Something didn’t seem right. Roy Halladay has never been the kind of person to throw a manager or coach under the bus. He’s one of the most thoughtful players I’ve come across and last night’s comments seemed out of the ordinary for him.
Halladay cleared the air with the media today.
Here are yesterday’s comments following his start at Lakewood. Below are today’s:
“I’ve exchanged texts with Charlie,” Halladay said after pitching six innings in a minor-league rehab game Tuesday night. “Obviously, I loved him. He was great. But from what I’ve seen, Ryne [Sandberg] came in and made some changes and addressed some issues that I think were being overlooked. So from that standpoint, as much as I miss Charlie, I think that Ryne’s going to do a good job and I think he’s going to bring back a little more of the Phillie baseball style than we’ve had the last couple of years. You know, we really haven’t had that whole team effort and the whole team hustle that I think we’ve had in prior years.”
“Just different things,” he said. “Guys being in places on time. Being on the field on time. Taking ground balls, taking extra BP, and all those little things that nobody thinks makes a difference.
“So I think [Sandberg] has been very good so far. But, again, I don’t want to take anything away from Charlie. We all respected him tremendously. You know, I think he’s going to have the choice of what he wants to do at this point in his life, so I’m happy for him.”
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Today’s comments:
“I felt like what was said necessarily wasn’t written. And I just want to make it well known that I have a lot of respect for Charlie. There were some articles put out that offended me and I’m sure offended Charlie. I called him today and talked to him about it. We’ve been in a lot of contact since he’s left. I loved playing for him, he was a great manager and everybody here loved him; the players loved him, and he was a lot of the reason they won the World Series here. I just want to make that point clear.
I was also trying to say that I feel like if there’s somebody that’s going to replace a guy like that, it’s gonna be a Ryne Sandberg type of person with the experience that he carries and everything else. But I really felt like a lot was lost in translation with respect to Charlie. I just want to make that clear, that I don’t endorse any managers firing. That’s the players who get managers fired.
Anytime a manager is fired you feel like you haven’t done your job. Really, that’s it. I just want to make sure that the air is clear there. And I talked to Charlie and we’re good. But I wanted him to know that I really enjoyed playing for him and as far as managers have gone, he’s the best I’ve ever been around. I really enjoyed the time with him.
On the same token, I look forward to working with Ryne, too. Really that’s about it. I think I saw one title that said I endorsed the firing of Charlie Manuel, and that really bothered me. Just wanted to make sure that we were all clear.”
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Opinion: It seemed to me that Halladay was calling out his teammates more than anything. Everyone knows his level of respect for Manuel is through the roof and it’s not in Halladay’s nature to rip a guy that he has played for.
On a side note, Halladay will pitch Sunday at Double-A Reading.
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