Phillies upset on their off-day

The Phils have an off day after dropping back into a first place tie with the Mets, but there is still a ton of news and information to pass along:

*Manuel upset Charlie Manuel is upset with the hitters after not coming through with more offense to support Cole Hamel's good outing yesterday. He was especially upset with the clutch hitting, noting that the Phillies "situational hitting is absolutely terrible". The Phillies offense has been inconsistent all year, exploding for 20 runs at times and looking feeble at other times.

*Burrell also upset Any chance that Pat Burrell was going to come back to Philly next year is probably being ruined by Charlie Manuel. Manuel still insists on sitting Burrell in the late innings of any game where the Phils have the lead and Pat isn't happy about it, saying " "I'm upset, absolutely. I'm upset, and I have been for a long time. It's not personal. I don't want to ever come out of close games." Burrell is continually being taken out of games where he could have been up in a key situation later on so I can see why he is upset. While I understand the reasoning of removing a bad fielder during the late stages of a close game, Manuel is too quick with the hook in one run games. Losing Pat's bat is sometimes a bigger loss than any mistake he could make in the field.

*Big Mets series starts tomorrow The Phillies and Mets are once again locked into a tie for first in the NL East, but a three game series that starts Tuesday will give us a division leader, at least for now. Pedro Martinez is injured so he will miss his next start, so the pitching match-ups look like this for the series:

Tuesday: Joe Blanton vs. Johan Santana
Wednesday: Brett Myers vs. John Maine
Thursday: Jamie Moyer vs. Oliver Perez

Two interesting starts for the Phillies, with Blanton making his debut facing off against Santana and Myers making his return against a hot Mets team.

*Holliday rumors still circulating I think it's a bit of a non-story because everything I have read said the trade talks are off, but the Phillies have been rumored to be going after both Matt Holliday and Brian Fuentes of the Rockies in a possible blockbuster deal. The deal would gut the Phillies farm system, forcing them to give up Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson and other top prospects, plus Shane Victorino. Seems like a bad deal unless the Phils can get Holliday to agree to a contract extension since he will be a free agent at seasons end.