Miller: Five things to know
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- You know how it's going to play out in Philadelphia this April. You can see if clear from here to the steps of the city's Museum of Art.
The Phillies are going to lose a game. Happens. Then they're going to lose another. Happens, too.
And based on this two-game losing streak, there will be a mass uprising. Fire Charlie Manuel! the angry mob will shriek from the radio waves. Charlie must go! the horde, galvanized by the nightmare of only one title (1980) in more than 100 World Series, will demand.
That's just the way it works in Philadelphia. In Kansas City. a two-game losing streak would constitute a winning streak. In Washington this summer, it might qualify for a burst in Nationals' season-ticket sales.
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| Slugger Ryan Howard hit 58 homers and 149 RBI last season. (AP) |
First, you have a manager whose still un-extended contract expires following the 2007 season.
Second, you have a loaded team that already is being touted by shortstop Jimmy Rollins as the NL East favorite. You think Rollins is stirring up the Mets? His words will be swirling around Manuel like an Oklahoma dust storm if the Phillies get off to another slow start.
Third, you have a coaching staff that includes two ex-managers, Jimy Williams and Davey Lopes. It was almost three, until Art Howe's employment lasted all of a blink of an eye before he stayed closer to home in Texas, joining Ron Washington's staff with the Rangers.
On second thought, in this town, maybe it won't even take something as modest as a two-game losing streak for Manuel to find himself on the griddle.
"That's just the way it goes, and you've got to handle it," Manuel said during a wide-ranging conversation at the club's spring complex here the other day. "You take the good with the bad.
"I try not to read the papers, and I damn sure don't listen to the radio. A lot of times people tell me what's said, and I try not to hear that, either.
"I think when you hear the critics, they won't shut up. They're going to beat you until they beat you to death."
And, unofficially, Philadelphia has more judges per capita than a room full of film critics.
