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John Smallwood: Amaro the right man to fix what ails the Phillies

I THINK IT'S become obvious in my 16 years writing for the Daily News that I am not as reactionary as a lot of Philadelphia fans.

Ruben Amaro Jr. has been calm as Phillies general manager, even if his fans haven't always. (Sarah J. Glover/Staff Photographer)
Ruben Amaro Jr. has been calm as Phillies general manager, even if his fans haven't always. (Sarah J. Glover/Staff Photographer)Read more

I THINK IT'S become obvious in my 16 years writing for the Daily News that I am not as reactionary as a lot of Philadelphia fans.

I prefer calm and measured reasoning to the over-the-top response fueled by emotion.

So with that in mind, I find it impossible to believe that because Ryan Howard looked at a third strike with two outs and two on that the Phillies instantly went from World Series favorites to underachieving bums who need to be scattered in the baseball wilderness.

Nothing's wrong with being disappointed, even angry, that the Phillies came up short in the National League Championship Series.

But the emphasis now must be how to move forward in a positive direction.

And as the franchise moves into what might be a critical offseason, I think it will gain even more appreciation for general manager Ruben Amaro Jr.

Considering how raw the wound still is, this might not be the most popular thing to say, but Amaro really has proved he knows what he's doing.

He is one of the leading candidates for executive of the year.

I'm not saying you have to agree with every move Amaro has made - yes, we are talking about the unmentioned one who will start Game 1 of the World Series for the Texas Rangers - but he has shown that he has a good feel for what this franchise needs and how to go about getting it.

"I was joking earlier and told someone I was going to start of this discussion by telling everybody we were going to blow this thing up," Amaro said yesterday in his exit news conference. "No, I'm not going to do that."

That's a good thing. That's a reasoned analysis.

This team did not perform in the playoffs, and frankly, the key thing that led to its demise - a lack of clutch hitting - was there for the entire season.

Still, this team did win a major league-best 97 games and made it to the NLCS.

With the likely exception of rightfielder Jayson Werth, who probably will find a more lucrative offer in free agency, the core of that team will be back.

And while it is reasonable to point out that players such as Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Shane Victorino are getting older, it is a real jump to deem them over the hill.

"I guess the question is more of what do we see as success," Amaro said. "I think this year for us in general was a successful year, but it was a disappointing finish, because our expectations were that we were going to be the World Series champions.

"That will be our expectations next year, as well. We did not perform as well as we would have liked when it was time to perform in the playoffs.

"I'm not quite sure if the reason why we didn't have success is a product of the talent that we had on the club, or an issue of karma, or it just being a part of baseball."

I lean to the last evaluation.

The Phillies had a lot of things happen, primarily injuries that sidelined key players for extended times.

More than anything, that led to them never developing the cohesion and flow offensively that they had in 2008 and '09.

Clearly, some complacency set in because of previous success. Sometimes they smelled themselves a little too much.

And no one is naive enough to believe that the decline in production of some players isn't due to the natural affects of Father Time.

Players such as Rollins, Utley, Howard and Victorino have played a lot of extra baseball the last four seasons.

Still, this team hasn't taken a swan dive off a cliff. I don't see them as being the 1993 Phillies, who seemingly all broke down the moment the World Series ended.

This group of Phillies has a track record of success.

Four straight division titles, two World Series appearances and a world championship has earned it another opportunity together to show that it is not over the hill.

When the Phillies traded for Roy Halladay and gave him a 3-year extension, it was about sacrificing some of the future to make a 2- to 3-year run with this core group of players.

Acquiring Roy Oswalt at the trade deadline only firmed up that board holding the window open.

Maybe I'm just different from most Philadelphians, but I don't think a strikeout by Ryan Howard changes that.

I like Amaro's approach, because he's not looking at this glass as half-empty or half-full.

He knows the Phillies are right in the middle, and he isn't trying to hide that fact.

He likes what he has, but he also knows the team has deficiencies that must be addressed.

"Talentwise, we are a better club than how we performed in the postseason and during the season," Amaro said. "We had four or five guys that we had higher expectations productionwise that didn't produce as they have in the past.

"Part of that was because they couldn't establish a rhythm because of the injuries they sustained, but some it was when they were healthy, and they all were at the end of the year; we didn't have the right approach to hitting.

"I think we do have to deal with our age because it is moving past the prime ages of production . . .

"Do I think about the age? I do. Do we have to start filtering some youth into our club? Yes, I believe that, too.

"At the same time we want to be a contender again, so we have to balance those two things.

Amaro has the right demeanor to handle that balancing act.

Send e-mail to

smallwj@phillynews.com.

For recent columns, go to

http://go.philly.com/smallwood.