Charlie Manuel

When the two men sat in a cafeteria at Bright House Field two springs ago, there was no acrimony. Ruben Amaro Jr. unveiled a three-year extension for Charlie Manuel, a contract that would make him one of the highest-paid managers in baseball. "More than likely," Manuel said then, "I'll stay around as long as they'll have me. " When a disappointing 81-81 season ended last October, the two men faced a row of cameras in the basement of Citizens Bank Park to explain what would change.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - It starts anew for Charlie Manuel and the Phillies on Wednesday morning when pitchers and catchers go through the first official workout of spring training at the Carpenter Complex. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end for the 69-year-old Manuel and his aging core of players, many of whom are working on the final year of their contracts, just like the manager. Or maybe this is the beginning of something special, which is the word that best describes the most of the Manuel era. Only fools would say they know for sure.

The streak that had New York Mets fans convinced that their team had a mental block against their rivals ended in hideous fashion for the Phillies last night at Shea Stadium. Too many walks. Too many errors. The Phillies have not played three innings as poorly as the first three innings of last night's 8-2 loss to the Mets in quite some time. Kyle Kendrick allowed seven runs (one earned) and six walks in 2 1/3 innings. The Phillies committed four errors in those early innings - three in the third - as the Mets snapped their losing streak to the Phillies at nine.

BALTIMORE - Jonathan Papelbon threw two pitches from about 40 feet in the visitors' bullpen at Camden Yards in the top of the 10th inning, and that represented a day's work Sunday. The Phillies lost, 5-4, to the Baltimore Orioles for their seventh walk-off loss of the season. Papelbon, the $50 million closer, has not pitched in any of those games. Charlie Manuel has played those situations by the book. Managers typically will not use their closer in a tie game on the road, instead opting to hold him back for a save situation.

NEW YORK - For the second time in as many days, Charlie Manuel brought up an interesting idea that could go a long way in rebuilding Ryan Howard. Knowing his cleanup hitter lost a lot of reps in his lengthy rehab from left Achilles' surgery, Manuel volunteered that it might behoove both the team and Howard to get in extra work this winter before spring training starts in February. Howard didn't have a spring training last year; so perhaps an extended spring this year would do a swing good.

It seems as if it shouldn't add up. April. Injuries. Slumping sluggers and struggling starters. It should be a combination for another slow start for the Phillies. But they are 14-12 entering tonight's series opener against the San Diego Padres at Citizens Bank Park. They have won six of their last eight games. They have guaranteed that they will not have a losing record entering May for the first time since 2003, when they were 16-12. But how? Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino have been on the disabled list.

Brett Myers might have won back Phillies fans with a solid performance in his first home start since June 21, but he didn't exactly please his manager with his exit. Myers pitched the third consecutive strong outing by a Phillies starter, working into the eighth inning, and picked up the decision last night in his team's 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. But Myers had words with Charlie Manuel after the manager went out to lift him from the game. After giving up a ground-rule double to Chris Gomez, Myers retired Freddy Sanchez on a hard line drive to shortstop Jimmy Rollins for the second out in the eighth, but Manuel came out of the dugout to bring in left-hander J.C. Romero.

It sometimes is 30 minutes after a game when Charlie Manuel leaves his office to amble through the Phillies clubhouse. He still has his jersey on, like always, maybe because he still thinks he hasn't finished his workday. He stops at a player's locker, chats for a few seconds, and moves on. He repeats the process until he sees everybody he needs to see before the others head home for the night. "I've never had a manager try to make sure he saw everybody to tell everybody good job, go get 'em tomorrow or whatever," relief pitcher Scott Eyre said.

With the season opener 12 days away, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was finally able to use something that resembled his regular lineup yesterday. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino were back from the World Baseball Classic. They topped a lineup that included Chase Utley at second base and Pedro Feliz at third. Utley and Feliz both had off-season surgery, Utley on his hip and Feliz on his back, and were not ready to play when Rollins and Victorino departed for the WBC three weeks ago. Yesterday, Feliz played nine innings in a 7-6 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, and Utley belted his first home run of the spring.

The Phillies have heard the comparisons to their competitors, the various reasons why they can't win the National League wild card. The Houston Astros have the Big Three: starting pitchers Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt and Andy Pettitte. The Florida Marlins have theirs: Dontrelle Willis, Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett. The Marlins have the best overall team. The Astros have the easiest remaining schedule. The Phillies? Few folks were talking about what they've got, but they do have a calming influence in Charlie Manuel.