Method or madness?

By Tim McManus

When seemingly illogical moves are made in sports, there are two plausible explanations:

1) The general manager/coach/player is wallowing in incompetence, or

2) There's more to the story than you realize.

I bring this up because the Phillies have made some lineup moves this past week that don't seem to make sense, especially given the circumstances.

On June 17, the Phils were trying to snap a six-game losing streak against young sensation Scott Kazmir and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Even though they were still reeling from a sweep at the hands of the Mets and could not afford a further dip, they called up Scott Mathieson from Double-A and started him, then decided to give their best hitter, Chase Utley, a day off.

Despite losing that game to further the slump, Manuel decided to rest Aaron Rowand, Pat Burrell and David Bell the next day against Seth McClung.

Then, in Monday's series opener against Randy Johnson and the New York Yankees, the Phils sat Bobby Abreu and Ryan Howard.

Somehow, they won two of those three games.

They took a huge risk of extending their losing streak to nine games with those moves, though. Sitting one big-name player a day because of injuries or pitching matchups is understandable, but two or more? That's asking for it.

So you have to question: Is it stupidity driving these decisions or is there actually a method to the madness?

Let's assume, against better judgment, that there's a logical explanation.

If you take that approach and break down the box scores accordingly, the one constant that you'll see is Abraham Nunez. He played second base for Utley, third base for Bell and then took second again against the Yankees while Utley was bumped to first base.

Hmmm...

A man who couldn't sniff the lineup for almost an entire half-season gets called upon on three consecutive nights. Coincidence, or are they trying to up his value for potential suitors?

If that was their plan it worked, as Nunez hit a homer in his first game, knocked in a run in the finale against Tampa Bay and then made a spectacular diving play to rob Johnson of a base hit and save a run against the Yanks.

Shane Victorino, meanwhile, started two of those games and appeared in all three, while David Dellucci started Sunday and went 3-for-4 with a run.

And Mathieson didn't embarrass himself in his major-league debut despite making the double-leap, allowing four runs in six innings of work.

So to recap: The Phillies showed off one of their bright pitching prospects, started their backup third baseman on three straight nights, and tried to illuminate the potential of their top two bench players.

It gets the wheels turning. Is it so hard to imagine another team's GM saying to Pat Gillick, "You know, I love what Nunez did for the Cardinals last year and I could really use a utility man, but I just haven't seen enough of him."; or, "Mathieson seems like a stud, but I just don't know how his talent will translate in the big leagues"?

Maybe, just maybe, the moves seem terrible because we're not privy to the same information that the Phillies' front office is. Maybe said players are soon to be part of a package deal that brings this team some much-needed help.

You better hope that is the case. Otherwise, your team is in a lot worse hands than even the most cynical detractor thought.

You can contact Tim at tmcm1997@yahoo.com