Phillies' Manuel looks to embrace different approach to offense

SARASOTA, Fla. - Charlie Manuel pulled the new iPhone from his red Phillies jacket pocket Tuesday morning and it was Dick Pole, his old pitching coach from his days managing the Cleveland Indians. He gave Pole directions on how to enter Ed Smith Stadium, hung up, and stared at the phone.

It was time, he said, to ditch the old flip phone. There's been little time to play with the new one, but Manuel guaranteed he would master the technology.

Manuel turned 68 in January, and change can be a difficult proposition. He made his name as a hitting guru and these Phillies have morphed into a pitching-centric team. He loves the three-run home run, borrowing an old Earl Weaver adage, but this team could have less power than any he has ever managed.

If the Phillies are to adapt into a team that values situational baseball, Manuel must too. He's aware.

"I can play baseball either way," Manuel said.

And so begins the installment of a philosophy emphasized even before Chase Utley's knees prompted his departure from camp amid questions about his future. The Phillies will be without their right side of the infield for an undetermined period. The optimist in Manuel believes it won't be long. The reality is, he does not know what to expect.

"If we have Utley and Howard out, we'll have to find the best way for us to score runs we're supposed to," Manuel said on the day he learned Utley was sidelined. "We'll make sure we get the runs we're supposed to get because of the power we're losing."

Those runs, Manuel later explained, are the ones when a runner is on third with less than two outs or a man is on second with none out.

In 2011, the Phillies scored a runner from third with less than two outs 48 percent of the time, which ranked 12th in the National League. (The league average was 50 percent.) They had the fewest runners on second with none out in the league and scored them 54 percent of the time, which equaled the league average.

"We have to move the runner and get those runs in," Manuel said. "We have to concentrate on playing that way."

What Manuel is stressing doesn't necessarily mean bunting. He pointed to a Grapefruit League game last week when Scott Podsednik walked to start the eighth inning of a tie game.

"I sat there and watched the catcher throw the ball down between innings," Manuel said. "I thought to myself, 'If he [Podsednik] gets on, I'm not going to bunt him. I'm going to steal him.' "

Podsednik took off and stole second. Then Luis Montanez moved Podsednik to third with a groundout and Podsednik scored on a Hector Luna double.

Of course, players such as Podsednik, Montanez, and Luna are not the ones Manuel wants to see execute such tasks. The Phillies led the league in stolen-base percentage for the fifth straight year, but only the Cubs and Cardinals attempted fewer steals. Manuel could take more chances then, even beyond the usual threats of Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino.

"There will be more situational decisions," Manuel said. "If we have some speed on first, I might take a chance on stealing second and then bunt him over to third. That might be the easiest way for us to score runs."

Manuel, always defensive when he hears people claim small ball means more bunting, does believe he can use it more. The 2011 Phillies had the fewest infield hits (112) in all of baseball. The next-closest was Colorado, with 21 more such hits. The Phils also had the fewest bunt hits in the league.

While he was in Cleveland in 2000 and 2001, the Indians ranked first or second in the American League in infield and bunt hits under Manuel. After ranking second-to-last in the American League in scoring runners from third with less than two outs in 2000, they were the best in 2001.

These Phillies, he hopes, can undergo a similar transformation.

Said Manuel: "That's the kind of way we'll have to play."