2008-09-18T07:22:42-04:00 2008-09-17T16:15:06-04:00 12 2008-09-17T16:21:06-04:00 1 2 10 2008-09-18T07:22:42-04:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/395/58/thumb/sanford3.jpg 468 DE Saihung Smyrna 39738 12 Do they pass out crack at Truth and Rumors in the mornings to all staff? Jerry Manuel is a moron. Lets see what the &quot;Manager of the year&quot; has done.. He called out fans as a problem. His team is collapsing as I write this. He is serviceable as a replacement to the inept Rudolph. Thats it. 2776885 2008-09-17T23:31:52-04:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/186/513/thumb/SittingBull.jpg 3616 CO wtnelson = Big Chief Fort Collins 186813 11 NO WAY should Manuel be Manager Of The Year. That award should go to one of three guys, and none of them are named Jerry Manuel. Here are my nominations: Lou Piniella, Chicago Cubs Fredi Gonzales, Florida Marlins Cecil Cooper, Houston Astros 2774834 2008-09-17T22:40:12-04:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/298/70/thumb/0125_large.jpg 294 NY Rebirth of a Sanchize Blauvelt 29990 10 No doubt that Jerry's influence was the most out of any of these managers. Piniella and Charlie Manuel were more important to their team's successes last year - I'd go so far as to say that last year's Phils team was better than this year's. And Torre's effect on the Dodgers wasn't felt fully until Manny got there anyway. 2774587 2008-09-17T22:00:17-04:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/400/845/thumb/BP.jpg 1247 PA BernieParent=JESUS! Killadelphia 401285 9 Hahahahahahah, Mets will DEF choke! 2774322 2008-09-17T19:34:21-04:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/350/21/thumb/kobedunk.jpg 114 AZ *******_steve_nash Gilbert 35141 8 JOE TORRE SHOULD BE MANAGER OF THE YEAR! 2773464 2008-09-17T18:21:19-04:00 12 NY Sportzwizz Far Rockaway 537656 7 I agree!!! Because I am a METS FAN. Also worth of consideration is Pinella, but thats it. Dont worry about the collapse of '07, there wont be one in'08. 2772888 2008-09-17T18:08:32-04:00 12 NY Johnnybart1 Utica 310719 6 Actually, I don't see any compelling candidates in the NL. Pinella? Good manager, but has been given a great deal of talent. Maybe Manuel of Philly. He gets criticized a great deal, but he keeps the team together. Jerry Manuel? He's a decent manager, but I think changing from Willie was the key, not going to Jerry. That team gave up on Willie. So I guess I would go for Charlie Manuel and I hate Philly! 2772735 2008-09-17T18:06:13-04:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/350/21/thumb/kobedunk.jpg 114 AZ *******_steve_nash Gilbert 35141 5 JOE TORRE is manager of the year look how Dodgers have turned around since a year ago - 2008 NL WEST TITLE look how Yankees have gone down since a year ago - 2008 out of playoffs 2772765 2008-09-17T18:05:58-04:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/350/21/thumb/kobedunk.jpg 114 AZ *******_steve_nash Gilbert 35141 4 JOE TORRE is manager of the year look how Dodgers have turned around since a year ago - 2008 NL WEST TITLE look how Yankees have gone down since a year ago - 2008 out of playoffs 2772763 2008-09-17T17:58:09-04:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/180/817/thumb/Todd_blackledge.jpg 5336 PA Anthony E-is out. Easton 181117 3 I completely agree. As a Phillies fan, I have the utmost respect for what Manuel has done in NY. If he doesn't win, I wouldn't be afraid to throw a couple of names out there, such as maybe Lou Pinella, Fredi Gonzalez, or even Cecil Cooper if that Astros team makes the playoffs... 2772681 12 <div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img title="Tabloids" src="http://i.cnn.net/si/fannation/headlines-tabs.jpg" alt="Tabloids" width="298" height="1065" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align: right;">Last year's collapse continues to haunt the teetering Mets.<br /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align: right;">N.Y. Post/N.Y. Daily News</div> </div> <p>Consider the race rapidly approaching its conclusion in the National League's Eastern Division, where one week ago today New York enjoyed a lead of three-and-a-half games over their turnpike rivals from Philadelphia.<br /><br />Last night, while the suddenly punchless Mets lost 1-0 to the lowly Nats, the suddenly buoyant Phillies won their fifth straight contest to move atop the division standings for the first time in 34 days.<br /><br />As New York's lead has frittered away over the past week, the city's ever-vigilant sporting press hasn't hesitated to invoke September 2007, when the Queens club famously surrendered a seven-game cushion with 17 games left. The 72-point headlines have screamed from the tabloids ("Same Old Choke For The Mets", "Deja Vu-Doo"). No less than three articles in today's <em>New York Times </em>sports section made direct reference to the collapse.<br /><br />Even if this week's mini-swoon winds up costing the Mets a playoff spot, however, <strong>Jerry Manuel</strong> is still your NL Manager of the Year. He'll never win it, you and I know, if New York doesn't make it. But simply for the way Manuel put this once-adrift collection of players into position to make the postseason, there's no more deserving a candidate. <br /><br />When ownership canned <strong>Willie Randolph</strong> and promoted Manuel to interim skipper in the wee hours of the morning on June 17, the Mets were flirting aggressively with irrelevance. They'd gone 49-51 in their past 100 games dating back to last season. Their position was tenuous: third place, six-and-a-half games out of first, maybe a series or two away from mailing the whole thing in.<br /><br />As the Mets struggled in April and May, the fans in Philadelphia derived great enjoyment out of New York's inability to shake the hangover from last fall. But not even Philly's <em>schadenfreude</em>-driven masses -- fully aware of the organizational indignity suffered by a team forced to sack their manager midseason -- wanted the Mets to fire Randolph. And for one simple reason: New York no longer represented a threat with Willie at the switch. Those Mets looked sleepy. Those Mets were resigned to mediocrity.<br /><br />But as New York's players stared into the abyss, it was Manuel who pulled them back and salvaged their season. In his first day on the job, the skipper got into a dust-up on the field with <strong>Jose Reyes</strong> while trying to remove the underperforming shortstop for a substitute. (Reyes petulantly stormed off the field but would apologize after the game.) This episode, while forgotten over time, underscored the vast difference in leadership styles between the <em>laissez-faire</em> Randolph and Manuel, whose directness with the players and media has garnered near-universal praise. (It was Manuel who chose to embrace last September's collapse as a motivational tool instead of pretending it never happened.)<br /><br />Turns out the Mets didn't need a 26th player. They needed <em>Patton</em>, not <em>Just One of the Guys</em>. And respond the team did. Two-and-a-half weeks into Manuel's tenure, New York used a 10-game winning streak to propel itself back into a share of first place. Since the first of July, no team in the majors has won more games.<br /><br />If New York plays .500 ball the rest of the way -- a conservative estimate -- they'd finish with a 55-38 record under Manuel, a .591 clip which would rank favorably among the best in the majors over that span.<br /><br />Even this week -- as the Mets have lost four of five games to watch their lead evaporate, as the fatalists multiply by the day -- the steady hand with the snowy goatee has done everything right. He's remained upbeat but not ebullient, self-deprecating but not pouty. Whatever his disposition, it's certainly a far cry from Randolph's solemn post-game pressers and thousand-yard stares into the TV cameras throughout last year's nightmarish final reel. <br /><br />With no other compelling candidates on the NL side -- no <strong>Joe Maddon</strong>, no <strong>Mike Scioscia</strong> -- this award belongs to Manuel, regardless of how the last 12 games play out. It's not his fault <strong>Ryan Howard</strong> has been simply unconscious during the month of September, single-handedly carrying the Phillies back into the NL East penthouse. If the Phils do continue their torrid pace and win the division, it shouldn't diminish Manuel's considerable accomplishment: restoring a sense of pride and self-worth to a snakebitten franchise and providing meaningful September baseball for a team once dismissed as postseason afterthoughts.</p> http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/976/38/thumb/bryan_armen_graham_b.jpg 104 NY Bryan Armen Graham New York 97938 5341 <div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img title="Tabloids" src="http://i.cnn.net/si/fannation/headlines-tabs.jpg" alt="Tabloids" width="298" height="1065" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align: right;">Last year's collapse continues to haunt the teetering Mets.<br /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align: right;">N.Y. Post/N.Y. Daily News</div> </div> <p>Consider the race rapidly approaching its conclusion in the National League's Eastern Division, where one week ago today New York enjoyed a lead of three-and-a-half games over their turnpike rivals from Philadelphia.<br /><br />Last night, while the suddenly punchless Mets lost 1-0 to the lowly Nats, the suddenly buoyant Phillies won their fifth straight contest to move atop the division standings for the first time in 34 days.<br /><br />As New York's lead has frittered away over the past week, the city's ever-vigilant sporting press hasn't hesitated to invoke September 2007, when the Queens club famously surrendered a seven-game cushion with 17 games left. The 72-point headlines have screamed from the tabloids ("Same Old Choke For The Mets", "Deja Vu-Doo"). No less than three articles in today's <em>New York Times </em>sports section made direct reference to the collapse.<br /><br />Even if this week's mini-swoon winds up costing the Mets a playoff spot, however, <strong>Jerry Manuel</strong> is still your NL Manager of the Year. He'll never win it, you and I know, if New York doesn't make it. But simply for the way Manuel put this once-adrift collection of players into position to make the postseason, there's no more deserving a candidate. <br /><br />When ownership canned <strong>Willie Randolph</strong> and promoted Manuel to interim skipper in the wee hours of the morning on June 17, the Mets were flirting aggressively with irrelevance. They'd gone 49-51 in their past 100 games dating back to last season. Their position was tenuous: third place, six-and-a-half games out of first, maybe a series or two away from mailing the whole thing in.<br /><br />As the Mets struggled in April and May, the fans in Philadelphia derived great enjoyment out of New York's inability to shake the hangover from last fall. But not even Philly's <em>schadenfreude</em>-driven masses -- fully aware of the organizational indignity suffered by a team forced to sack their manager midseason -- wanted the Mets to fire Randolph. And for one simple reason: New York no longer represented a threat with Willie at the switch. Those Mets looked sleepy. Those Mets were resigned to mediocrity.<br /><br />But as New York's players stared into the abyss, it was Manuel who pulled them back and salvaged their season. In his first day on the job, the skipper got into a dust-up on the field with <strong>Jose Reyes</strong> while trying to remove the underperforming shortstop for a substitute. (Reyes petulantly stormed off the field but would apologize after the game.) This episode, while forgotten over time, underscored the vast difference in leadership styles between the <em>laissez-faire</em> Randolph and Manuel, whose directness with the players and media has garnered near-universal praise. (It was Manuel who chose to embrace last September's collapse as a motivational tool instead of pretending it never happened.)</p>