| Douglas Benton. 2nd September, 2005 - 1:49 pm
 For years, the Phillies melted under heavy expectations and were made sure to hear of it from their passionate fans. This year however, has been different in more ways than one. This year, the expectations were still there, but to a lesser extent, and they slumped early in the year as opposed to later. Now the Phillies are playing some of their best baseball and atop the wild race that is the National League Wild Card.
One of the main changes for this is first year manager Charlie Manuel, who has brought a more even-keel approach to a team that never needed someone to jump on every mistake. He didn?t panic after the Phillies hung around .500 for most of the first half, but waited patiently that proven players would rebound and have productive second halves.
Next on the list of good doers is general manager Ed Wade, who stuck with his guys and kept his team intact at the trading deadline. He let first baseman Ryan Howard grow into the position vacated by Jim Thome and watched with amazement as Howard?s mammoth shots have become the talk of the National League. Wade also stayed pat and ignored baseball pundit?s, myself included, and kept Billy Wagner in Philadelphia, where he is now on the verge of agreeing on an extension.
However, when it is all said and done, the players win the games and that is what happening this year. With stories like the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves stealing all of the headlines, the Phillies were able to hide in the bushes and go virtually unnoticed as they quietly climbed the standings. Now they stand a game up in the wild card standings over the Houston Astros and only three games behind the Braves for the division.
Whether or not the Phillies do go on and make the playoffs is a mute point. They have overcome years of disappointing finishes and made themselves a team to be reckoned with come September. That in itself should be a victory of sorts. |
