"Dubee is able to analyze what the pitcher is doing out there, what he has to do to get the hitter out, and get the pitcher as relaxed as possible," Phillies general manager Pat Gillick said. "He really has the instinct to go out there and know when to settle a guy down and know what to say to him and keep him under control.
"But in that one, he wasn't talking to the pitcher - he was talking to the catcher. He said, 'Stay off the umpire. We're not going to get anything if you're completely barking at the umpire.' People thought he was talking to Moyer but he was talking to Ruiz."
It was one moment in a very long season, not exactly definitive but still illustrative of how Dubee sees himself and how the team sees Dubee. As they head to the National League Championship Series, a Phillies pitching staff that has become the strength of the team will receive national scrutiny, and the pitching coach who pretty much never talks about himself will receive at least a sliver of the attention.
What they will find out is that Dubee is human blood-pressure medicine. That is what the people on the team will say when you ask them, "What does Dubee do?"
"He's unique," reliever J.C. Romero said. "He keeps everything very positive. When he comes out there to talk to you, he talks about solutions. He tries to calm you down. That's a key for a pitching coach, especially when you come to those crucial situations and you feel like the world is moving very fast.
"He tries to calm you down, slow you down. He always thinks positive. That's huge with a relief pitcher. You always want to have some encouragement on your side. You don't want any long faces or anything like that. He's pretty good. We, as a pitching staff, feel very comfortable with him.''
So, when he visits the mound in the midst of trouble, he doesn't bring up what might have gone wrong with the previous batter?
