Phils' Dubee takes a bigger role

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Charlie Manuel made an off-color joke, and tried to blame it on Rich Dubee. Sitting in a conference room next to his office at Bright House Field after a recent game, the manager giggled and pointed to his pitching coach.

"Put in the paper that Rich Dubee said that," he laughed.

The Phillies' pitching coach lifted his eyes from a laptop screen and grinned. "Oh, no," he said. "You put that one on Chuck Manuel."

The pair looked at each other and laughed, sharing another of many effortless moments. Baseball has seen a number of memorable manager/pitching coach collaborations; the Dodgers' Tommy Lasorda and Ron Perranoski, the Yankees' Joe Torre and Mel Stottlemyre, and the Athletics/Cardinals' Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan are three examples.

Still growing after a 25-year relationship, Manuel and Dubee's connection is an important facet of the Phillies dynamic, and may join that list. It has also allowed the pitching coach, 51, to assume an increasingly high-profile role.

Though the two met in 1984 when Manuel was managing in Orlando and Dubee was a roving pitching instructor, their relationship has tightened considerably in recent years. As Dubee has experienced success, his confidence to share opinions has grown, as has Manuel's faith in him.

"I lean on Dubee a lot now, during games and when we're making decisions," Manuel said. "He's definitely a part of me."

Followers of the team may have noticed Dubee's blunt assessments of pitchers this spring, both positive and negative. "Charlie and our media people wanted me to become more involved," Dubee said. "I don't need to be in the forefront, but it helps Charlie. I have a pretty good read on him by now."

Dubee is as straightforward when working privately with his pitchers as he is with the media. "Let's just say he knows how to get his point across," says lefthander J.A. Happ, the recipient of Dubee's most effusive public praise this spring. "Sometimes you'll be throwing and he'll have this little smirk on his face, and you'll know exactly what you're doing wrong. It's good to always know where you stand."

Dubee's confidence in his ideas developed gradually during his 33 years in baseball. His coaching career began in the early 1980s when, toward the end of six middling seasons in the Kansas City Royals' farm system, Dubee realized that he wanted to remain in the game.

At the time, many minor-league teams lacked a full coaching staff, and few employed pitching coaches. While still playing, Dubee saw an opening, and offered to coach first base and help other pitchers. His initiative proved wise: Dubee was asked by the Royals to retire and coach at double-A Jacksonville in 1982.

With the Royals, and later as the Florida Marlins' minor-league pitching coordinator from 1995 to '97, and big-league pitching coach from 1998 to 2001, Dubee developed a pitching philosophy.

"My outlook hasn't changed much since," he said. "If anything, I've just come to push guys harder."

His work with each pitcher is individualized, but he tries to encourage everyone to develop a two-seam fastball (a groundball-inducing pitch that is particularly effective in small ballparks such as Citizens Bank Park). He emphasizes the curveball as an ideal off-speed pitch but moves to a slider if necessary.

In working with his pitchers, he has come to know them well enough to concisely summarize their needs. Of Brett Myers, for example, Dubee said: "The challenge is trying to keep Brett on the same page every day. On a mental level, Brett fluctuates, and that's what we're trying to avoid."

On Jamie Moyer: "The toughest guy to work with. He's a perfectionist, so he never gives me a pitch off. He wants constant input, even in the bullpen. He might pitch until he's 50."

On Cole Hamels: "There might be times when we have to make sure his main focus is on pitching. He's been better and more aware lately."

These insights provide the Phillies with an important complement to Manuel's hitting expertise. "Dubee is more than just a pitching coach," the manager said. "He is a baseball man. I listen to him during the game, and I trust the man."