Regarding Uncle Charlie

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Many of the responses to the news that Charlie Manuel would be back as Phillies skipper were quite negative.  I realize Matt weighed in already, but I thought I'd throw my two cents out there.

I like Charlie Manuel.  Initially, I thought him to be that country bumpkin who didn't know how to form complete sentences.  Heck, I even owned FireCharlieManuel.com for a while.  Then I actually felt bad about having a website dedicated to the firing of somebody from their job.  Just didn't seem right to me.  Charlie seemed like a decent enough guy.

Then, he found a way to get this battered and torn team into the post
season.  They played for him.  They liked him.  We liked him.  Sure,
Cholly might not be one of those brilliant minds who calculates every
decision based off of PECOTA and who bats what against lefties in
daylight hours.  Whatever.

One of the things I read after the season ended was about how Charlie
went around to every single player after the loss and thanked them.
Something about that deserves some respect.

Charlie's not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to telling us
what he's thinking, but as one baseball critic once said, Charlie's
forgotten more hitting than most of us will ever know.  Let's just hope
he can get that into Aaron Rowand's head next time he's playing the
Rockies.

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