Charlie and the "Fightins"

When you woke up this morning and picked up your local paper you might have noticed something strange. The Phillies are 2.5 games back of the New York Mets with 11 games left on the schedule. As a loyal Phillies fan, whom is never short of an opinion, I began to wonder how this was possible. Not to take any credit away from the play of the whole team not to mention Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley along with Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell, however, one name came to mind, Charlie Manuel. Is this the same manager who most Philly fans wanted out the door before the year even started? We are now hearing grumblings of a possible manager of the year candidate. While you certainly cannot give Charlie all the credit in the world, this is the guy who continues to bring out Antonio Alfonseca, even though he is throwing the ball with a dead arm. Charlie is partly responsible for bringing this team together. As far as this blogger can see this team seems to get along well. From high fives to fist pounds the support from teammate to teammate is evident. For that you have to give Charlie his well deserved props. It does not matter if you hate him or love him, the fact of the matter is through all the injuries and the inconsistencies, Charlie has the "Fightin' Phils", well let's just say, fighting.