Since the Phillies announced Charlie Manuel’s firing on a Friday, 48 hours after it happened, just so, by Monday, news coverage would look like this…
… here are a few things you may have missed about the canning of the long-time Phillies manager that came with relatively little fanfare:
Charlie’s long-time partner, Missy Martin, posted on Facebook about the standing ovation Charlie received at Maggiano’s on Friday night:
via (@PHLsportsspace)
She also posted the following, heart-wrenching message to friends:
“With all that is wrong in baseball these days, this lifer, who lost the thing he loved the most today, represents what is right – the passion and the will to go out there every day with the idea of winning. To play the game hard, play it right, make no excuses, and have fun. I want to thank all our friends, family and colleagues who have spoken out so kindly, and with so much love and support today and who recognize what it is about Charlie that makes him a winner. He is in life, as he is in baseball – he gives all he’s got. We’re all better for knowing him. That is the truth. Our warmest regards to all of you!”
Manuel, no longer the Phillies manager, still had commitments.
On Saturday, he attended an autograph signing at the Granite Run Mall (somewhere to which I’m not even sure you could pay me to go) .
On Sunday, he told MLB Network that he wants to manage again:
Washington might be a fit, and Jayson Werth surely wouldn’t be against that.
During that interview, he somewhat blamed Amaro for last year:
“[In 2012], we got Ryan Howard and Chase Utley back, and then we moved Victorino and Pence. And after we moved them, we didn’t replace them.”
And today, Manuel called into WOGL for his weekly (and last) Chattin’ with Charlie segment.
The Phillies have continued to suck.
13 Comments
If Charlie goes to the Nationals this town will be royally pissed….If he goes there and wins something Amaro’s head will be on a pike overlooking Ashburn Alley. Totally acceptable in my book.
Here, Here! Love to see it
Crickets in the comments section today. Hopefully people are finally tired of the same copied and pasted crap and are clicking elsewhere on the web.
Some of us are playing catch up because they spent most of Friday afternoon listening to Charlie walk the green mile
Facebook is for gossipy old women and insecure young chicks who post selfies and see how many compliments they can get.
White trash also love Facebook
I am actually more upset now than I was on Friday. I knew Charlie was gone at year end and I was OK with that. However, what happened on Friday reminds me of a term we used in the Army all the time in regards to our CO’s – FUBAR. They couldn’t have handled this worse if they had tried to F it up. It is just unreal. I am attending a game on Thursday because I already brought my older daughter to a game earlier this year for her b-day. Have to do the same for the younger daughter. Good news is that I got cheap tix on Stub Hub. Bad news is that I have to watch this team.
If Amaro isn’t gone by year end, I won’t be attending any games next year.
I’m with you. At first I was in shock, and I got more upset the more I thought about it. I’m not watching any more games this year, and I actually was planning on going to a game. Amaro cried crocodile tears at the press conference.
Kind of like the way you weren’t attending games before 2008. Stay home you fucking chump.
Amaro and the rest of mgmnt were so short-sighted – had they announced before the last homestand that Charlie would not be returning and the last homestand would be a chance to say goodbye to Charlie, they would have had sellouts for most games, not to mention a bonanza for merchandise with Charlie’s picture holding the trophy and the parade – shirts, hats etc. Plus they would have looked much better. Amaro can’t even do that right.
Oh, Jesus Christ! Can we please stop with the “Poor, Poor Cholly” stories already? Look, when they first fired him, I was as ticked off as anyone for the reasons articulated in Kyle’s stunningly good post the other day. But can we stop already? Pretty please? He was, at best, an average manager. At worst, he was truly “Cholly of Maybury.” Any other competent manager would’ve squeezed another World Series outta this crew. But, of course, this is Philly…so we get Manuel, who was criminal in his mismanagement of several clubs — not the least of which was the ’09 crew, which by all rights should’ve cruised to a World Series title that year.
Look at the bright side. At least now the klieg lights finally focus solely on incompetent número deux: Ruben Amaro.
Oh for God’s sake, no one really wanted Charlie back next year, people are upset about the way the situation was handled so STFU and don’t read anymore. People are venting about the crummy way it was handled; whether he was below average, average or good as a manager is beside the point – we had five consecutive years of being a contender and winning two pennants, a WS and 5 division titles, the best run in the over 100 years of Phillies history because this has always been a ham and egg operation who were perpetual basement dwellers for most of their existence. For that reason alone, they should have showed some class for a change.
I think as an ‘outsider’ (i.e. someone who has never played for the man or organization) its truly hard to gauge Charlie as a manager. Sure, it’s easy for us to judge by results (which speak for themselves), but from what I gather the true measure of a good manager in baseball is the ability to keep the team on track and moral high through a grueling season while offering those little ‘nuggets’ of info that coaches should provide to their players. And from what I’ve been hearing from players both past and present, he was one of the best in that respect.
So to summarize for me, was it time for Cholly to go, sure. Could it have been handled better, absolutely. But its over now, so there’s nothing to do but move on…and bitch about RAJ.