I said last night that Kyle Kendrick was one of the Phillies who needed to improve the most, and I suggested not so subtly that now might be a good time for it.  With the division rival Atlanta Braves in town, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at how Kendrick fared in the Phillies 5-4 series-opening win.

Kendrick’s line hardly tells the story.  He went 6.0 innings, giving up three runs, all of them earned, on six hits.  He also walked four while striking out two.  He threw 97 pitches, only 53 of them for strikes.  On the surface, it looks average.  Maybe that’s what it was.

But the line doesn’t tell you that Kendrick gave up all three runs in the first inning, then settled down to throw a quality start.  It doesn’t tell you that after that first inning, Kendrick only surrendered three hits the rest of the way.  And it really doesn’t show you that Kendrick was able to do enough to pick up a win without having his best stuff.

Kendrick has a long way to go before his struggles are over.  He’s still developing pitches to compliment his sinker, and until they are ready (his change-up, in particular) he is going to have nights where he gets knocked around.  That’s either because his other pitches are so hittable, or because he can’t throw those pitches for strikes and so hitters are waiting on the sinker.

But Kendrick’s strength was never his stuff.  His pitches are, when compared to other  Major Leaguers, about average.  His strength has always been his composure on the mound, and his ability to shake off a bad pitch, a bad inning, or a bad outing.  It’s what made him so good last year, but it’s been tangibly missing so far in the 2008 campaign.

It was certainly there in this game.

Tonight won’t be remembered as the night when Kendrick mastered another pitch.  It won’t be the turning point of his season, and it doesn’t guarantee the Phillies that reliable third starter they need Kendrick to be so desperately.  But it’s a good sign that he can still be effective even without his best stuff; that he’s still mentally tough enough to go out there, battle, keep his composure, and hand off a lead to this apparently dominating bullpen.  He still has some work to do, but tonight was definitely a step in the right direction.

I think one of the most underrated things about having a staff ace is that you get to run him out there against other great pitchers.  It makes for great theater.  Cole Hamels is a great pitcher, and it’s great to have him on the team.  He’ll win games and he’ll rack up the strikeouts.  But frankly, that’s not why we watch.  We watch for nights like tonight.

Greg Maddux has tortured the Phillies for years.  Of course, so did everyone who pitched for the Braves in the 90’s, but Maddux was certainly public enemy number one.  On a staff full of sure-fire Hall of Famers, he was the best.

Tonight, Maddux will have his third crack at picking up career win number 350.  It’s an impressive number that adds to an already sterling career.  And perhaps it’s fitting that he’ll have a chance to pick it up against the Phillies, a franchise that he’s tormented over the years.  But to pick it up, he’ll have to go through Cole Hamels.

Personally, I have nothing but admiration for Maddux, even if he is an old adversary.  He’s class personified, and he’s a pitcher’s pitcher; using every part of the plate and an unassuming fastball to be one of the greatest pitchers to ever play the game.  I wouldn’t mind seeing him pick up such a big win against the Phils.

But like I said at the start, we don’t watch for wins and losses.  We watch for theater.  And having an ace like Hamels on the staff makes for great theater, because you get to run him out there in a match-up like this one.

Tonight is just the latest act in a play that has no ending.  A chance for a legend to pull one more trick out of his seemingly bottomless bag.  Or, perhaps, a chance for a student to grab the torch from a master.  This is why we watch.

I have this theory about baseball that a manager is responsible for between five and ten games every season.  For the most part, a team is what it is, and no manager can change it.  The manager doesn’t pitch.  The manager doesn’t hit.  The manager doesn’t boot a routine double play ball, or pick a line drive headed down the line.  The team is as good as the sum of its parts.

But strategically, a manager can steal you a game here and there.  Of course, he can also lose you a game, too.  Enter Milwaukee…

Look, I’m not one of those guys that rips on Charlie Manuel just to do it.  To be honest with you, he’s probably the most loved manager by his players of anyone in baseball right now.  These players will kill for him.

I’m also constantly impressed with the way he finds at bats for everyone on the team.  It can pay dividends in a big spot, and if you want proof, just look at the game tonight.  Pedro Feliz picks up three hits last night against Colorado, but Manuel plays Dobbs anyway.  Dobbs hits a three-run, game-tying homer.  Why does he do it?  Because he’s not cold.  He’s comfortable, because he’s had his share of at bats this season.  Manuel does this as well as anyone.

But I go back to my original point: A manager can give a game away.  He certainly did tonight.

Cole Hamels had a rough first inning, but he rallied to pitch 7 innings of 3 run ball while racking up double-digit strike outs.  He did what an ace does.  He battled.

Manuel warmed up Chad Durbin and JC Romero for the 8th inning, and it was the right move.  With the heart of the Brewers order coming up, he had a lefty and a righty ready to go.  But then something curious happened.

Even though he had already thrown more than 100 pitches,  Manuel sent Hamels out to start the 8th.  Hamels promptly caughed up the lead, and the Phillies lost the game.  It’s kind of hard to pin this one on Hamels.  After all, he had thrown 120 pitches in a game in April.

No, this one has to fall on Charlie.  Bringing in the Durbin/Romero combo to pitch that inning, then turning the ball over to Tom Gordon in the 9th was a no-brainer.  (Note: Lidge was not available tonight, so Gordon would have closed out the game.)  There is no reason to let Hamels start an inning when he’s thrown that many pitches.  It’s not like he was working on a no-hitter, or even a 20 strikeout game.  No, he had done his job, and then the manager asked too much of him.

A manager can win or lose between five and ten games a year.  But considering the fact that these races always seem to come down to the last day, I’d love to have those five games go for my team than against them.  It’s just something that will add up through the course of the season.  The fact of the matter is that tonight, the manager made the difference, and it wasn’t a positive one.

Well, I can’t say I’m surprised.  Once Jimmy Rollins didn’t come back by Tuesday or Wednesday like the team originally said, you had to know something was wrong.  Then you saw him run, and you could just tell.  Now it’s official: Jimmy Rollins is on the Disabled List for the first time in his eight-year career.

It’s not a total disaster.  He’ll only be out 15 days, and it’s still April.  There’s a lot of season left to be played, and at least they’ll get to use someone else now that he’s officially on the DL and the roster spot is open.  In other words, if he’s going to get hurt, I’m glad it’s now and not in September.

The bigger problem here is that nobody else is stepping up.  Chase Utley and Pat Burrell have been good, but they were good before Rollins got hurt.  The team needs to replace what Rollins was giving them, and with Victorino out they just don’t have the speed at the top of the order to fill in that hole.

This is where some of the new guys are supposed to step up.  It’s time for So Taguchi and Eric Bruntlett to show us why they’re major leaguers.  So far, they’ve only shown us why nobody else wanted them.

Also, I wouldn’t be opposed to Ryan Howard making contact with the ball.  And short of that, he could at least try to catch it from time to time.

The bottom line here is that the guy who makes this team go isn’t around for the time being.  Someone else is going to have to get it done.  We’ll just have to wait and see who it is, but rest assured: My eyes are peeled.

I’m frustrated.  Not because the Phils just blew a golden opportunity to hurt the Mets in the early part of this 18 round boxing match.  Not because I’m still convinced Jose Reyes never touched home plate.  Not even because the Phils find themselves below .500 again.  No, I’m frustrated because I feel like I keep repeating myself.

Once again it wasn’t the pitching staff that lost this game.  Actually, they were remarkable.  I’ve been no friend of Adam Eaton, but I have to hand it to him.  He’s been the second best pitcher on this team behind Cole Hamels so far this year.  Give credit where credit is due.  Eaton is stepping up big time right now.

It wasn’t even the lack of Jimmy Rollins in the lineup, although watching Eric Bruntlett at the plate is a little bit like rubbing sandpaper in your eyes.  This guy is going to hit .167 AND make errors in the field?  Yeah, the fans in Philly will give him some leeway when he comes back.

No, they lost two games to the Mets for the same reasons they lost two to the Nationals and two to the Reds.  Whether it’s defense (four errors in a game for the second time this young season on Wednesday night) or a lack of run production (0-12 with runners in scoring position Thursday, including not being able to score when they had two on and nobody out in the top of the 11th), they’re losing because their biggest weaknesses have been the things that are supposed to be their biggest strengths.

4-6 doesn’t worry me.  .243 team batting average does.  2.5 games out first doesn’t even phase me at this point.  But 13 errors in 10 games, that’s just plain startling.  Geoff Jenkins, Pedro Feliz, and Bruntlett are a combined 2 for 22 with runners in scoring position.  That’s a problem, regardless of the month on the calender.

Oh, and Ryan Howard has 14 strikeouts through 10 games.  So to everyone who said they were glad Howard won his arbitration hearing, know this: He’s on pace to break his own record for strikeouts in a season that he set way back in…oh wait, 2007.  And Howard and his agent are rumored to be asking for 7 years, 150 million?  Really?

Some people will try to convince you that pitching wins championships, and most times they’d be right.  Some people will tell you that if you score enough runs, you can win any ballgame.  History has certainly proven that school of thought true as well.  Here’s the one thing both theories have in common.  At the end of the day, in any sport, winning teams have one thing that they do better than anyone else.  Maybe it’s as simple as running the bases well, but it’s something they can hang their hat on.

This team was supposed to be an offensive machine, and they were supposed to be one of the best defensive teams in the league.  As it stands right now, 10 games in, they are one of the worst defensive teams I’ve ever seen, and once runners get on base, they couldn’t hit off a little leaguer.  It’s one thing to have a weakness exploited by an opponent.  It’s another thing entirely to let your strengths become your weaknesses.  This team needs to shape up soon, because this “We don’t play until the middle of the summer” stuff is getting really old.