Manny makes Phillies pay early

PHILADELPHIA - Nobody knows more about Manny Ramirez' swing than Phillies' manager Charlie Manuel, his former hitting coach and manager in the minors and with the Cleveland Indians.

So it would reason that if anyone has an advantage in knowing how to pitch him, it would be Manuel. And that's not a bad advantage to have when your team is about to face his Dodgers team in the National League championship series.

First inning tonight, Andre Ethier doubled to left-center. Manny's up. Put him on?

Ah, well, Manuel elected to pitch to Ramirez. Bad choice. Ramirez smoked a Cole Hamels fastball to the 409-foot marker in centerfield, driving in the first run. Dodgers up, 1-0.

So last night in the most crucial series of Manuel's managerial career, the one player he must neutralize to win is Ramirez. Manuel likens Ramirez to Barry Bonds and you can bet if the situation arises, Ramirez won't be seeing a lot of pitches to hit. In fact, look for Manuel to walk Ramirez quite a bit intentionally. Evidently, he didn't think it was appropriate in the first inning. Now, he may rethink this.

"I look at Manny in this series like Barry Bonds," said Manuel earlier in the day. 'He'll make you change your ideas on things at times. He'll put pressure on you, especially like in big situations, He's got a chance to do something in a big moment to beat you."

Manuel, however added, "if we play seven games, it's pretty hard to walk Manny 28 times. There are probably times when he's going to hit with the bases loaded. There are going to be times when first base is open and more than likely, he's going to be put on. But there will be times when we have to pitch to him. Do we want Manny to beat us? Of course not. That's not the strategy of the game, but at the same time we'll let it play out a bit. But he's the guy we don't want beating us."

They've always had a close relationship, father-son type in which Manuel admittedly wasn't shy about giving Ramirez a good kick in the pants when he needed it. And sometimes he did.

In the past Manuel has talked glowingly of Ramirez and it wouldn't be a shocker if the Phillies were an off-season suitor of Ramirez if the Dodgers don't lock him up. Left-fielder Pat Burrell is also a free-agent which could pave the way for the Phillies to direct their dollars toward Ramirez and you know Manuel would approve it.

Manuel remembers of the young Ramirez, "the biggest problem was getting people to leave him alone because he could hit from the first time I ever saw him. I don't know if you noticed in the playoffs, but he's hitting the ball down and actually that's the only thing we used to work on when I had him as a hitter. He would kind of come up and pull off and throw the ball real low to him out of the strike zone low. I'd tell him to swing at it. In order to hit the ball down, he had to stay on it. If you look at his series against the Cubs he was smoking the ball throwing low."

It's one thing for Manuel to recognize where not to pitch Ramirez, but it's another thing for his pitching staff to understand that you don't keep the ball low to Ramirez.

Ramirez went over to say hello to his former mentor and exchanged a few laughs with him. It remains to be seen which of the two will get the last laugh.

***
Left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo was added to the Dodgers' roster and replacing closer Takashi Saito, who couldn't convince Dodger coaches and manager Joe Torre he was completely over elbow issues. Kuo could be a key figure for the Dodgers who will use him as their left-handed set-up man. Kuo missed the ALDS with elbow issues as well, but appear to be sound. One Dodgers official indicated that Kuo would not likely be able to pitch back-to-back days, but would be a key pitcher in off-setting the Phillies' big left-handed hitters like Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. "I certainly wouldn't be afraid to put him in any pressure situation," said Dodgers' manager Joe Torre. Whether I do it the first time or not, I can't really tell you because I probably want to see him earlier in the game. If we start the ninth and there are two left-handers, it would certainly be tempting."...The Dodgers will go with rookie Cory Wade as their right-handed set-up man...The Phillies kept their roster the same as the ALDS going with 11 pitchers, six outfielders, six infielders and two catchers. The Phillies thought about activating former Sox reliever Rudy Seanez, but opted to keep lefty J.A. Happ instead....The umpiring crew went over the ground rules at Citizens Bank Ballpark before the game. This is a venue where MLB believes there could be an instant replay situation because of the sketchy borders in the outfield near the wall...