Brett Myers had youth, but lacked seasoning. He was sent to the bullpen in 2007 in hopes of better fulfilling his promise as a 1999 first-round pick, returned to the rotation in 2008 against his preference, foundered through the season's first 3 months, went to the minors for a month then helped the Phillies surge into the playoffs with a 7-2 run in his first 11 games back, then won his first two postseason starts.
And don't forget: Ryan Howard was trade bait when Jim Thome was healthy in 2003 and 2004 and before the season in 2005.
World Series and NLCS MVP Cole Hamels, a chancy first-rounder out of high school in 2002, was supposedly too fragile to last a whole season. At 24, healthy all year, his 262 2/3 innings (including the playoffs) were, by far, the most in the majors.
Matt Stairs, 40, was contemplating retirement as a Blue Jay when the Phillies traded for him Aug. 31 . . . and he hit the game-winning, pinch-hit homer in Game 4 of the NLCS.
He and Moyer have, perhaps, the greatest appreciation for the biggest overachiever of them all.
Charlie Manuel was hired before the 2005 season as Larry Bowa's replacement, a move seen as a mollification of Thome, then the team's most significant player and, forever, Manuels protégé. Manuel was fired in 2002 by a rebuilding Cleveland organization, the organization in which he grew as a coach and manager. The Phillies' hiring of him as a special assistant after they signed Thome in the 2002 offseason also was seen as a tip of the cap to Big Jim.
Charmingly folksy but consistently doubted, Manuel was chosen over Jim Leyland, who talked his way into a candidacy for the job. Manuel managed as a lame duck in 2007 but, after guiding a patchwork team to the playoffs for the first time in 14 years, he became un-fireable.
Now, he's fireproof.
"Wherever I go, whatever I do from now on, I'll always be known as a winner," Manuel said.
So will his misfit team.
