Relieved as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies last week, Charlie Manuel spoke candidly in an interview with CSN Philly's Leslie Gudel.

Asked if he felt he had the pieces to win in each of the last two years, Manuel said: "The last two years? No. I can straight-face tell you that."

Manuel, who won five National League East titles, two pennants and a World Series, knew the team's fate in the spring.

"Start of the season, both years." Manuel said. "I always figured we'd add the pieces and things like that.

"I knew if we started the season with this team that somewhere along the lines we were going to improve it. And if you remember those years, there were a lot of those years that we did all that.

"They always went out and they always got pieces and they always put them on our team and gave us a good opportunity to win. They put us in a good position to win and it was up to us to do that."