Decision Day - Manuel Comes Clean

After dancing around some of his decisions for the last few weeks, Jerry Manuel was in a declarative mood tonight.

First, he announced that Daniel Murphy is not only the every day leftfielder, but also that he will hit No. 2 in the lineup against both lefties and righties. That's not such a surprise, although it pushes Luis Castillo to the bottom of the lineup and the No. 8 spot in the order.

Then, Jerry finally acknowledged what we all knew - that Livan Hernandez is the No. 5 starter. He did it while joking with me that I finally had to give up the push for Pedro Martinez, but I quickly pointed out that there is always the chance of an injury and a late arrival.

Livan has been careful not to declare himself the winner either, even as every prospective competitor for the spot has been sent packing. But he said that after his bullpen session today he was finally told that the job was his.

Comments

[JRJ]

I like Murphy batting 2nd. What has his reaction been like?

[Steve Popper]

I spoke to him about it and he was - as usual - very calm about it. He takes everything that way, just talking about hard work and worrying about helping this team get over the hump.

It sounds weird for a guy with 131 plate appearances, but he seems to expect this - not in a cocky or conceited way, but he works hard and thinks he'll succeed.