For the remainder of the regular season, I will not seriously berate Manuel for borderline decisions assuming that he just accepts the fact that the Phillies will make the post-season and will be the first seed. I will pretend that his decisions will be impeccable in the playoffs, and that he's just biding his time until they get there. That being said, Michael Stutes has been pitching decent, and has probably been getting better results than he should. His FIP and xFIP are around 4.30 while his SIERA is actually lower than his ERA. I'm not saying Michael Stutes is a terrible pitcher, but his walk rate is pretty high (4.19 BB/9IP). I don't think he should be trusted in close games in the playoffs, unless he is given an extremely short leash. I sincerely hope Manuel uses Madson in high leverage situations, even if it means he pitches before the 9th inning. He can go more than one inning in my opinion, and the playoff schedule usually allows for relievers to be used more heavily than usual.
The Phils go for the sweep tonight on ESPN. Roy Oswalt and Brandon Beachy are the starters.
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