What's wrong with the Phillies? (3rd in a series continuing until the Phillies start playing well)

Last week I wrote that Tim Worrell and Terry Adams, the relievers who have hurt the Phillies the most this season, should not be used in close games. Within a day or two, Worrell had lost his set-up man position and went on the DL soon thereafter, citing psychological problems that he needs to address. Ryan Madson taking Worrell's spot as Billy Wagner's set-up guy is a good development that should ensure that the Phillies hold on to most late-game leads.

But it seems that the Phillies haven't yet realized the damage that Terry Adams has done. Last night, with the Phillies up 5-4 in the sixth inning, Adams came in from the bullpen to replace Vicente Padilla. At the time, Adams had an ERA of 9.64, the kind of stat that should relegate you to pitching garbage innings and nothing else. So what did Adams do? He gave up three hits, one walk, and four earned runs while getting just one out. If not for Adams's shoddy 1/3 of an inning pitched, the Phillies would have had a far greater chance of winning. It's a whole lot easier to win a game you're already leading by one run than one in which you're down three runs.

So why Adams? The Inquirer speculates that "it was too early to bring in Rheal Cormier or Ryan Madson, the only pitchers in the bullpen besides closer Billy Wagner who have been reliable in tight situations." This is nonsense. Madson has shown the ability to pitch multiple innings. His new set-up role doesn't take away that ability. There's no reason why Cormier couldn't pitch the 6th, Madson the 7th and 8th, and Wagner the 9th. Or you could even ask for two innings from Cormier, especially considering that he'd made all of seven pitches in the month of May. Or you could ask Wagner to get four outs for you; he's done it before this season. You can get four innings out of Cormier, Madson, and Wagner. It's not at all clear why the Phillies didn't think so.

But even accepting that it was too early to bring in any of those three, why Adams? Aaron Fultz and Geoff Geary both had lower ERAs than Adams. Whether they had shown themselves to be "reliable in tight situations" is beside the point. Adams hasn't shown himself to be reliable at all this season.

As best I can tell, the Phillies bullpen usage problems stem from a narrow view of ideal bullpen management. Use your closer in the ninth. Use your set-up guy in the eighth. Use your third-best reliever in the seventh. Use your lefty specialist to get out lefties. This is well and good, but there's a more basic rule of thumb that the Phillies simply haven't been following this season: don't put in bad pitchers in close games. Now it wasn't clear at the beginning of the season that Worrell was going to be a below-average pitcher this season. But when he'd given up 6 runs in his first five innings pitched, alarm bells should have started to go off. And Adams? He was bad from the start, giving up runs in five out of his first nine appearances. And yet, last night, in a one-run game, he gets the call.

The players on the Phillies aren't doing much to help the team win games. You simply can't win all that often when you average four runs a game and have two starting pitchers with ERAs over 5. But the guys sitting on the Phillies bench making decisions aren't helping much either. I'm sure that you can find at least four or five games this season already where Charlie Manuel's decisions have dramatically weakened the Phils' chances to win. The Phillies aren't putting their best team on the field. Is it any wonder they aren't winning many games?