The Zo Zone

I can hear the fury from my hotel room in Scottsdale.

Charlie Manuel found himself in a familiar situation in last night's 3-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, and this time he went the other way. In the top of the seventh inning in a tie game, the Phillies had runners on first and third and two outs. Manuel had Adam Eaton hit for himself rather than use one of his available hitters on the bench: Ryan Howard, Wes Helms or Jayson Werth. Eaton grounded out to end the inning and the Phillies wouldn't have another base runner the rest of the night. Eaton allowed a solo homer to Tony Clark with two outs in the bottom of the inning to lose it.

In Monday's 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks, Manuel pinch-hit for Freddy Garcia with a runner on second and no outs in the top of the seventh inning. The Phillies trailed at the time and Manuel said he wanted to try to win there with the top of the lineup coming up, despite the fact Garcia was pitching well, having thrown just 70 pitches and allowed just two runs in six innings. The Phillies tied the game, but the bullpen allowed a couple runs to lose it.

So Monday, Manuel pulls Garcia when he is pitching well and the bullpen loses it.

So Tuesday, Manuel keeps Eaton in when he is pitching well and he loses it.

Good calls that backfired? Bad calls?

The Phillies lost both games, so those decisions certainly will receive serious criticism. But did Monday's bullpen failures influence Manuel's decision-making process Tuesday? He wouldn't say that, but I'm sure it entered his mind.

Update: The more I think about it, the more I think Manuel allowed Eaton to hit because he simply has little faith in the bullpen. Manuel said afterward that if he had pinch-hit Howard for Eaton that the Diamondbacks probably would have intentionally walked Howard. If so, so what? That would have sent Aaron Rowand to the plate with the bases loaded and Rowand is hitting .407 with runners in scoring position and .538 with runners in scoring position and two outs this season. I would have taken my chances there. But I'm sure Manuel feared that if the Phillies would not have scored his bullpen would have been unable to hold the tie.

"Our biggest thought was that Eaton had pitched real good and he had the bottom of the order coming up (in the seventh)," Manuel said. "I definitely felt he had a lot left to get through that inning."

There's no guarantee Howard, Helms or Werth would have knocked-in the go-ahead run. But Manuel knows he opened up himself to second guessing because he went the other way after pulling Garcia the night before.

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Not sure if Eaton misspoke, but he said when pitching coach Rich Dubee visited him in the bottom of the seventh inning when Clark pinch-hit for Micah Owings that Dubee asked him if he had faced Clark before.

Eaton told us he had.

But he never did.

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Phillies lefthander Jamie Moyer faces Diamondbacks lefthander Randy Johnson today in the series finale.

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Antonio Alfonseca is struggling lately, but Manuel thinks he's fine.

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Camden Riversharks manager Joe Ferguson was behind the plate when Hank Aaron passed Babe Ruth.

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When will the Phillies lose their 10,000th game? Balls, Sticks, & Stuff wants you to guess. For a couple prizes, too.