Rich Hofmann: Manuel's teams never lack heart

NEW YORK - You never get used to the suddenness of the ending. For the Phillies, it really does seem as if this has gone on for 18 months. The 2008 and 2009 seasons have always seemed joined somehow, inseparable, unforgettable. And then the Yankees flooded out of their dugout and it was over.

"It seemed like one complete season," Charlie Manuel said. "It seemed like it's just been a steady go. But it was good. Everything about it, when you're winning, is good."

These will always be remembered among the greatest of times in Philadelphia sports history, a six-game loss to the Yankees in the World Series notwithstanding. With their 7-3 loss to the Yankees, it marked a bitterly missed opportunity to repeat as champion, a failure to achieve immortality - but the perspective will arrive quickly. This team will always be viewed through the prism that is its manager. Even in falling short, even if he sees it as secondary, we will always talk about Manuel's heart, and about his team's.

And this proclamation: "I'll tell you something, we will be back. As MacArthur said, I guess, we will be back."

What Gen. Douglas MacArthur actually said, after the Philippines were lost in World War II, was, "I shall return." But, as Charlie would say, what the hell.

"We definitely can play with [the Yankees]," Manuel said. "Are they better than we are? For this series, they were. Whatever that means. They've got the trophy, we don't. We gave it up. But we're going to get it back."

He was standing in a hallway outside of his clubhouse, talking, looking back, his eyes occasionally tearing. Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of Manuel's hiring as the Phillies' manager. He is the first one to tell you that he has been supplied with a truckload of talent. He was laughing about it a couple of weeks ago in Los Angeles during the League Championship Series, about how people say this guy is a good manager or that guy is a good manager, about how he knows it is all talk.

"Hell, it's all about who's got the horses," he said, squinting into the afternoon sun.

But the truth is, Manuel has ridden herd on a revolution. Five years ago, this was not a likable team. Five years ago, this was not an admired franchise. Their reputation was for timidity. They lacked a personality. During his tenure, all of that has changed. He demanded only two things from them: that they play for nine innings and that they be themselves. The rest, he said, was on him.

"I'm sitting here today talking to you because I've got good players," Manuel said yesterday afternoon. "I always give them the credit. They have the best attitude I've ever been around. I've been in baseball a long time - best attitude, best chemistry I've ever been around. How much I put into it, I don't know, believe me. But I know this, I know that they've got a good way of seeing the game and doing what they want to do and how they play it. And that makes me proud of them."

The anniversary provided the obligatory opportunities to second-guess the man. Did he leave Pedro Martinez in too long? Should he have juggled his lineup against Andy Pettitte, who had handcuffed Manuel's lefties in Game 3? Let the debate begin. Just know that there is no answer. Also know that his consistency, and his respect for his employees, is one of the main reasons they play for him the way they do.

This team has such a talented core that it was able to hide the flaws for a very long time - the bullpen and the bench, to name two. And the truth is, if Cole Hamels had been able to come close to duplicating what he did in 2008, or if closer Brad Lidge had, the Phillies might still be playing.

But they are not, and it is jarring. Still, however empty it all suddenly seems, the door did not slam shut on an era last night, just a season.

"I think we're in a span right here, within the next couple of years, that's going to be very important for us," Manuel said. "I think it's going to be our heydays, as you might say. It's very important for the next couple of years that we stay afloat but, at the same time, I think that we can tinker with our team enough to even get better.

"I know we can do better because, as I sit here tonight, I know Hamels is going to be better and I know Lidge is going to be better. I can tell you guys that. I know that."

Later, standing in the clubhouse, his voice occasionally faltering, the manager said the disappointment would dissipate quickly. Then, he said, the perspective would fully arrive.

"When I get back to Philly, a day or 2, I'll look back and think I'll be ready to go to spring training and start all over again," Charlie Manuel said. "What the hell."

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The Idle Rich, at

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