You simply cannot deny that the Phillies have improved under Don Mattingly’s watch. Since Mattingly took over as interim manager after the firing of Rob Thomson on April 28th, the Phillies have gone 33-17 and resurrected their chances at defending their NL East division crown. That record is the best in MLB over that span entering Monday. Whether you thought this run was coming regardless of the manager or didn’t, Mattingly has to get credit for overseeing this dramatic turnaround.
That doesn’t mean
that there haven’t been some interesting decisions from Mattingly along the way though. Most notably, he is more willing to push his starting pitchers further in the regular season than Rob Thomson was. Two examples of such came over the last week with Jesús Luzardo and Zack Wheeler. In Luzardo’s last start on June 16th, he threw 106 pitches in seven innings. It was the first time this season that Luzardo went over 100 pitches and the third highest pitch count he’s had in a start in his career. Mattingly elected to push Luzardo into the seventh inning despite the Phillies having an 8-0 lead and the lefty sitting at 89 pitches before the inning. Luzardo managed to get through the inning, but he did allow a double and a home run to the first two batters he faced.
The other example is more recent with Zack Wheeler on Sunday. Wheeler appeared to be tiring in the sixth when he allowed three walks to load the bases with one out in a 6-1 game. Jonathan Bowlan was warmed up and ready in the bullpen as Mattingly approached the mound, but the manager elected to leave Wheeler in for one more hitter despite the righty being at 101 pitches and the situation being somewhat precarious. Wheeler got A.J. Ewing to ground into a force out, but the Phillies weren’t able to turn a double play and a run scored. Mattingly then decided to remove Wheeler from the game after 104 pitches, tying his season high and only the second time he has gone over 100 pitches since his return from thoracic outlet surgery. Bowlan meanwhile was able to strike out Marcus Semien on four pitches to end the inning.
It’s clear that Mattingly has faith in his starters, and he has every reason to have that belief, as the Phillies rotation has the third best ERA (3.25) and fourth best WHIP (1.14) in baseball since he took over as manager. But it’s also reasonable to question the high pitch counts at this point in the season, especially in this case with two pitchers with injury histories like Luzardo and Wheeler. One unquestionable strength for Thomson during his time as manager was his ability to deliver the team, and especially his rotation, mostly healthy to the postseason. The jury is obviously still out for if Mattingly can do the same.
So, what do you think of Don Mattingly’s handling of pitchers? Do you like his tendency for longer leashes?
