Lost in a late West Coast broadcast last night was one of the most surreal managerial experiences you will ever see. Even amidst a season resurgence and 9 game winning streak, had the Phillies fired Don Mattingly following the game (hell, during the game) it wouldn’t have been that shocking, that’s how crazy it was. Sometimes a manager leaves a pitcher in a batter or two too long, and then there’s what happened with Zack Wheeler against the Seattle Mariners.
Wheeler didn’t have it from the jump. Walk, hard hit single, 3 run homer is how things started and it never improved. By the end of the first inning, Zack was up to 33 pitches, 2 walks, and 2 HRs. He was getting crushed (it would have been worse had Josh Naylor not gotten himself out on the bases) and to anyone staying up, it would not have been surprising to learn that this had becomea bullpen game. Don Mattingly had other plans.
A 15 pitch, 1-2-3 second inning calmed things down a bit, but the night was clearly over in the third. Single, single, walk (wild pitch, run scores), walk should have ended it. Despite the writing on the wall, the Phillies bullpen was not even “stirring” at this point. Somehow, he got out of the inning with no further damage. It was a bottom of the lineup, poor swing choice miracle. Still, that made an uncharacteristic 4 walks, 6 runs, and 76 pitches for Wheeler. Everyone was just hoping he wasn’t hurt, but he was clearly done.
Except he wasn’t. This is when social media truly erupted with confusion. “What is Mattingly doing?” was a direct quote from seemingly thousands. Another walk, another hit, a Trea Turner error, but no more runs. Ok, surely he’ll take him out now at 96, absolutely labored pitches, right?
Nope, on to the 5th! This is when things became unhinged. Home run, home run. At this point, Mattingly finally mercifully took Wheeler out and Alex McFarlane breezed though the next 3 batters.
105 pitches. Mattingly left his clearly struggling, surgically repaired, 36 year old ace in the game for 105 bewildering pitches. His final line was 5 walks, 4 HRs, and 8 earned runs in 4+ innings of drudgery. It was truly baffling.
I’m sure Wheeler didn’t want to come out of the game and repeatedly said he was fine, but sometimes a manager needs to not trust his stubborn, warrior-coded pitcher. A QB with a head injury is no different. It’s not their call though. That’s when the manager does what’s best for the team. Instead, Mattingly let Wheeler wear it, I guess? Is Wheeler really the guy you let get tattooed for 100+ pitches though? That’s the guy you want to make an example of? I just don’t get it. He could have gotten hurt and yet Donny did nothing.
I know it sounds like an exaggeration to say last night was the worst managerial performance I’ve ever seen, but I slept on it and it actually seems even worse now in retrospect. Sometimes you know when a manager is keeping a guy in because he needs to, but this wasn’t that. It was a guy who kept believing he would give his starter a chance despite everyone seemingly begging him not to. I’ve never seen anything like it.
So, yes, the Phillies are still in a great spot and the team has played inspired baseball under Mattingly as of late and really through the majority of his run this season, but last night was a fireable offense. I don’t know how anyone could watch what happened and think this guy should be making on field decisions, at least not with the pitching staff.
Firing the manager certainly sounds like an irrational decision and there’s no way the Phillies would do it. The whole thing reminds me of a ship captain friend of mine though. Despite being a little thick headed, he was competent and safe. Then one day, his ship crashed and sank. It takes a lot to crash a ship and that’s why a ship captain can’t crash, not even once. If that happens, they’re done. My friend was done. He runs an HVAC business now. That’s what last night was for Don Mattingly.
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