Monday, September 11, 2006

Wanting It

“You’ve got to want it.”

There you have it.  Charlie Manuel’s summation of what ails the Phillies and what they need to do.  Desire, that’s what Charlie thinks is missing here.

Sorry, Charlie, but I would rephrase that assessment.  You’ve got to have it.

Let me put it another way, Charlie.  You’ve got to have a third baseman who can hit his weight.  You want more?  You need a multi-millionaire left fielder who can swing at a pitch every now and then instead of pulling that tired old stunt of raising his arms, thrusting out his butt and trying to convince the home plate umpire the ball right down Broadway he just took was really inside.

Still not with me, Charlie?  You need to stop worrying about the alleged fragile egos of some of your youngest pitchers and concentrate instead on the egos of the millions of fans who’ve stuck with the Phillies and who just might wake up this morning and read about the Eagles.  Trust me, Charlie, not every twenty-something hurler has the intestinal fortitude of a Gavin Floyd.

"We could be the Houston Astros of last year, but I don't know if these guys realize it. That's the way I'm thinking, but I don't know if they are. We didn't hit a ball hard today."

Listen, Charlie, a few of the Astros had near-career years at the plate last season, but the real reasons they made it to the post-season were guys named Clemens, Petitte, Oswalt and Lidge.  You do not have those guys or a rotation that approximates them.

“You’ve got to want it.”???

“Wanting it” is what Dontrelle Willis showed you yesterday, Charlie, not what Brett Myers trotted out to the mound the night before.

No, Charlie, I don’t think most of these Phillies lack desire.  There are simply too many of them who lack the skill to be champions.

6 comments:

Oisín Murphy-Lawless/Wizlah said...

Couldn't agree more. We are a .500 team with a core for greatness but not enough great players.

I really hope gillick is looking long and hard at this. Lets not forget, manuel might have asked for conine for ages, but Gillick was the one who green-lighted it. If that's because its a roll of the dice, a gamble, then fine. But if gillick really thinks old 'difference makers' are the difference between us and the postseason, we're no better off then we were with wade. To my mind, he hasn't indicated clearly yet which way he'll jump.

Dump (as in salary), yes, but not jump.

dane said...

i dont think that gillick has forgotten his long term plan but realized the phils had a chance at the wildcard this year and acquired a few vets to help out down the stretch. in gillick i trust

Anonymous said...

recognizing and admitting that, as a general matter, Utley is more a prototypical #3 hitter and Howard more a prototypical #4, but doesn't there come a point where you MUST put Howard #3 and Utley #4. This would force opposing teams either to pitch to Howard or, at least, give the Phils a better chance to punish the other team for walking him? (to be honest, i can't figure out why it took the other teams so long to stop pitching to howard)

Anonymous said...

Agreed, Kuff.

Tom Goodman said...

I, too, agree.

GM-Carson said...

Why don't we just punish Burrell for not punishing the opposition? But seriously, this offense just isn't clicking besides Howard. Utley appears to be coming out of his lull, but Rollins, Dellucci, catchers, and Nunez are lost right now. Victorino remains solid...but he can't do it all either.