After executing the same bit of managerial tactics that didn’t work for Joe Girardi, Charlie Manuel’s Phillies find themselves down 3-1 in their championship series against the Giants and are facing elimination. Manuel decided against using his ace Roy Halladay on short rest and opted for Joe Blanton. Despite Blanton exiting with a 4-3 lead, Manual did end up using starter Roy Oswalt in relief, who blew the lead and took the loss. Now the Phillies need to win three in a row to win their third-straight NL pennant.

Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez are all lined up for the Giants, and you have to think that they’ll take at least one game, even though they’ll face Halladay, Cole Hamels and Oswalt. They did take two of three from these guys the first time around. In hindsight, Blanton had absolutely no business being on the mound in Game 4, especially considering the other option and how long he had had gone between starts, and the Phillies suffered because of that decision.

A manager’s job is to put his team in the best position to win, and that includes over the course of a game, a series and a season. Putting Halladay in for Game 4 was what Manuel should have done. Halladay is the best of the three, but as everybody seems upset about, Manuel now can’t use him three times in the series. Halladay hasn’t thrown on three days’ rest in seven years, but his numbers in six starts on short rest are still pretty Halladay-like.

So as it stands, there’s at least one more NLCS game and we get a rematch of Halladay and Lincecum. Hopefully with so much on the line for both teams, this one turns out to be the historic match up that Game 1 was supposed to be. Dueling aces; both with Cy Young Awards; both postseason rookies; one tries to send his team to the World Series, the other simply trying to keep his team alive. This should be a good one.