Cards Show Manny Isn't Same Manny

In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.

The Dodgers have gotten by down the stretch and in the playoffs despite a less than dynamic Manny Ramirez. While still productive, it's becoming blatantly obvious to opposing teams that Ramirez isn't as dangerous as he once was. The reality may be that he is a diminished player.

Of course, a diminished Ramirez is still a well above-average player. He's just not the out of this world hitter we've come to know.

Essentially, there seems to be a hole in Ramirez's offensive game that wasn't there before, and the Cardinals appear to be pitching to it over and over again. What consistently made Manny one of the most potent hitters over the last decade was his ability to cover and punish the good fastball inside, and also his ability to stay back long enough to drive the pitch away.

He no longer appears to have the incredible bat speed to pull that off. He now needs to sit on or cheat on the fastball inside and open up his front side earlier. By doing so, he is unable to stay on his back leg long enough to drive the outside pitch with any authority. More specifically, by opening up a little earlier to hit the fastball inside, he leaves only his arms and hands to hit off-speed pitches on the outer part of the zone.

The Cardinals will continue to stay away from Ramirez with the off-speed pitches like Adam Wainwright did on Thursday. As the game went on, Wainwright also began to attack with the fastball on the outer half, creating consistent late swings from the Dodger outfielder. The more we see of him, the more it seems that bat speed is the issue at this stage in his career.

Wainwright forced Ramirez to honor the 92-94 mph fastball, creating issues for the slugger when he tried to drive the ball with any authority and stayed away with the curveball. That's going to be the formula against him from here on out. He has enough bat control and coordination to still single to the opposite field, but he's going to need to prove he can drive it that way with the power of old.

Whether Manny is diminished or will eventually return to his old form remains to be seen. But right now, this weakness exists. You can bet that the Cardinals and any other opposition the Dodgers may face should they advance in the playoffs are going to continue to exploit it.

Spotlight Moment

Wainwright's -- and the Cardinals' -- strategy against Ramirez was well illustrated in his seventh inning at-bat. With the count even at 1-1 they went at him with a fastball, but the pitch missed badly over the heart of the plate. Ramirez was late on the pitch, however, and fouled it off. Yadier Molina then called for a fastball in, which missed down. Still showing his patience, Manny took a tantalizing curveball in the dirt to run the count full. Ramirez then continued to foul off 93-94 mph fastballs. After he finally was able to turn on a fastball and ground it foul, Wainwright froze him with a devastating curveball on the outside corner. Wainwright deserves credit for feeding Manny a steady diet of fastballs until he proved he could catch up. Then, after speeding up his bat, Wainwright left Manny with almost no way of hitting his breaking ball with any authority.

How he handled Ramirez Thursday night should serve as a blueprint. Granted, few pitchers have Wainwright's stuff, but this at-bat and others in this game revealed a lot about Ramirez's declining ability to catch up to the fastball without sitting on it and his subsequent inability to react to the breaking ball.

Quick Hits

• Despite the loss in Game 2, the Phillies have to be pleased with what they saw from Ryan Madson on Thursday. With all the question marks at the back of their 'pen, Madson is making a strong case to fill the closer role. Pounding the fastball at 96-97 mph, working at a blistering pace and spotting his outstanding plus changeup, Madson cruised through his one inning of work. Few pitchers can boast his combination of a power fastball and plus changeup with such quality command. His stuff would profile well in any team's closer role. Following 97 mph with a low-80s changeup is close to unfair.

• Franklin Morales ended the regular season on somewhat of a sour note against the Dodgers with a nightmarish inning of work. But the Rockies were given a strong outing by their hard-throwing lefty in a key situation on Thursday afternoon. In to face Raul Ibanez, Morales pumped 95-96 mph fastballs and located a breaking ball at 73 mph on the corner. Getting a peak performing Morales in the playoffs could be a huge lift to their championship hopes. If he can come in and shut down the big Philadelphia lefties it will be a huge boost.

• Clayton Kershaw did not bring his best curveball to the mound on Thursday, but that's what made his outing so impressive. Kershaw looked a little strong early, leaving his curveball up in the zone and getting burned by Matt Holliday for a solo home run. Living 93-96 mph all night, the young lefty was extra aggressive in the zone. He was able to move the ball in and out and create a lot of late swings. It goes a long way for a young pitcher's psyche to be able to pitch effectively, even without his best weapon at certain points.

Frankie Piliere spent the last three seasons working as a scout, most recently in the professional scouting department for the Texas Rangers in 2009. He now serves as the National Baseball Analyst here at FanHouse.