Yes, Bruntlett isn't much of a hitter. We know that. My wild guess is that Charlie Manuel knows it too.

The problem, according to you is that he didn't get a hit in his only at-bat of the game. Uh, care to try to prove that if Gross or anyone else had been at the plate, he would have gotten a hit? Did you actually watch the game last night? How many Phillies failed to hit with two outs and men in scoring position? Oh that's right, about half a dozen including Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell twice each. Jimmie Rollins can't seem to get on base at all. So Bruntlett's the problem? How do you figure?

The answer to your question, "why's he in the league?" is equally simple - he can play any position on the diamond except pitcher. Baseball teams consist of 25 players. That's 8 starting position players, plus 11 pithers and six others. One of the others has to be a back-up catcher. That leaves a maximum of five guys to fill all the other positions, to fill in when a regular starter sprains an ankle, to be a late-inning defensive replacement for a slow-footed or mediocre regular, etc. In short, guys like Bruntlett play an incredibly valuable role in baseball which is why, if you look around, you'll see that every team has one or two utility guys. Bruntlett, contrary to what you claim, is an extremely good infielder and has a lot more speed than Burrell whom he typically replaces.

If you don't have anything better to say than to try to tag Eric Bruntlett with the Phillies clutch hitting woes, stick a sock in it.

about keeping Bruntlett in the game in the 9th. If Manuel had brought in Gross, Maddon would've kept Miller in to pitch to him lefty against lefty. So Manuel would've burned Bruntlett and not forced Maddon to burn Miller. By leaving Bruntlett in, he saved him for defense in the bottom of the 9th and forced Maddon to burn a pitcher.

Not so dumb after all.

is Lech Walesa? I'd love to hear Newtie explain that one.

Right, which is why I don't ask King to prove Gross or anyone else would've gotten a hit. But the point King is making makes no sense. Yes, Bruntlett didn't get a hit. How many Phillies got a hit with men in scoring position last night? Zero. So why dump on Bruntlett's one AB? It's just an incrdibly cheap shot and not a very smart one at that. Why did Manuel leave in Bruntlett? For defensive purposes because the Phils were leading. In case you haven't noticed, managers do that all the time.

He also questions why Bruntlett is in the league and I explained that one to him too. He seems not to understand that guys who hit, oh say, .280 or better every year don't sit on the bench waiting to go in in the late innings as a defensive replacement. There are too many teams who'll let them play every day. Bruntlett isn't one of those guys, but he's a valuable addition to the Phillies for the reasons I stated. Look around the league and pretty much every team has at least one. I follow the Astros and this year Mark Loretta and Geoff Blum were our guys. Believe me, when Ty Wigginton and Carlos Lee went down with injuries, we were glad to have both of them and they performed well. They're not everyday players, but they sure play their roles. Just like Bruntlett.

the Phillies played an absolutely terrible game. Two errors, an incomprehensible base-running blunder by Werth and once again the near-total inability to hit the ball with men on base. Two infield hits, one of which was ruled an error, with men in scoring position don't cut it. So far Rollins, Burrell, Dobbs, Coste and Werth show no ability to apply a bat to a ball in any situation. Howard finally got a couple of meaningless hits, but when Ruiz is head-and-shoulders your best offensive performer, you know you've got problems.

when one of the favorite phrases conservatives used was "personal responsibility?" It wasn't so very long ago that they couldn't open their mouths without spitting out those words. Funny how they don't use that phrase any more. Like never.

but I'd bet good money that Sarah Palin won't be seriously in the mix for the GOP nomination. She'll take a stab at it, but her primary campaign will fall flat. That's my prediction. It'll be interesting to see her try to convince Republicans that, some way somehow, she should be the nominee because, well, McCain chose her as his running mate and that must mean something.

showed how good they can be last year by putting together the second longest winning streak in NBA history, much of it without Yao. They lost to the Jazz in the first round because three of their starting five (McGrady, Battier and Alston) needed immediate surgery and a fourth (Yao) was out altogether. No team in the NBA could win under those circumstances. Artest will make an already excellent defensive team even better and much more physical. Barring injury (you always have to say that about the Rockets), they're going to kick a lot of butt this year, but unfortunately not Laker butt. The Lakers start three guys who are 6'10" or taller; the Rockets have one guy on the whole team taller than 6'9". In head-to-head match-ups, the Lakers will keep the Rockets out of the paint and outrebound them. They'll also outrun them. Lakers-Celtics rematch in the finals.