?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Yeah, he's pitched good against us, and he's changed speeds, he's been aggressive with his fastball on both sides of the plate, but mostly he changes speeds against us and he's given us problems. In order to beat him, we've got to make him throw the ball -- try to get in good counts and make him throw the ball over the plate and don't chase his secondary stuff until we get behind in the count. I mean, he's been very good against us.

Q. Happ doesn't have a ton of experience pitching back to back days out of relief. Is that something you think he won't have a problem with? And also, would you -- in a perfect world obviously you wouldn't need to use either of them, but if you get into a situation where Blanton and Happ both need to be used for 20 to 25 pitches, will both of them still be available for Game 4?
CHARLIE MANUEL: I think Happ threw four pitches yesterday, and of course he got up and he got hot in the game. But I think he definitely can pitch some today. How far, I don't know. But I think he's available today. And with the off-day, more than likely he'd be able to come back when we get home Sunday.
But I think that how we use him will dictate one of those guys starting on through the series here.

End of FastScripts

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