Thursday, August 17, 2006
A Sense of Urgency
Well I'm back from the shore and what a week it was. Perfect weather and most importantly the Phillies won 3 out of 4 from the hated Mets to put them only 2 games under .500.
Since the trade deadline the Phillies have played with a sense of urgency not seen previously. They have followed the lead of Chase Utley who gives 11o% all the time and has become the leader on this team. To me it seemed like previous teams always had the approach that there was always next year before the year already started. Now for reasons that I will try to spell out the Phillies have a different attitude.
1. Utley has taken over as the leader instead of Bobby Abreu. Utley has the take no prisoners attitude and only cares about winning. Howard has the same attitude as does many of the younger players including Shane Victorino, Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels, David Delluci and Aaron Rowand
2. The older guys. Guys like Chris Coste know they may not be around very long and want to taste playoff baseball this year. They never know what next year holds. Mike Lieberthal knows this may be his last year in Philly and is playing better as the Phillies make a wild card push. Arthur Rhodes and Jon Lieber have stepped up recently as they know their careers may soon be winding down and want to chase a title.
3. Charlie Manuel has been a calming presence in the locker room. By all accounts, the players love this guy and probably deserves to be retained for next year. Manuel has helped this team weather all the storms this year including a slow start, a June swoon, and the trading deadline. Now the team is playing well and Manuel deserves credit.
4. Pat Gillick for his changes in personnel. Gillick moved Abreu, Lidle, Bell, Comier, Franklin, and Fasano and instilled a new culture in this club. Gillick has taken some critism for his moves but he has a plan and has stuck to it.
The culture of the Phillies has changed and is the result of the four reasons listed above. Hopefully the Phillies can keep it together for last month and half of the season. The Phillies welcome the Nationals in for three games over the weekend with Brett Myers facing Tony Armas Jr. on Friday night. Lets keep it rolling.
Since the trade deadline the Phillies have played with a sense of urgency not seen previously. They have followed the lead of Chase Utley who gives 11o% all the time and has become the leader on this team. To me it seemed like previous teams always had the approach that there was always next year before the year already started. Now for reasons that I will try to spell out the Phillies have a different attitude.
1. Utley has taken over as the leader instead of Bobby Abreu. Utley has the take no prisoners attitude and only cares about winning. Howard has the same attitude as does many of the younger players including Shane Victorino, Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels, David Delluci and Aaron Rowand
2. The older guys. Guys like Chris Coste know they may not be around very long and want to taste playoff baseball this year. They never know what next year holds. Mike Lieberthal knows this may be his last year in Philly and is playing better as the Phillies make a wild card push. Arthur Rhodes and Jon Lieber have stepped up recently as they know their careers may soon be winding down and want to chase a title.
3. Charlie Manuel has been a calming presence in the locker room. By all accounts, the players love this guy and probably deserves to be retained for next year. Manuel has helped this team weather all the storms this year including a slow start, a June swoon, and the trading deadline. Now the team is playing well and Manuel deserves credit.
4. Pat Gillick for his changes in personnel. Gillick moved Abreu, Lidle, Bell, Comier, Franklin, and Fasano and instilled a new culture in this club. Gillick has taken some critism for his moves but he has a plan and has stuck to it.
The culture of the Phillies has changed and is the result of the four reasons listed above. Hopefully the Phillies can keep it together for last month and half of the season. The Phillies welcome the Nationals in for three games over the weekend with Brett Myers facing Tony Armas Jr. on Friday night. Lets keep it rolling.
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Some cool level headed comments there Dane. Although many Phils fans say Charlie is dumb. You gotta respect the fact that the players like him. Half the battle sometimes is having a happy clubhouse. A good team needs unity to be successful and Charlie is keeping the boys together and loose. They seem to be having fun whilst really digging deep in every game. Charlie has more baseball smarts than he is given credit for. I'd rather have a manger whom the players like and want to play for, than someone who has a good rep but is an ass to some of them.
PG is a proven winner. His record is superb. I say let the man do what he's gotta do. We can judge him with hindsight. His plan is coming together. The enthusiasm of youth is shining through and winning us games. Its charged the older players and the Phils have gone from right offs to WC contenders. Even if we are 2 games under .500. You gotta have a plan. PG and the Phils have one. Let it pan out. Besides PG gave us Nuni! What a champ!
Lets go Phillies! Mash them Nats!
PG is a proven winner. His record is superb. I say let the man do what he's gotta do. We can judge him with hindsight. His plan is coming together. The enthusiasm of youth is shining through and winning us games. Its charged the older players and the Phils have gone from right offs to WC contenders. Even if we are 2 games under .500. You gotta have a plan. PG and the Phils have one. Let it pan out. Besides PG gave us Nuni! What a champ!
Lets go Phillies! Mash them Nats!
Dane- I agree that Manuel very well have a calming effect in the clubhouse, but his in game decisions are poor. I have to respectfully disagree about retaining his services for next season...but it's ok to disagree.
Nice to have ya back from vacation, you'll have to check the funny stuff you missed over on my blog...it's been an interesting week.
Nice to have ya back from vacation, you'll have to check the funny stuff you missed over on my blog...it's been an interesting week.
Welcome back. I feel he (Manuel) lacks in one major area. The way he uses his pitchers especially the relievers. It is interesting that he keeps giving Mathieson a chance to start. He needs to keep doing that. Hamels took a little while to come around and if Mathieson can do it then the Phils have another arm setup for next year. The team showed great promise this last week and even gained more on the Reds and the other teams in the WC chase.
It would be interesting to see how they will use Coste next year. Maybe the 2nd Catcher as well as a backup 3B/OF?
It would be interesting to see how they will use Coste next year. Maybe the 2nd Catcher as well as a backup 3B/OF?
i agree manuel lacks in his ability to manage a bullpen but my question is how much influence rich dubee has over those decisions. does dubee have the final call, does manuel keep him at a distance, or as I suspect dubee gives his input but manuel make the decision.
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