Myriad of issues hit some teams in 1st month
Injuries and silent bats among problems teams hope to overcome
Marcio Jose Sanchez / APPhillies manager Charlie Manuel may have slugger Ryan Howard in the lineup, but it's what his team is missing that is of concern for the defending National League champions. In dealing with the situation, Manuel makes no excuses.
ASK THE MLB EXPERT
By Tony DeMarco
NBCSports.com contributor
updated 7:52 p.m. ET May 2, 2010
 | Tony DeMarco |
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There aren't many things that rattle Charlie Manuel, especially in April.
So even with his All-Star shortstop, closer and two starting pitchers on the disabled list, Manuel isn't about to blink.
Just listen to his answer to a stream of questions about the Phillies' rehabbing foursome of Jimmy Rollins, Brad Lidge, Joe Blanton and J.A. Happ?
"When I get them back, I get them back,'' Manuel said. “I look at the other side of it — the guys we've got now, how I'm going to use them and try to win a game, and stay focused on that.''
If that means Juan Castro and Wilson Valdez taking turns replacing Rollins, Nelson Figueroa winning his first start in almost nine years, and Manuel having to navigate through too many lofty bullpen ERAs for awhile, so be it.
"We've always taken that approach,'' Manuel said. "We don't say a lot about it because we don't want excuses. We just keep on playing, and when a (bench) guy gets a chance to play, he usually does good.''
Besides, the rehab news mostly is encouraging. You'd think a Brad Lidge outing would be a big deal at Double-A Reading, Pa., but it was overshadowed the other night by five hitless innings from Stephen Strasburg, the Nationals' phenom who was facing the Phillies affiliate. But there's no understating Lidge's value to the Phillies bullpen, and he did return over the weekend.
J.C. Romero already has returned, and Blanton will be back in the rotation next week. However, the return dates of Rollins (calf) and Happ (elbow) are less-certain. Rollins has begun taking batting practice and running, but is at least a couple weeks away, and Happ only is long-tossing at this point.
"It would be good to have our strongest roster out there, yeah,'' Manuel said. “You'd hope we could get that pretty soon. But like I said, I try to stay focused on the team we have today to win that game. That's the attitude on our club, and the right attitude goes a long way.''
The Phillies hardly are the only contender with issues as the calendar moves into May — and some of them may need more than the patience of Manuel to solve.
Los Angeles: On the last day of a dreadful 2-7 road trip that concluded on Wednesday, rookie John Ely was making his major-league debut replacing disabled Vicente Padilla, Xavier Paul was playing left field in place of disabled Manny Ramirez, and Jamey Carroll was playing shortstop in Rafael Furcal's absence due to a hamstring injury.
We've already seen the dreaded 'TBA' a couple of times in the Dodgers' probable starting pitcher listing.
You can guess what the back-of-the-rotation uncertainty is doing to the bullpen, as Ramon Troncoso is on pace for a 100-appearance season — he was one of three relievers to pitch in both ends of a Tuesday double-header — and Torre already has run through 11 different relievers.
No, things haven't been right in L.A. since spring training began, and now general manager Ned Colletti has called out Matt Kemp for a lack of production.
That only hammers home the reality that as tenuous as Ramirez's future is in Los Angeles, the lineup just doesn't score enough runs to win consistently without him -- especially with the pitching staff in its current state.
Boston: The Red Sox had been on a roll before facing the Orioles this weekend. Daisuke Matsuzaka returned to the rotation on Saturday and struggled, but this staff is too deep and talented for some early struggles to continue.
You also know that you're in some trouble when your outfield is Jonathan Van Every, Darnell McDonald and Jeremy Hermida — and that situation will change with the healthy returns of Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury.
But the Sox are looking up at the Rays and Yankees, and whether or not that changes likely will hinge on two things.
1) Slowing the bleeding — or more accurately, the alarming stolen-base numbers: 38 allowed, 3 caught stealing through Thursday.
Jason Varitek — the better overall defender and game-caller than Victor Martinez — is starting more lately. But there soon could be at least three quality options on the market:
Bengie Molina, if and when the Giants decide to turn to a Buster Posey/Eli Whiteside combo; impending free agent A.J. Pierzynski, if the White Sox can't get it going; and Arizona's Chris Snyder, once Miguel Montero return from knee surgery in a month or so.
2) Barring an unexpected turnaround from David Ortiz, putting him out of his misery and putting another big bat in the middle of the lineup. For now, that means more DH starts for Victor Martinez and Mike Lowell.
But it's no secret that the Sox are a team in transition, with a set of marginalized veterans spending their final days in Fenway. That transition needs to be sped up and occur in-season, rather than after it's over.
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