Loading ...From this morning’s Enquirer:
Brandon Phillips was not in the lineup Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The reason?
“His numbers aren’t real good against (starter Ian) Snell,” Reds manager Pete Mackanin said. “He can use a day off.”
But Phillips did not run hard on either of two double plays he hit into Thursday night in Washington.
“That could have something to do with it,” Mackanin said.
It did. But Mackanin chose to leave it at that.
Phillips plays the game with great flair and emotion. He’s the only Red who seems to get mad every time he makes an out. But the emotion works against him at times. Thursday was an example of that.
Mackanin obviously didn’t want to make a big deal out of the benching, and Phillips probably will play today.
But Mackanin also knows even though he’s an interim manager, he has to keep control of the club.
One of the things that hurt Jerry Narron in the clubhouse was the players’ thinking that he was uneven in handling discipline. He benched Edwin Encarnacion for not running out a ball in April but didn’t do the same thing with Josh Hamilton in June.
Mackanin handled the Phillips issue in his low-key manner. Had he pulled Phillips after not running out the first ball, it would have been a bigger deal.
Mackanin met with Phillips behind closed doors before batting practice.
Sounds like Mackanin handled this correctly. He made his point, but didn’t feel he needed to embarrass the player publicly. And doing it to team and media favorite Phillips sends a message also.
whats funny is last year early before he became a star.
i knew he would be a star.
so i bought his jersey.
(online)
no phillips jerseys at the park.
well everyone teased me about it.
because he was some not well known second basemen.
well now whos talkin?
no one.
cause i called it.
and i got made fun of for drafting him in fantasy.
lol
well phillips owns.
and he should have been in thee with the hit parade
I’m glad Mackanin is doing this. However, why isn’t it being done with Griffey and Dunn?
because they have been around.
and fans would have a fit
I don’t ever want Griffey running hard down to first base.
His legs are not very good anymore and his bat is way too important to be concerned about him not running out an infeild ground ball in a lost season.
Something similar happened in Mackanin’s first game (7/3 against the Giants). Gonzalez popped up high in front of the plate, but Molina flubbed it. Gonzalez would’ve reached second had he not jogged to first, and he was erased on a double play right afterwards. I remember being annoyed that Mackanin didn’t pull Gonzalez out then, but I now notice that he didn’t start Gonzalez the next day. I wonder if he pulled Gonzalez aside after that play.
i dont think he could run it out if he tried.
he might have a heart attack
It is a double standard then, but you’re right Doug, you need to protect the star players. Though, it wouldn’t exactly kill Dunn to hustle down the line once in a while.
ya i understand griff not running it out.
he is 37!
but dunn who is ten years younger could do it.