He Earned It

One normally doesn't pay a lot of attention to the 3rd base coach. In this case, Pete Mackanin of the Phillies is almost out of view as I focused on Carlos Ruiz batting earlier this year at Citi Field. Yet now, I want to shine the spotlight on Pete, who Tuesday had the word "interim" removed from his manager's title and had his contract extended through next season.
After taking over in mid-season from Ryne Sandberg, the veteran coach -- who had put in two stints with other organizations as an interim skipper -- helped change the atmosphere and improve the record of his struggling team. It was incremental, but clear progress, The players -- more of whom were rookies -- appeared to play harder and execute better. The Phils played good ball in July, until their best young player 3rd baseman Mikael Franco went down with a broken arm. This past week, Mackanin made another move that gained notice, when he pulled rookie center fielder Odrubel Herrera from a game for "pouting." That's a good method of earning respect from a gifted but still developing player -- and showing his young ballcub the way he expects them to behave on the field. Good to see Mackanin earned the confidence of new team president Andy MacPhail and will be back in 2016.

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