Charlie Manuel's strength as a manager is his ability to make his positions clear to his players.

He can make them clear, too, to the public --- which is what he did Sunday after a 2-1 Phillies loss to the Braves.

Though the manager refused to admit the Phillies were out of playoff chances, he hinted strongly at what they will need to contend for a world championship during a longer-than-usual postgame press conference.

"I'm talking about prototype players who are definitely going to provide enough run production and stuff like that,” Manuel said, “to actually give you a chance to win a division and a World Series.”

Since the Phillies have scored three of fewer runs 69 times this season --- continuing a three-season trend --- that's a reasonable offseason starting point. And that offseason is arriving in a hurry.


Check out my column in the Daily Times Monday and, as always, on delcotimes.com