Over the next 28 days Philly Pressbox (https://phillypressbox.wordpress.com) (@phillypressbox) will be doing a review and analysis of each Phillies player, Manager Charlie Manual and the coaching staff leading up to Opening Day 2012.  Day 1 in our series is Manager Charlie Manual.

Charlie enters his 8^th year as Manager of the Phillies. In his 7 years at the helm of the greatest era in Phillies baseball Manual has led the team to 646 wins and 488 loses, 1 World Series championship, 2 National League Pennants and 5 consecutive NL East titles. The Phils have never finished lower than 2^nd in the East under Manual. Interestingly enough Charlie has never won the Manager of the Year award.  Below are a few highlights of Charlie’s career as the Phillies manager.

• Set the Phillies record for most wins ever by a Phillies manager (646), passing Gene Mauch on the all-time list

• Set the Phillies record for most wins in a single season (102)

• 2011 marked the second straight season he led the Phillies to the best record in the major leagues (102-60)

• Is one of only two managers in NL history, along with former Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox, to win 5 straight division titles since divisional play began in 1969.

• Is the only manager in Phillies history to lead the team to 5 straight division championships (2007-11)

• Guided the Phillies to the 2008 World Championship, the 2nd title in franchise history and 1st since 1980

• Managed the 2009 & 2010 NL All-Star squads, snapping the AL’s 13-year unbeaten streak in 2010

• Managed the Phillies to the 2007 NL East Championship, the first postseason berth for the team since 1993

• Became the first Phillies manager to have 4 straight full winning seasons since Danny Ozark had 4 straight, 1975-78

Personal analysis:

A key point for any coach or manager is that players want to play for them. This has been a strength for Manual. The players don’t play under a lot of rules, be on time and play hard all the time. The few problems in the last 7 years that have become public have been quickly taken care of behind closed doors and not aired out in the public or press. This is especially evident by the return of future Hall of Famer Jim Thome who credits Manual for his career success in baseball and Jimmy Rollins desire to come to Philly to finish out his career. They want to play for Manual. Winning creates more winning and Charlie Manual has been the leader of the Phillies. Another key item to Manuals success is his ability to remain even keel. He understands as well as anyone that the season is not a sprint but a marathon. He rests players when he feels they need it, he rests pitchers when they need it but overall never panics when the team hits slumps during the season. Theses slumps are part of baseball due to the long 162 game season. If Charlie has a weakness it seems his handling of the bullpen can come in to question, however, we’re going to give him a pass based on his overall success. Manual knows his players better than anyone else so if he makes what appears to be a crazy bullpen move it’s for a baseball reason and not normally a gut feel decision.

Looking forward to 2012 our prediction is that the Phillies will win their 6^th straight NL East title, their 3^rd pennant and 2^nd World Series championship under Charlie Manual.

Tomorrow we’ll look at the Coaching Staff.