Nick Piccone
The Phillies had a chance to win the game in Detroit last night against the Tigers, but they were going to have to do it without their best hitter, Odubel Herrera. Herrera, who’s batting .335 this season and led off last night’s game with an 14-pitch at-bat and had three singles in his first three at-bats, didn’t run out a grounder back to the pitcher in the seventh inning. That was enough for Pete Mackanin to take him out of the game. He commented on it after the Phillies lost.
Mackanin did not regret his decision to yank Herrera and his team-high .335 batting average from the game.
“It’s important to me to set that tone,” Mackanin said. “When you don’t hustle, I’ve got a problem.”
But when he bounced back to the pitcher and took his time getting to first base in the seventh, Mackanin abruptly pulled him. Even Ryan Howard said something to Herrera in the dugout.
“He didn’t run,” Mackanin said. “One of the ingredients to our success to this point is the fact that guys play with energy and they play hard. We’re training them to play the game the right way and not running is not the right way.”
Herrera said he did not run because he was “frustrated” and “angry” with the at-bat. He said Tigers reliever Justin Wilson “got in his head” by varying his delivery times. Herrera even mentioned that Wilson quick-pitched him.
“The pitcher was playing with me,” he said. “I have to learn from it. I didn’t think [Mackanin] was going to bench me, but I understand why. I can’t argue. I was frustrated. I respect the decision. I know that I did wrong. I have to learn from my mistakes and it won’t happen again.”
But Mackanin indicated after Monday night’s game that Herrera might be developing some bad habits — at least when it comes to the hustle that Mackanin values. The front office values it, too. Playing with “energy” is something the front office frequently says it wants to see, and the ability to get his players to play with energy is one of Mackanin’s strengths.
“I’ve seen it in the past and it’s been trickling in,” Mackanin said of Herrera’s occasional lapses in hustle. “I didn’t like it and I made the decision. He knows he should have run.”
I get it. Herrera is young enough and the entire team is young enough for this type of thing to have an impact on them. They’re not wily veterans that might be afforded a longer leash had they done the same thing. If that was Ryan Howard, I don’t think he’s coming out of the game. The Phillies lost the game by one, so many will point to that as being a possible reason why. But t
On Sunday at Citizens Bank Park, Herrera led off the bottom of the first inning with a double when the Braves’ centerfielder dove for the ball and missed it. It should have been a triple. So there was already a past incident that Mackanin took into consideration, albeit only one day earlier.
This isn’t something new, though. Herrera was benched for the same reason last season. Herrera will be back in the lineup tonight.
That’s what a real manager should be doing. I’m glad he did. No more J roll days of not running it out.