2009 Phillies Offseason Thread

[Rome]

Hamels is a fag.  Donovan is a bitch.  Hamels won a World Series and Donovan has never won anything.

Fag > Bitch.

[PhillyGirl]

Barry throwing out first pitch for Nats/Phils game

[smeags]

Hamels is a fag.  Donovan is a bitch.  Hamels won a World Series and Donovan has never won anything.

Fag > Bitch.

game

set

match

/debate

[Sgt PSN]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview10/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=5036408

good article about a few players and managers in the league who have "it."  jeter, damon and utley along with cholly and leyland.  the entire article is a good read, but here's the parts about utley and manuel if you're not interesting in reading about the other guys.   

They all go about it in different ways. But they all have this particular "it:" the stuff that winners are made of. So listen to them talk about what that "it" factor is, and you'll understand what this phenomenon is all about.

"Over the course of 162 games, it's difficult to have that energy every single day," Utley says. "But if you have it, you can create something. If nothing's there, you can still create something with that energy."

Utley, meanwhile, brings much of that same stuff. But baseball is no yuk-fest to Chase Utley. The Phillies' second baseman is consumed by his work, immersed in every second of every game like just about no one you've ever run across.

"I've been in baseball 42 years, and I've seen a lot of intense players," says Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin. "But without question, he's No. 1. … You know, Chase is a friendly guy, but I'll put it this way: During a game, I don't bother him. He's got something on his mind, and he's totally focused. I don't know if I could have played if I was that focused."

You wouldn't expect a man who has spent 42 years in professional baseball -- as a player, coach and manager -- to talk about a fellow baseball creature with that sort of how-does-he-do-this awe. But Utley is so driven, so intense, so obsessed with excellence, he's a constant topic of exactly this type of conversation within his own sport.

Eventually, even he became aware of how other people talk about him. But that has only reinforced his passion for how he goes about it.

"Some of the compliments I've gotten over the years have kind of stuck with me," he says. "Like, 'I enjoy watching you play,' or, 'Don't change the way you play.' Things like that, you don't forget. [His late, great coach] John Vukovich used to tell me that. Other coaches on other teams have given me those kinds of compliments. You're not looking for those compliments. You don't expect them. But when they happen, you appreciate it."

But Jeter, Utley and Damon are only interested in talking about their own mindsets for so long, because they also understand their season's work isn't about them. It's not about the numbers they put up. It's about the number their team puts up --in the old "Wins" column.

Chase Utley takes baseball serious … very serious. He's so focused, sometimes teammates are afraid to talk to him because he's so locked into what he's doing.

"It's not just me," Utley says. "It's our team. Our team plays with a lot of energy. … We always bring that intensity level that can push us over the top at times when we're not at the top of our game."

When people talk about teams "learning how to win," learning this art seems like a big part of it: the art of maxing out the energy meter every single day. But Utley looks around at the personalities in his clubhouse and wonders if that's how it worked with his team.

"I'm not sure if you learn that," Utley went on. "I think the type of guys we have here play that way. And when other guys come into this organization, and they see guys playing hard every day, it sets that tone, that here we play the game the right way."

But the truth is, no team can have everybody playing that way every minute of every day of the longest season in sports. It isn't humanly possible. So what happens when teams slide off those tracks? That's when their leaders -- and managers -- have to grab the steering wheel.

Jeter and Utley may not be the loudest voices in their ballparks. But when they're asked if they'll say something if they see a teammate playing with his head somewhere else, they both snap back with a thunderous: "Yes."

All managers hold that button in their hands every minute of every day. What often defines the best managers is their innate ability to sense precisely when to push it.

The manager of the past two National League champions has turned out to be a man who has mastered that sense. Charlie Manuel may seem like a player-friendly softie from the outside. But his bench coach, Mackanin, says: "You know that quote, 'Don't mistake kindness for weakness?' That's Charlie."

Charlie Manuel may come across as a big, old softie. Play the game the wrong way and watch his demeanor change in a hurry.
Manuel has yanked his MVP shortstop (Jimmy Rollins) out of a game for not hustling. He has taken on his Opening Day starter (Brett Myers) in the dugout, with the TV cameras rolling. He has summoned more players to his office for a "chat" than anyone will ever know. And his team meetings, while rare, are legendary for their this-is-NOT-the-way-we-play lectures.

Charlie Manuel loves his team and loves his players. But "every team has guys," he says, "who you've gotta watch, because they like the attention and all of a sudden, the game starts to become more about them than the team and winning the game. Well, the game is the No. 1 priority. … But guys will forget sometimes. They'll get caught up in who they are. And that's not good."

But it isn't so much runaway egos that Manuel is most on the lookout for. It's signs that his team has started to get a little too comfortable. And that's when it becomes time for him to push that button, and launch into his favorite topic -- getting his troops back to "playing the game the way we always have."

"I've said things to our team about energy," Manuel says. "Sometimes I'll say, 'Look in the other team's dugout. Right there is what we had. That's what we've got when we're playing good. That's what we want to keep. And look, they've got it and we don't have it right now.' You have to remind them. If you're a manager, you'd better be talking about those things."

He has always picked his spots to send those messages. But the men in his clubhouse say he's had an incredible knack for finding the right time, saying it the right way and getting his team's GPS back on course. Utley says it's all part of the "hidden genius" of Charlie Manuel.

regardless of what you think of jeter, that guy is one of the all time greats and is one of the best "big game" players i've ever seen.  so for utley to get mentioned in that same category (especially after only being in the bigs for a few years) is a testiment to how hard he plays the game. 

[Seabiscuit36]

GRIT

[Munson]

J-Roll's better.

[mpmcgraw]

ha remember when igy thought rollins was a better player than utley.  good times.

[smeags]

 

[PhillyGirl]

ha remember when igy thought rollins was a better player than utley.  good times.

So you're both morons. Not news.

[Sgt PSN]

ha remember when igy thought rollins was a better player than utley.  good times.

prior to 2009 season, there wasn't much doubt about that at all.  utley is better at the plate (although i still contend that dropping rollins in the lineup would improve his production at the plate), but rollins was def a more well rounded player.  utley's defense has improved tremendously though and he's clearly the superior player.  but this team's success and failure is still more on jimmy than anyone else on the team. 

[smeags]

ha remember when igy thought rollins was a better player than utley.  good times.

So you're both morons. Not news.

[ice grillin you]

ha remember when igy thought rollins was a better player than utley.  good times.

prior to 2009 season, there wasn't much doubt about that at all.  utley is better at the plate, but rollins was def a more well rounded player.  utley's defense has improved tremendously though and he's clearly the superior player.  but this team's success and failure is still more on jimmy than anyone else on the team. 

exactly...i dont know why he cares so much that rollins was better than utley...and may still be...this is a big year for jimmy as far as coming back

anyway he is incredibly obsessed with the whole situation

[Sgt PSN]

anyway he is incredibly obsessed with my hairy coin purse. 

[PhillyGirl]

Werth shaved his beard

[smeags]

no more dirty hippie look ?