He doesn't plan what he's going to say. At least he had never done that until an 8 1/2-game lead fizzled to four entering the final week of this regular season.
The Mountain. Muhammad. Muhammad didn't wait for the mountain, he told his team. He went to the mountain.
"This might be the first time," said Rollins, "that he actually massaged the story."
Manuel doesn't massage. Not the language. Not his players, not the game. He doesn't overthink things, and he doesn't outthink himself. He's all about the happy cows giving the most milk, and when he closes those doors, Manuel doesn't open them until he tells his players that he is still their greatest fan.
"I am loyal," Manuel said yesterday.
But he also said, "The game is more important than my heart.
"If I'm going to be accountable and everything, I feel like I've got to, in my mind, put us in the best position to win a game."
So . . . Goodbye, Eric Bruntlett, late-inning defensive specialist last year, who scored the winning run in World Series Games 3 and 5. Goodbye, Tyler Walker, who only 2 weeks ago was discussed as a candidate to close games in the postseason. Goodbye, Clay Condrey, whose extensive use in the middle innings this season might be one reason he was left off yesterday's first-round roster.
Manuel chose instead 35-year-old Miguel Cairo, who owns a .328 postseason average in 61 at-bats, but who spent most of this season toiling as an IronPig. He chose to keep Kyle Kendrick, who also spent the summer in Allentown, but has been more effective with the Phillies lately than Condrey or Walker.
And he added Antonio Bastardo, because, well, you can never have enough lefties against Colorado.
