Jayson Stark has another wonderful postseason piece today looking at the Phillies and their opportunity to reach historic territory. Stark points to a team with a lot more "we" than "me" in it.
"We have some big names," Rollins said. "But we don't have bona fide superstars, or a special set of rules for certain players. Everyone here is the same, from Ryan Howard to Antonio Bastardo. Or they're treated the same. The expectations are the same. And because of that, you know where you stand every day."
"It's hard to get everybody to pull on the same rope at the same time, and you have to give Charlie a lot of credit for that," GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "Do these guys have egos? Absolutely. … But I think at the end of the day, the ego goes away and winning becomes the most important part. And it's neat to have guys at this stage of their careers who still believe in winning as the most important part, and not just making money or putting numbers up."
The article goes on to point out that this is truly a team for the ages but then sadly finishes off pointing out how this Phillies team is quite a bit older than that amazing Yankees team of the late '90s.
Guys will be up for huge paydays in the near future. Cliff Lee and Ryan Howard are two guys who could look for the biggest of big time money.
But Stark says Charlie doesn't view it like that.
Manuel, though, thinks otherwise. He sees a bunch of players who love playing with each other and have come to love playing in their town. So when he looks into his crystal ball, he doesn't see his stars bailing for a paycheck. He sees them staying because "this is where they want to play."
I say we win one more and worry about the rest later.
>>Phillies are thinking big, really big [ESPN]
Original Story:
http://www.the700level.com/2009/10/a-...
