I don't understand why Ruben Amaro (Phillies GM) just fired Charlie Manuel.

The Phillies have sure sucked this year.  But why put it on the manager?  Its not his fault that the team committed 1/8 of its payroll ($20 million a year) to Ryan Howard, a guy who anyone with any baseball sense could have predicted would not be worth paying at 1/8 of his salary.  Its not his fault that Halladay's arm fell off.  Nor is it his fault that the bullpen acquisitions have failed miserably.  Or that Michael Young sucks.  In fact, all of these issues (except Halladay I guess) are on the Phillies GM, not Uncle Charlie.

Manuel looked old and folksy, and sure talked like it, but his appearance and demeanor betrayed a solid understanding of the current state of the game.  He didn't call for many intentional walks or sacrifice bunts.  The Phillies stolen base rate was over 80%.  He exploited platoon advantages when he could (see Mayberry, John).  He didn't make any glaringly dumb decisions that would become fodder for baseball analysts.  In short, he was everything I wanted in a manager (other than someone gutsy enough to pinch hit for Ryan Howard in meaningful late-inning situations).

In 2008 he managed the Phillies to what is likely the only world championship I'll see out of a Philadelphia area team.  I don't think he was necessarily responsible for it - obviously Utley, that version of Howard, Werth and the rest of the players were the driving forces.  But Manuel didn't get in their way, and presumably he put them in position to succeed.  The night the Phillies won game 5 of the World Series - Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - is one of the happiest I've had in my life.

I'll miss him in the dugout.