Saturday, April 27, 2013
The Philadelphia Phillies usually get off to a bad start in April. And they are once again this year.
They say you can't win the season in April. But you could certainly lose it. And after the first month of the season, the Philadelphia Phillies are letting April showers drown them. They stand at 9-14 going into Friday night's game against the New York Mets. Five games under .500 and their worst start since 2006. Basically there's one word to sum up their performance so far this season: pathetic. The starting pitching has been inconsistent. The bullpen has gotten rocked. The offensive bats aren't just cold; they're pretty much icy. The defense stinks. The fundamentals are lacking. Pathetic. Case in point was Roy Halladay's performance Wednesday night. The pitcher has turned things around since a shaky start and question marks about his …
Saturday, August 4, 2012
After a long streak of post-season play, Tuesday's trading deadline officially ended an era.
It seemed automatic. For the past half-dozen years, the Philadelphia Phillies were playoff bound and General Manager Ruben Amaro was adding those important pieces to the puzzle at the trading deadline. But Tuesday, Amaro became a seller instead of a buyer, shipping Shane Victorino back to the Los Angeles Dodgers and then flipping outfielder Hunter Pence to San Francisco. Amaro probably also tried to unload pitchers Clif Lee and Joe Blanton and outfielder Juan Pierre but the price was too high. It doesn't mean, though, that Amaro is done dealing. If he can get some players through waivers in the next month, then the team will really begin its retooling process. Yes, like last year's Philadelphia Eagles -- the magic just wasn't there for the…
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Philadelphia Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel will go down as the greatest manager in team history, but it might be time for Ryne Sandberg to get his shot.
He's the Manager of the Year and the manager of this year's All-Star squad. No, his name isn't Charlie Manuel; it's Ryne Sandberg. While the Philadelphia Phillies get to start the second half of the baseball season in a basement in which the water is almost chest deep, the skipper of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs is putting together another fine season. Check the standings. For Charlie, the Phils stand dead last in the NL East, 14 games back of the first place Washington Nationals. Even a Wild Card berth looks wild at best, despite a healthy second half expected for sluggers Ryan Howard and Chase Utley and mound stud Roy Halladay. The Phils are 10 back in the Wild Card race. And at 37-50, that .425 winning clip isn't going to scare many …
Sunday, June 19, 2011
In the Far East, Phillies manager was known as "Aka Oni," the "Red Ogre."
How good was Charlie Manuel as a hitter? Consider the following: Carl Yastrzemski was the last major leaguer to win a triple crown (leading his league in batting average, home runs and runs batted in). Yastrzemski accomplished this feat in 1967, 44 years ago. That very same season, Charlie Manuel, a young prospect in the Minnesota Twins system, also won a triple crown, albeit, in the Midwest League. Charlie duplicated Yastrzemski’s feat while playing with the Wisconsin Rapids. In 111 games, Manuel batted .313, with 15 home runs and 70 RBIs. Manuel also achieved success in 1968 with Charlotte in the Southern League, as he was named to the All-Star Team. However, Manuel’s major league career was put on hold shortly thereafter, when he …
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Manager has come from hardscrabble roots to lead the Phillies to four straight division titles.
When the word filtered down that Charlie Manuel was to succeed the fiery Larry Bowa at the beginning of the 2005 campaign, the announcement of his hiring was met with less than unbridled joy. Oh, Charlie had limited success at the major league level, having had managed the Cleveland Indians to a second place finish in 2000, followed by a first place finish in 2001. However, after a slow start by the Tribe in 2002, Manuel was handed his walking papers on July 11. Charlie did, however, arrive with the reputation as a great hitting coach and the dreaded label, “players’ manager,” as if that denoted a less than firm disciplinarian. However, the front office apparently had enough of the temperamental Bowa’s constant run-ins with his athletes…
ride the lightning
6:59 am on Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Nationals are new 2006 phils, just waiting to get to the next level. Hopefully this will still be on patch come october then the phils are well below 90 wins. more ›