Charlie Manuel Is Coming to Town: Phillies Manager Brings Holiday Cheer

You’ll see him soon—showing up in his typical attire, the red and white suit, with his aged hat.

His socks sit about knee high, tucked under his insulated leggings to keep warm in the coldest days of the year. Waiting all year to deliver his special treat that he has given fans worldwide, near or far, for quite some time.

His name? Not Santa Claus, but Charlie Manuel.

However, it seems that each smile sender seems to have the same persona. Heck, everyone loves them, giving a not so far-fetched idea that Charlie Manuel is Santa Claus.

He may not have the elongated white beard, but Manuel has the color scheme, jovial spirit, and heart-warming personality that seem to give us all laughter and cheer.

At first, this Manuel couldn’t be real. He was only a hitting coach in Cleveland, and now you say he has an annual treat that he gives us all?

But then I see him at the annual Phillies Phestival, and everyone seems to be taking pictures with children standing by him or on his lap. Seems like this nonsensical and lackadaisical neophyte isn’t so bad after all.

Manuel also has some hardware in his house. It seems like his elves are always trying their hearts out just for all of us to enjoy a certain special time of year. With smiles like Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard, I don’t think anyone could look at them and think otherwise. Besides longtime Mets fan, Uncle Scrooge.

I’m having a hard time grasping this Manuel character. But ever since 2007, I’m starting to believe in this pot-bellied…winner.

It’s not maybe next year. It’s always this year.

So when people ask,

“Do you believe in Santa?”

I say yes.

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Mets, Phillies Rivarly Never Gets Old

A new emerging rivalry in sports. Not Cardinals-Cubs or Dodgers-Giants. But the Philadelphia Phillies and their hated rival New York Mets.

About 100 miles away from New York and Philadelphia, there is a grudge between the scripted Mets logo and the star spangled Phillies. They just don’t mix.

In 2006, New York won the season series 11-7 and finished 12 games ahead of the second place Phillies. This was the first time both teams we’re legitimate contenders until the latter part of the season.

The Mets went all the way to the National League Championship Series but lost to the eventual World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. Little did the Mets know that the game ending 12-6 curveball from closer Adam Wainwright was the last sniff of the postseason they would get for the next two years.

The Phillies were chasing the Wild Card, but eventually lost by three games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The notorious Philadelphia theme remained constant. “There’s always next year.”

Well. next year came in 2007.

Now Ryan Howard was fresh off his MVP year where he hit .313, 58 home runs, and 149 RBIs. This was the most home runs since Barry Bonds hit his record setting 73.

Second baseman Chase Utley was coming into his own, establishing himself as one of the best second basemen in the game.

The table was set for the Phillies to make a run for the Pennant.

Shortstop Jimmy Rollins really felt great about his team going into the 2007 campaign. He felt they had enough pitching and offense to open some eyes around the National League. In fact, he was so confident that he said that the Phillies were “the team to beat.”

The New York media ate it up.

Everyone between the 100 mile distance was estatic to hear such a proposition. The Phillies hadn’t made the playoffs in 13 years at that time. Rollins was calling out a team that was the National League’s best club with an astonishing 97 wins.

Bad enough, the Phillies went 11-14 in the first month of the season making Rollins and the Phillies the laughing stock early in the season. But you know what they say,

“It’s a long season.”

Starting at the top, Jose Reyes was becoming one of the most dynamic players in the game. Getting hits, stealing bases, and dragging bunts. He set the table for a potent middle of the lineup which included David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and the ageless Carlos Delgado.

For yet another year the Phillies had their eyes on the Wild Card. By the All-Star break they were 44-44, 4.5 games back of the division leading Mets. It seemed unlikely.

After the All-Star break, the Phillies really turned it on. They swept the Mets twice, and one sweep was a four game set. In that quad set, the Phillies had three comeback wins off a very anemic bullpen that included Scott Schoeneweis, Pedro Feliciano, and of course Billy Wagner. The Mets bullpen’s weakness would cost them many pivotal games down the stretch.

The Mets had a seven game lead with 17 games to play. The Mets faltered. They started losing games consecutively while the Phillies were on a hot streak—both teams were going in opposite directions.

Then on the very last day of the season, the Mets were losing to the Florida Marlins 7-0 before the Phillies-Nationals game even started. The Phils knew they could control their own destiny, for the first time all year.

The Phillies would eventually beat the Nationals between Jamie Moyer and closer Brett Myers to win the National League East.

They would later be swept by the record setting, white-hot Colorado Rockies in three games.

Just getting a taste for meaningful games in South Philadelphia, the Phightin’s were coming into their own.

In 2008, Carlos Beltran took a page out of Rollins’ book and said the Mets we’re the “team to beat” after acquiring former Cy Young and strikeout king Johan Santana.

Just like 2007, the Mets had early success, especially Johan Santana. Coming from the superior American League, Santana was shutting teams down one by one including the left-handed heavy Philadelphia Phillies.

During the September stretch run, the Mets and Phillies exchanged first place three times. However the Phillies would win the National League East on September 27th to win their second consecutive division title.

From there, any Major League Baseball fan knows what happens next.

The Phillies would beat the Milwaukee Brewers in four games, the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games, and the Tampa Bay Rays in five as well.

Behind the brilliant pitching of Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge and the timely hitting by Rollins, Shane Victorino, Utley, Howard, Jayson Werth, Pat Burrell, Carlos Ruiz, and of course Matt Stairs, the Phillies won their second World Championship while the Mets watched.

A victory for the team, the city, and especially the fans who have endured so much.

As the unwritten 2009 season unfolds, one constant remains the same. The Phillies have not folded under high pressure situations.

So, Philadelphia would like to pass off a new motto for the New York Metropolitans.

“There’s always next year.”

More Cole in the Fire: Former Phillies Ace Hamels Needs To Warm Up on the Hill

There’s a new ace in town. And his name is not Cole Hamels.

Last year’s World Series Most Valuable Player has yet to find a groove in the 2009. And there is a combination of answers for his struggles. Could be control, velocity, location, confidence, or just a matter of teams scouting Hamels’ tendencies in certain counts.

He’s been inconsistent. Riddled with bad luck at times. But for a left-handed pitcher of his caliber, he should be able to work through these struggles and return to a top flighted pitcher.

For his problems to go on for this long, there must be something inside Hamels that has led him to this elongated stretch.

Hamels just doesn’t have that fire out there on the mound. As a calm, cool, and collected guy out of San Diego, CA. “Hollywood Hamels” needs to dig deep moving into September.

As World Series Champions, teams get up to play the Phillies. Teams will look for other ways to beat the champions because of their superiority. Maybe study an opponent more or have a more focused mindset throughout the game.

The problem is Hamels knows this.

For an entire offseason, the Phillies have made it lucid to maintain intensity for every team high or low in the standings. They’re all coming after the big dogs of the National League. 

Hamels has found himself in turmoil between himself. After literally cruising through September and October baseball last year, simply the game of baseball is catching up with him. Merely the fact that you cannot be perfect all the time.

Hamels was 9-8 with a 3.32 ERA and 154 strikeouts in 2008 though Aug. 15. This year he is 7-7 with an ERA 1.37 points higher.

If Hamels can get back to his winning ways, a one-two punch of Lee and Hamels will be tough to beat.

Repeat success is not impossible, but inevitable.