Phillies desperation means a call-up for Domonic Brown

In the end, the manager won. Charlie Manuel wanted Domonic Brown with the Phillies, to try to help ignite a lineup that has struggled to get hits, much less runs. Ruben Amaro Jr. wanted Brown to marinate a little longer at triple-A Lehigh Valley, to work on his hitting, his defense, and his baserunning.

During a late-night meeting in Manuel's office after the Phillies' 7-1 loss to Colorado on Thursday, the men finally agreed. Manuel promised to monitor the 23-year-old Brown and to ease him in against lefthanded pitching. Amaro agreed to eat the words he had uttered about Brown earlier in the night: "We don't think he's ready to do it."

And so on Friday, as he was about to eat breakfast at a Scranton hotel, Brown bumped into IronPigs manager Ryne Sandberg, who was still in his pajamas and looking for Brown. Sandberg delivered the news: The Phillies had called up Brown.

It speaks to the Phillies' desperation that Manuel was able to convince Amaro to cede to his wishes. Since posting a franchise-best 18-8 record in April, the Phillies had lost 9 of their 17 May games entering their interleague series against Texas on Friday night. Disappearing bats were a major reason.

Over their last 13 games before Friday, the Phillies were batting .202 with 32 runs scored and a .258 on-base percentage. Narrow that sample size to the previous six games before last night's, and the numbers dipped even further: a .157 batting average, only six extra-base hits, only 10 runs, and a .120 average with runners in scoring position.

Ryan Howard epitomized the Phillies' hitting troubles. Entering the Rangers series, he was 0 for his last 20 at-bats.

With Chase Utley not ready to come back from his rehabilitation stint at single-A Clearwater, Shane Victorino now on the 15-day disabled list with a strained hamstring, and Ben Francisco not distinguishing himself in right, something had to give. So Amaro did.

The general manager's overnight flop was akin to Andy Reid's saying Kevin Kolb was his starting quarterback one Monday last September and then announcing on Tuesday that Michael Vick was the starter. Those types of franchise-rattling shifts rarely occur after strong declarations to the contrary.

"There's still a question whether he's ready to come and play on a regular basis," Amaro said. "The circumstances changed, and I changed my mind. It's pretty simple, really."

Only it isn't.