By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Odubel Herrera's vocal minority of critics were out in full force Monday evening, perhaps rightfully so. Despite hitting a home run in the top of the first inning, the Philadelphia Phillies outfielder's mental lapses played a large part in the team's 2-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
In the top of the third inning, Herrera, swinging a hot bat, laced a ball into right field. But rather than sliding into second base for a double, Herrera stayed standing, allowing Nick Markakis to throw him out at second base. In the bottom of the fourth, he didn't call Aaron Altherr off on a ball that probably should have been his in center field, Altherr was forced to catch it and make a failed attempt to throw Ozzie Albies out at the plate.
Much has been made of the leadership that Rhys Hoskins showed in the moments that followed the first blunder, correctly so. Even Altherr, who had as much of a reason to be annoyed with Herrera as anyone, admitted that while things happen, Herrera is someone he would "rather have on his team than another team." It speaks not only to Herrera's talent, but the leadership in the clubhouse that players held Herrera accountable, but came to his defense after the game.
The game also served as a test for first-year manager Gabe Kapler. Kapler probably could have won some brownie points back with some of his detractors – who happen to claim to dislike analytics and Herrera's approach as a player – by benching him during the game. He didn't do that. His predecessor, Pete Mackanin, very likely would have sat Herrera the day after, especially with three other starting-caliber outfielders on the team – four if you include Scott Kingery. Kapler didn't do that.
Instead, Kapler penciled Herrera into his regular No. 3 spot in the lineup. Herrera only had one hit in five at-bats Tuesday night, but the one hit was an RBI single in the third inning – the same inning that he had failed to slide in the night before. That one run proved to be rather large, as the Phillies didn't score another run until the top of the 10th, when they exploded for four runs.
In center field – where FanGraphs says Herrera has been the fourth best fielder since the start of the 2015 season – he ran down a ball in the top of the first inning off of the bat of Albies. He made a leaping catch in front of the wall off of the bat of Freddie Freeman later in the game (video here), less than a week after he robbed a home run in a win over the Cincinnati Reds.
Kapler played with Manny Ramirez in Boston. He spent the past three seasons working in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, where the major league team is at its absolute best when things are going well for Yasiel Puig. Herrera isn't as talented as either of those two, but they are both unique characters with immense talent, like Herrera.
So it's not surprise that after Monday night's miscues, Kapler stood by his quirky, yet productive center fielder.
“I continue to feel that this is a very good baseball player,” Kapler said to Matt Gelb of The Athletic. “An excellent teammate. A guy who prepares his butt off and a guy who we have an incredible amount of confidence in. He makes us a lot better every time he's out on the field.”
So Kapler penciled Herrera into the lineup again on Tuesday, doubling down on the confidence that he has in the former National League All-Star. And it paid off for the Phillies.
That's not to say that Herrera didn't have to answer to anyone for his mistakes. Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia wrote a tremendous piece on the interaction between Herrera and Hoskins after he failed to slide on Monday. After the game, Salisbury says that Herrera met with Kapler. The message that these mistakes can't be made was heard loud and clear by Herrera. His .328 batting average has also been heard loud and clear, and continues to help the Phillies win games. So rather than benching Herrera, Kapler gave him an immediate chance to atone for his mistakes. And it worked. That may not always be the right way to handle these situations, but in this case, it was.
