No holiday for Phils pen

There he was, Mr. Complete Game of baseball’s modern era (practically the only pitcher who finishes what he starts anymore) and Roy Halladay was cruising as if he was on a million-dollar yacht. Next thing you know, he doesn’t come out for the ninth inning. Huh?

I couldn’t believe it. After his brief shaky start to Saturday night’s Phillies National League playoff opener against the St. Louis Cardinals, Halladay, probably the steadiest starting pitcher in the majors, retired 21 batters in a row. That’s seven perfect innings. The Phils were ahead 11-3. Things were going great. A 1-0 Division Series lead was just about officially recorded.

And Phillies manager Charlie Manuel goes to his bullpen, beckoning for Michael Stutes instead of sticking with Halladay, who had eight regular-season complete games and had thrown just 105 pitches. This does not seem so astute. I love Manuel. He is one of those disheveled types whom smart guys always underestimated. But I didn’t figure this move. Just because there are a bunch of guys sitting around in the bullpen doesn’t mean you have to use them. They are there for rescue missions, for emergencies, when things go haywire for starting pitchers. This isn’t Little League where everybody has to play sometime during the series. If the Phillies’ vaunted starters come out and blow away the Cardinals game after game why bother to call to the pen? Let them watch from their excellent seats.

But no, out goes Halladay and in comes Stutes. Out went Stutes pretty quickly, too, as the abruptly awakened Cardinals began hitting. Soon enough the score was 11-6. Manuel had seen enough of Stutes, who exited after seven batters with a playoff earned run average of 81.01.

What did Manuel think was going to happen if he left Halladay in to complete the game? One thing I’m sure of is that instead of extending the game by about 20 minutes or so and being forced to use closer Ryan Madson, something he was trying to avoid doing (or he wouldn’t have brought in Stutes in the first place), is that Halladay would have wrapped things up in about five minutes.

Five more minutes of pitching for one of the toughest pitchers in the game. I think Halladay could have handled that. And if he had come out to start the ninth and been shaky–although there wasn’t the slightest hint to support that way of thinking–Manuel could have yanked him then.

This entire episode characterizes the state of the modern game. Managers don’t trust their starters and rely too heavily on relievers in too many circumstances. Manuel should have left well enough alone and left Halladay in to finish.