A day after being quoted as implying that the Phillies replacing Charlie Manuel with Ryne Sandberg was a good thing, Roy Halladay addressed reporters again and attempted to clarify what sounded like criticism of his former skipper. The right-hander, who played parts of four seasons under Manuel, insisted he enjoyed playing for Manuel and was not happy to see him fired last week.
“I felt like what was said necessarily wasn’t written,” Halladay said, according to Philly.com. “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 [Wednesday] and talked to him about it. We’ve been in a lot of contact.
“I loved playing for him. He was a great manager. Everybody here loved him. The players loved him. And he was a lot of the reason they won the World Series here. I just wanted to make that point clear. I was also trying to say that I feel like if there was somebody that’s going to replace a guy like that, then it’s going to be a Ryne Sandberg-type of person with the experience that he carries and everything else.”
Halladay was upset that remarks he made Tuesday were construed as blaming Manuel for the Phillies’ struggles this season. Halladay said he thought Sandberg would bring “a little more of the Phillie baseball style” and that the team “didn’t have a whole lot of team effort” under Manuel.
Now that things are cleared up, Halladay has more important things to worry about than a misunderstood quote. The 36-year-old is just 2-4 this season and has pitched a mere 34 1/3 innings due to early-season shoulder surgery. He is currently pitching a rehabilitation stint in Double-A.
