Phils add experience
If Phillies manager Charlie Manuel doesn’t get his team off to a good start next season, the team has a Plan B. It also has a Plan C and a Plan D.
The Phils have hired former managers Art Howe, Davie Lopes, and Jimy Williams as coaches. Williams will be the bench coach and coordinate spring training. Howe will be the third-base coach and infield instructor. Lopes will be the first-base coach and baserunning and outfield instructor.
Phils GM Pat Gillick says Manuel had a say in picking his new coaches:
General manager Pat Gillick said that while the front office was involved in the hiring process last week in Clearwater, Fla., Manuel ultimately made the call to fire and hire his coaches. There had been speculation that Gillick had forced Manuel’s hand.
Sources said others interviewed included former Detroit manager Alan Trammell; Lou Piniella’s bench coach in Seattle and Tampa Bay, John McClaren; Scranton/Wilkes-Barre manager John Russell; and Lakewood manager Dave Huppert.
“The manager is in charge of his department,” Gillick said. “He runs his department. I wouldn’t want to make any changes unless he felt he wanted to get better. Charlie came and spoke to me regarding the coaches: Can we get better? Can we improve our coaching staff? He said he’d like to try to improve it.”
Here’s a look at the Phils three new coaches and what they’ve done in the past:
Art Howe has managed the Houston Astros, Oakland Athletics, and New York Mets. His record in 14 seasons is 1,129-1,137 (a winning percentage of .498). Three of his A’s teams reached the playoffs.
Davey Lopes was 144-195 (.425) as manager of the Milwaukee Brewers from 2000 to ‘02. His teams did not make the playoffs.
Jimy Williams is 910-790 (.535) in 12 seasons as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, and Astros. He was the American League’s manager of the year with Boston in 1999. Four of his teams reached the playoffs.
October 19th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
Sarah, one of these days, you really need to go see a game outside of Fenway Park.
Yes, it’s true that tickets to a game at Fenway are hard to come by. And yes, you can buy them at the gate before a Dodgers game. But what is the capacity of Fenway? 36,108. And what is the capacity of Dodgers Stadium? 57,000. So let’s cut Dodgers fans a little slack. The fact is, that on most nights, in almost ever other major league city besides Boston, you can walk up before a game and buy tickets. This year, there were even empty seats at Wrigley!
The knock on Dodgers fans is that they often leave before the game is over. And there is probably a lot of truth to that stereotype. We could argue all day about whether or not Dodgers fans are as loyal as Red Sox fans (blasphemy!), but please do not attack the franchise itself.
The Dodgers franchise has had plenty of success since moving to L.A. in 1958. The Dodgers won the World Series in 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, and 1988. That’s five world series championships. How many have the Sox won in that time?
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October 19th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Sarah, you ask, are you wrong? Yes, very.
Dodgers fans can be bashed on a variety of grounds, but not any of the grounds you’ve tried to bash them on. It would have been foolish for this company not to include a team which consistently leads the National League in attendance, year after year, and probably has the largest out-of-town fanbases in the nation, other than perhaps only the Cubs and the Red Sox.
Sure you can walk up and buy a ticket to a game against the Brewers on a Tuesday night, but that is only because Dodgers Stadium seats 57,600, whereas Fenway Park only seats 36,100. This year, the Dodgers’ average attendance was 46,400 - over 10,000 more fans per game than Fenway even seats. And if the Dodgers are not the only ticket worth talking about in town, that is only because there is a lot more going on in LA than in Boston.
But the most ridiculous thing you said of all was that the Dodgers do not have a “storied history.” The Dodgers have a far more storied history than any other team in baseball not named the New York Yankees, and that has been true in both Brooklyn and LA. Since the Dodgers moved to LA they have won five World Series titles - just going down the list of the other non-Yankee teams with urns, have the Tigers, Cubs, Red Sox, and Phillies even won five World Series *combined* since 1957?
One of these days, Red Sox fans should wake up and realize that most of Red Sox history is not really all that storied.
The team that really “sort of clunks” for me is the Tigers. I mean really, the Tigers? Clearly this company is just trying to cash in on their performance this season.
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October 20th, 2006 at 4:14 am
Okay so, most Dodgers fans probably stay most of the game, even surrounded by empty seats, to watch a team that has had the good fortune to win several championships, while other teams, that suffer long droughts, still retain loyal fanbases and sell out their parks despite much higher ticket prices, and have fans who stay all nine innings.
To me, it is easier to see which kind of fan would want to actually be buried in an official team “recepticle.”
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October 20th, 2006 at 4:25 am
FWIW, I agree with Nick about the Tigers. Capitalize, capitalize. That’s why it’s called capitalism!
But you, Ward. How many times do I have to tell you—I *have* seen games outside of Fenway!
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