The sentiment from the Philly area today is that, yes, Manny Ramirez is a stud ... but there is much more to the Dodgers' offense than the dread-locked, polarizing, left-fielder who mashes opposing pitching like no other hitter on Earth when he's locked in. At least that's how the Phillies started off matters: The Phillies made it clear before their Tuesday workout that Manny alone would not decide the NLCS. The return of shortstop Rafael Furcal, who missed all eight regular-season games between the teams, has added depth to the Dodgers' lineup. Their young hitters, including Russell Martin, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, could all cause problems during a seven-game series.I'm a tad bit surprised they omitted James Loney, but we get the point.
Of course, the rest of the article was devoted to how the Phillies plan on dealing with Manny when he digs in. Let's hear it, catcher Chris Coste:
"I think if you picked out the guy we don't want to have beat us, yeah, he's clearly the guy."Ok, so that means you want to pitch around him and walk him should there be an available base?
"There's a book on Manny Ramirez, just like there is for anybody else," catcher Chris Coste said. "It's just that he's more likely to hit a mistake than the next guy. If our pitchers can pitch to the game plan, I don't see any reason to walk him.
