September 05, 2007

What's Sid Saying?

There's been a groundswell- despite a whole bunch of losses like today's 8-2 lead-turned-9-8-loss to the Mets- that the Phillies' Charlie Manuel should be named NL Manager of the Year. Sure, he's not the smartest game manager in the world, and sure, almost everyone in Philly hates him.

But, Uncle Charlie's got the Phils in the race, almost 10 games over .500, despite numerous injuries that have left the team with one of their original six starting pitchers, and a laughable bullpen in which the likes of Jose Mesa and Antonio Alfonseca are on the mound in key situations. I may not agree with the Charlie-for-Manager-of-the-Year idea, but I at least see the point.

This Sid Hartman argument, however, I don't so much see at all:

Though it appears the Twins' playoff hopes were dashed after they got swept at Cleveland last week, it's amazing they were able to hang in there as long as they did given the number of injuries they've had this year, and for that reason, Ron Gardenhire should be named American League Manager of the Year.
Um, huh?

The Twins are two games under .500, and almost completely out of the race. They can't score runs to save their lives, and haven't been able to all season. Whether Gardenhire is doing a good job or not, I can't say. But for the "number of injuries" excuse to work, shouldn't the team actually be, you know, good, if its skipper is going to be recognized as manager of the year? Especially since, now that I think about it, the Twins really haven't had all that many injuries?

The amount of playing time for Nick Punto, for instance, should be enough to disqualify Gardy from the race all by itself. And Joe Morgan's observation that "Pat Burrell can run" is now no longer the dumbest baseball comment of the season.

Posted by Stephen Silver at September 5, 2007 10:37 PM
Comments

Phils actually lost to the Braves yesterday after blowing a 5-run lead. Not the Mets. They swept the Mets. Which is why Uncle Cholly should at least probably not get fired. Gillick should be publicly lynched, tho.

Posted by: LilB at September 6, 2007 11:03 AM
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