Ugly numbers, and former and future former Red Sox pitchers

***Caveat: The following is not a criticism of Charlie Manuel, a World Series-winning manger. It's just a look at an interesting trend during his time as Phillies manager.***

When Cholly became manager, among the many criticisms was that he was an American League manager ill-suited for National League style of baseball. In fairness, he did seem to struggle with the double switch early on.

But if that's the case, why has this team been so bad at interleague play? During his tenure, the Phillies have gone 27-46 against the American League (not counting the 4-1 against the Rays in the World Series). That's a .369 winning percentage. They're 3-7 so far this year, which is on pace for the third best, and third worst, interleague mark of Cholly's tenure.

Granted, a large chunk of this damage can be attributed to a 3-12 mark against the other half of this blog, but that's no excuse. The Phillies have blossomed into a championship club and should be able to hold their own against any team.

I also wanted to look at Cholly's June records because it has felt as if this June has been just as bad as June 2008. It's close (8-9, .471 this year; 12-14, .462 last year). What's interesting is that in 2005 and 2007, the Phillies played above .500 in June, but sandwiched between was an awful 9-18, .333 June 2006. For Manuel's tenure, the Phillies have gone 59-66 in June, a .472 winning percentage. That's not as bad as it seems, but combine the .369 interleague record with the .472 June record, and you get numbers closer to what you'd want Jayson Werth's OPS to be, not segments of a championship club's win-loss record.

Former Sox pitcher and future former Sox pitcher: Derek Lowe, still the only pitcher to clinch three playoff series in the same year, is glad to be back in Boston.

Here's how genuine Lowe is about missing Boston.

"Coming in here, you kind of get these old vibes that are fresh in your mind. We had a lot of good memories here, and I have a lot of fond memories of the players," he said. "It's a great place to play, too."

He pitches tonight against Josh Beckett. Normally, I'd root for a 1-0 Red Sox win, but our offense is in the toilet, so I'll root for Lowe to pitch well for six innings before our bats come to life against the Braves bullpen.

Jonathan Paplebon, whose Red Sox tenure will soon be threatened by Daniel Bard, had to retreat from some comments about pitching in the Bronx. I'd like to see the context of the original quote, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt in that at least he started to spin correctly:

"I don't want to go (expletive) play for the Yankees," he said. "I've been on a team for the past five years that's been in first place more than any other (expletive) team otherwise. Why would I want to leave?"
[...]
"[The Red Sox] don't owe me nothing," he said. "This team doesn't need me. I need the Red Sox more than the Red Sox need me."