The Phillies look to continue their winning streak out west this evening when Cliff Lee (2-1, 3.91) takes the hill in Arizona to face Ian Kennedy (2-1, 5.64) and the Diamondbacks in the first of a three game set before the Phils return home later this week.
The newsy item out of Arizona tonight is Charlie Manuel showing what some have called a bit of anger at the notion his overuse of Jose Contreras was a contributing factor in the Phillies closer's DL stint. In fact, Manuel reportedly got a bit testy when people asked if he thought he overused Contreras.
After Charlie vented a bit, Ruben later added that he thinks Charlie has done a fine job managing his players. Always good to see the GM have his manager's back.
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Still, my favorite Charlie part from the whole discussion.
Every day we come to the ballpark, that's the object, to win the game. Now do you want to win or do you want to lose? To me, I want to win so I'll put the best team I possibly can on the field that day. I'll give you days off when I think so. That's part of my job too. If I'm going to be accountable for my job then you let me do the whole thing. You basically let me do my whole job. I don't need nobody to tell me what to do and how to do it. It's up to me to do it. That's how I look at it. If you want to talk about it and say something about it, that's fine too.
The bottom line: Charlie wants you to let Charlie do Charlie's job. Charlie's job is to win baseball games.
Other notes: Moderately-hyped RHP Michael Stutes is up from Lehigh Valley to take Contreras place on the roster. He'll wear No. 40 for the Phils.
News
First pitch tonight is scheduled for 9:40 from Chase Field.
>>Fired-up Manuel defends his use of Contreras [CSN]
>>Angered Manuel says Contreras was not overused [Philly.com]