Klentak, Mackanin still hope Neris makes closer job his own
PHILADELPHIA >> So, you think that famous Los Angeles implosion by Hector Neris was ugly?
You think perhaps the Phillies’ closerby-default’s Saturday Night Live act of giving up three consecutive home runs — screaming shots, they were — to key a four-run Dodgers ninth inning and 6-5 walkoff win might have set the tone for a reeking road trip?
By most accounts, that would clearly be correct. But Matt Klentak seemed to have a different opinion.
“When you play against tough teams like we’ve done in the last week or so ... those types of teams will give you a pretty good feel for where your team stands,” the Phillies general manager said Friday. “We went toe-totoe with both the Dodgers and the Cubs. We were in every one of those games. We didn’t get the bounces or the breaks at the end of the game. That’s something we as an organization will have to learn — how to win, how to overcome adversity and beat tough teams. But I can’t fault the heart and the hustle this team showed.”
Perhaps sports management classes teach the wisdom of motivational speeches, especially those coming after 1-6 road trips. Of course, it’s also entirely possible that Klentak believes what he sees, that this club which left for the left coast the prior week having won six straight games really might be capable of scratching and clawing with the boys out there.
If that’s what Klentak saw at this moment ... he wasn’t staring in the direction of the bullpen.
“A year ago we had a winning record and somehow you wondered how we were doing it, winning a lot of close games and not scoring any runs,” Klentak said. big “This year I feel like it’s been the inverse. I feel like our team is playing pretty well for most of the games. I think we’re scoring more runs, our offense has certainly improved, our pitching has generally kept us in games. We’ve ended up on the short-end of a lot of those one-run games.”
There’s a reason for that, and it showed up on that hellish road trip.
L.A. and Chicago are two of the most inhospitable places for National League opponents to visit, but the Phillies found creative ways to make matters worse. That included Freddy Galvis throwing a ball away in the 13th inning Thursday at Wrigley Field, while trying to complete a would-be double play on speedy former Villanova University receiver Matt Szczur.
But nothing compared to that ninth inning in L.A. last Saturday night, in which Neris — manager Pete Mackanin’s appointed closer even though the manager has refused all along to admit that — served up three Scud missiles and a subsequent hit that would turn into a winning run.
Baseball lifer Mackanin called it “one of the worst losses I’ve ever been associated with.”
Nearly a week later, finally back in his Citizens Bank Park comfy chair, Mackanin was still dealing with the fallout, and with the obvious crux of the problem — his hesitation to name a closer is due to his real fear that he doesn’t have one.
“That ninth inning, to get those three outs you have to be a different animal,” Mackanin said Friday, before he sent Neris out to the mound for a 1-2-3 inning against the Nationals. “You have to be smart, you have to be aggressive, fearless ... and sometimes when a guy is first thrust into that role, it’s an important role. I’ve had players over the years in the minor leagues and Latin America, where if I put them fourth in the lineup they come to me and say, ‘I don’t want to hit fourth.’
“That’s because there’s an expectation of driving runs in. They don’t want that. It’s the same thing with a closer.”
The Phils didn’t have a closer coming out of spring training last year, either. Jeanmar Gomez found himself in that role by default, and stayed in it either by hook, crook or just plain placid personality. Somehow, it worked all the way into August. Not that it made much of a difference in the standings for a club that couldn’t hit.
This year? It’s been a series of closer auditions.
Entering their series with the Nationals, the Phillies’ bullpen was a collective 4-7 with a 4.38 ERA and just five saves. The closer problem only serves to heighten the mediocrity.
“If it’s by committee, then it might be by committee,” Mackanin said. “Last year, Gomez was probably the last choice at the time because he doesn’t really have closer stuff, but he stepped up and saved 37 games for us. We’re looking for that same type of situation now. We’ve got good enough pitchers. Whether I use a combination of Neris, (Joaquin) Benoit, even (Pat) Neshak or (Edubray) Ramos, we’ll try to figure it out.”
Is it Neris or not Neris?
Can Benoit look as good in the ninth-inning slot as he’s appeared on occasion as a set-up guy? And can he do it before turning 40?
What do you have, exactly, in Ramos (except a guy that really doesn’t like Asdrubal Cabrera)?
Oh, and what of Jeanmar? Despite getting shredded in September and losing his closer’s job before the season ended, then starting out as closer this year and losing the job again right away ... is it possible Mackanin will flip-flop and flip the ninth-inning ball back to Gomez?
“I’d like to not flop. I don’t want to flop,” a frustrated Pete Mackanin said. “It’ll work its way out. I know it will.”
He’d like to see Neris nail down the role and claim it as his. That would take Neris using his splitter strikeout pitch more than he does. That’s what he did in closing out the Marlins with a 1-2-3, sevenpitch ninth on April 27 ... the day before the commencement of that nightmarish trip to L.A.
What’s a manager to do except shrug and go back to Neris with the gentle reminder that he should throw more splits instead of fat four-finger fastballs?
“That’s what I’m leaning towards,” Mackanin said. “Getting him into some kind of role that builds confidence. But at the same time I don’t want to put the onus on anybody who’s not a bonafide former closer. You’ve got to be careful with that, because if I name one guy the closer, what happens if he fails? Then what?”
Well, he does have a couch in his office. Psychiatry is part of a manager’s job, no?