Roy Halladay

On this date in 2010, Roy Halladay of the Phillies pitches the 20th perfect game in history striking out 11 while beating the Marlins 1-0.

"Super for him." - Charlie Manuel

Charlie says "no"!

                                                                               

On this date in 2010, Major League Baseball issues a warning to the Phillies after investigating allegations made by the Rockies that bullpen coach Mick Billmeyer used binoculars to steal signs from the center-field bullpen in the game between the teams on May 10th.

"Absolutely no. Absolutely (bleeping) no. Absolutely not." - Charlie Manuel when asked if his team had been stealing signs 

 

 

Harmon Killebrew

On this date in 1984, Harmon Killebrew is elected to the Hall of Fame.

"He told me to never chew gum at the plate. He said it made your eyeballs bounce up and down." - Charlie Manuel

Roy Halladay

On this date in 2010, Roy Halladay of the Phillies pitches the 20th perfect game in Major League history striking out 11 while beating the Marlins 1-0.

"Super for him." - Charlie Manuel 

Not us!

On this date in 2010, Major League Baseball issues a warning to the Phillies after investigating allegations made by the Colorado Rockies that Phillies bullpen coach Mick Billmeyer used binoculars to steal signs from the center-field bullpen in the game between the teams on May 10th.

"Absolutely no. Absolutely (bleeping) no. Absolutely not." - Charlie Manuel when asked if his team had been stealing signs

Harmon Killebrew

On this date in 1971, Harmon Killebrew becomes the 10th player to hit 500 home runs.

"Harmon Killebrew told me to never chew gum at the plate. He said it makes your eyeballs bounce up and down." - Charlie Manuel

Charlie Manuel

On this date in 1979, Charlie Manuel playing in Japan for the Kintetsu Buffaloes is injured when a brushback pitch fractures his jaw in seven places.

"Right now, everything about our team is kind of whacked up." - as manager of the Phillies

Roy Halladay

On this date in 2010, Roy Halladay pitches the 20th perfect game in Major League history defeating the Marlins 1-0, striking out 11 in the process.

"Super for him." - Charlie Manuel

Charlie says no!

On this date in 2010, Major League Baseball issues a warning to the Phillies after investigating allegations made by the Rockies that bullpen coach Mick Billmeyer used binoculars to steal signs from the center-field bullpen in the game between the teams on May 10.

"Absolutely no. Absolutely (bleeping) no. Absolutely not." - Charlie Manuel when asked if his team had been stealing signs

Yes he was!

Ok, now that we've got that all cleared up.

Charlie Manuel

Born on today's date, Charlie Manuel.

Was Charlie ever young?

Just askin'.

Harmon Killebrew

On this date in 1972, Harmon Killebrew becomes the 10th player to hit 500 home runs.

"Harmon Killebrew told me never to chew gum at the plate. He said it makes your eyeballs bounce up and down." - Charlie Manuel

Charlie Manuel said Shane Victorino had to charge Ramon Ramirez after getting hit....

...."unless he wants his teammates to call him 'chicken'".

Can't make this stuff up!

I sure hope that was a misquote or taken out of context somehow.

Well they are called The Phightins!

Charlie Manuel

Born on today's date, Charlie Manuel.

"Absolutely no. Absolutely (bleeping) no. Absolutely not."

When asked if his team had been stealing signs from the bullpen.

Not while the batting cages are open!

I see the Phillies who are in the midst of a horrible offensive slump since their binoculars were taken away lost yesterday to the Blue Jays 2-1.

Paul Newberry of AP reports that Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was livid at his team, saying the players have shown no sense of urgency to end this slide.

"I see a whole lot of cockiness and big-headedness and complacency," Manuel said. "Just because we did something last year doesn't mean we're going to do it this year."

Manuel reportedly showed his displeasure before the game when he saw several players in the clubhouse watching the movie "Gran Torino" on the television and he told them to turn it off. Apparently in "mid-show" too. You know, like watch the rest via Netflix or something.

I think I am with Charlie on this one.

What does Clint Eastwood know about baseball?

"Battlefield Baseball", I could see.

Gran Torino?

No.

You can scream and holler all you want....

....but at the end of the day, the umpires just don't respect the ice cream man.

Come again?

Howie Rumberg of AP reports that Phillies manager Charlie Manuel held a closed door meeting after getting shut out for the second consecutive game yesterday.

"There was no yelling. There was no screaming. You know Charlie, he's not going to get deep," Shane Victorino said. "He just wanted to make a few points and he did."

Victorino went on to say that the meeting was about "losing the right way."

Losing the right way?

What the?!

I can think of a hundred things I would want to talk about before that!

I thought the Phillies were supposed to be good this year.

They should maybe trade managers with the White Sox.

You tell 'em Charlie!

Per The Morning Call (Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania daily), this is Charlie Manuel's response to criticism from Tim Just-Call-Me-God McCarver that his decision to not put his runners in motion in the eighth inning of Game 2 was "wrong".

"I don't give a damn who's played 20 years or 50 years and think they know, that's not the right way to play the game," Manuel said, "I get upset when somebody asks me that because it's not baseball."

"I didn't even have to think about that. That's bad baseball if Utley strikes out and Rollins get thrown out at third base. We've got one of the best hitters in baseball standing on deck (Ryan Howard). That's our game standing right there in front of us."

"We've got only five outs left in the game, we've got our biggest offensive threat standing at the plate. There's no way we could afford to make a mistake there. I'll do that as long as I live."

Charlie has a new fan today.*

*As I have said before, I probably would have sent the runners but Manuel's decision not to is defensible and not "wrong". Do you think Tim McCarver does apologies? Yea, me neither. He is too busy being "right".

Game 1

1.Numerous empty seats behind first base, third base and behind the dugouts; well kind of everywhere close. Is this game "sold out"? These seats are always empty. Have the Yankees "sold out" a game all year? I know that the Yankees are mega-profitable but when you have all of these empty seats for a World Series game, you really need to look at your business model. Don't look so good, you know.

2.If these six umpires blew that easy double play call on Cano after conferring for all that time, major league baseball should have been prepared to do a Ronald Reagan/air traffic controllers thing.

3.Cliff Lee* should have caught that lazy pop-up behind his back. Why not? Not much different than what he did.

4.Charlie Manuel is wearing a batting glove and he is not on the playoff roster that I know of. What gives? Maybe he's got a sponsorship. Does he wear that at home? It looks pretty white. I doubt it.

*That's gotta hurt in that photo above. The left arm "ain't" doing a natural thing there. No injury though. He signed the card.

Phillies bullpen?!

Another Brad Lidge appearance. Another blown save. Anybody surprised?

Memo to Charlie Manuel:

You have two weeks to figure out who your closer is and it ain't Brad Lidge. That thinking is SO 2008. You don't go into the playoffs with a closer with a 7.48 ERA. You just don't. 2008 was 2008.

You should be well into "tryouts" for this position by now. You gotta think "on the fly" here, you know.

Get moving!