Phillies vs Braves begins today! And to get some insight into the series, Anthony Gargano talked to the Great Charlie Manuel. How does Charlie feel about the series vs the Braves? Here is some of what he had to say earlier today…
On if the Layoff Could Hurt the Braves
“The layoff can hurt them. But at the same time, I feel like they are a team who has been together before. They won last year. So they know what to expect. But definitely, the layoff can sometimes hurt you. Hopefully, it does hurt them. But we have to be ready. They have a lot of energy on their team too. They have great atheltes.”
On Ranger Suarez vs the Braves Line-Up
“Ranger has got to get ahead in the count. He can’t be falling behind and having to throw the ball over the plate. Atlanta has a lot of right-handed hitters and they can hurt you… If he has command, and he is low in the strike zone, I look for him to give us a great chance to win the game.”
On The Phillies Matchup vs Max Fried
“The guy pitching today, he doesn’t walk people. He has all the pitches, and basically, he uses them all. If we are hitting him early in the count we have to look fastball. For him not to walk many people, I guarantee he uses his fastball to get ahead in the count. We can not be chasing balls down or up high out of the strike zone. That is to his favor. If we can get him, it is a matter of us being focused. Our right-handed hitters have to put some wood on it today. And Schwarber and Harper don’t care who is pitching. I think it is going to be a really good game. We have played them tough all year, even though they won the series. And we definitely can beat them.”
You can listen to the full interview with Charlie Manuel below…