Paul Hagen: It's a whole new ballgame when you're not hitting

BASEBALL IS A game of exquisite checks and balances. Almost nothing happens that doesn't impact something else. Hit or error? What's good for a hitter's batting average could be damaging to a pitcher's earned run average. Or vice versa.

The implications of the Phillies' offensive inconsistencies further illustrates the point. The uncertainty about how many runs the lineup will produce on a given night - Three? Two? One? None? - burrows deeply into almost every aspect of the game. It throws the entire in-game decision-making process out of whack.

Think about it. Obviously, the fewer runs a team puts on the board, the less its chances of winning. Going into last night, the Phils had scored three or fewer runs an amazing 39 times in 75 games. The only more astonishing fact is that they're 14-25 in those games. But that's a tough way to make a living.

It puts pressure on the team's pitchers. Inevitably, at some point, they'll start going to the mound thinking they need to pitch a shutout to win. That's just human nature.

Another level down, it impacts how the manager handles his starting pitcher. On Tuesday night, the Phillies were down by a run with two outs and runners on first and second in the top of the seventh. Charlie Manuel felt the need to pinch-hit for ace Roy Halladay even though the defending NL Cy Young Award winner had allowed just a single run in his six innings.

Roy Oswalt was seemingly irked earlier this season when he was lifted under similar circumstances. But when a manager lacks confidence that his team will be able to score, he has to take his shots when they present themselves. Removing ace-type starters prematurely can backfire, but sometimes ya do what ya gotta do.

Continuing further along this path, offensive uncertainty can even affect how the manager uses his bullpen.

Consider: One of the more memorable games of this season occurred at Citizens Bank Park on May 25 when Wilson Valdez moved from second base to the mound to retire the Reds in the top of the 19th and picked up the win when the Phillies finally scored in the bottom of the inning.

Manuel would say later that it was the first time in his 19-year managerial career that he'd run out of pitchers. (It could have happened a lot earlier that night except that Danys Baez came through with five stellar relief innings before Valdez finally got his shot.)