The Phillies played their final home game of the regular season on Thursday. It was Fan Appreciation Night. The organization gave out rally towels. I swear I saw some people use the gifts to wipe flop sweat off their brows.
After clinching their fifth straight NL East title on Saturday, the Phils have dropped six consecutive gamesincluding Thursdays 6-1 loss to the Nationals, during which the Fightins managed just four hits. The Phillies havent lost six in a row since Juneof 2009.
And with that, a great many people projectile vomited panic all over themselves and their neighbors.
So what if the Fightins have already locked up home-field advantage throughout the playoffs? And so what if following that NL East celebration over the weekend, the lineup card has routinely looked like its been filled out and submitted by the IronPigs? The Phils have lost with the John Bowkers and Pete Orrs and Erik Kratzes (Kratzi? Whats the plural of Kratz?), not with the everyday guys youve come to know and trust.
But circumstances and context hardly seem to matter to those predisposed to hyperventilation. All slumps are not created equal, but good luck telling that to the crowd that evidently expected the Phils to win all 162 games.
If youre the jumpy sort, if youre easily unnerved by losses that dont mean a whole lot, then maybe you want to see more urgency or irritation from the manager over all this. Maybe you want to see that, but it doesnt look like you will.
Charlie Manuel appeared pretty relaxed on Thursday. After he rattled off names of outfielders past and present with good arms, someone asked Manuel if he had been thrown out as a player while going from first to third. Nah, he deadpanned. I was so fast.
MLB
And on it went. Among other things, Manuel said he has no plans to see Moneyball and revealed that he won the Virginia state marbles championship in the sixth grade. (It rained that day so the competition was moved inside.) For a while there, I was waiting for him to squirt water at us from a flower.
Then, he ran out yet another lineup that might not scare some minor league clubs. It featured no Ryan Howard or Hunter Pence (both of whom are still mending), and Ross Gload hit in the five hole. Thats not the sort of thing youd do if youre truly stressed about recent events.
Hang in there, people. The nothing-to-see-here, dont-sweat-it approach wont last much longer. Manuel has repeatedly said that he plans to ease his regulars back into the starting lineup once the Phils leave town and head to New York and then Atlanta. He knows some people are a touch worried about a losing streak in advance of the playoffs. But Manuel saidand Im paraphrasinginterpreting herethat the fanmedia blowback is a byproduct of changing the lineup. Some people dont like changeparticularly when its applied to a team that won lots and lots (and lots) of games this year but has suddenly stopped winning at all.
When youre trying lineups and different things and different players and everything like that, thats not good, Manuel said. People used to say I had the same lineup all the time. Thats good. Thats real good. Thats really good. Thats a team. Thats a team concept. Thats good. Thats very, very good. Believe me. But also, when you take players and get them at-bats and let them be part of the team and they have a chance to stay sharp, but when youre trying things, sometimes the game doesnt work out like you planned. From here on out, the biggest thing is for us to be ready. Ready to play and ready to go get it.
See that? Manuel is just like you. Even if his emotions dont swing wildly with wins (or, in this case, losses), he also likes to have a solid, set lineup. In case you missed it, he thinks thats good. Real good. Very, very good, even. And who doesnt?
The thing to remember here is that Manuel has proven adept at managing the clubhouse dynamic. He generally knows when to coddle or criticize his bunch. Manuel said he actually has a pretty bad temper, that even though some people see him as this mild-mannered managera walking, talking, huggable bobblehead of sortshis default impulse probably falls closer to screaming and scrapping and kicking backside.
And yet, his turf cleats have remained on the ground lately. Dont forget, last year, when the team wasnt hitting in the playoffs and the Giants were pushing the Phils around, Manuel didnt hesitate to say, over and over, that his guys werent getting the job done and that he was concerned.
Point is, its perfectly fine to freak out. Everyone does it. Manuel does, too. But theres a time for that sort of thing. This isnt it.
I think were going to be ready for the postseason, Manuel said. You guys have been around our players for a long time. They know what they have to do and they know how to go about it. Theyll be ready. Ill be totally surprised if theyre not ready.
E-mail John Gonzalez at jgonzalez@comcastsportsnet.com.