Phillies 2006 in Review
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The Phillies had an up-and-down year in 2006. But their late season charge and their post-season acquisitions give great hope that 2007 will be THE Year of the Phillies.
MLB.com’s Ken Mandel writes this review of the Phillies of 2006;
General manager Pat Gillick came to Philadelphia with a track record of successful stints in Toronto, Baltimore and Seattle. He spoke of adding five more wins to the ledger and securing a postseason berth.
Instead, the team recorded three more losses and just missed the postseason for the second straight year. A slow April and a worse June put the Phillies in a hole that forced a July sell off that shed the team of veterans Bobby Abreu, David Bell, Rheal Cormier, Cory Lidle, Ryan Franklin and Sal Fasano.
Gillick mentioned 2008 as the next time the Phillies might compete, but the players thought otherwise. Those who remained fought their way back into the Wild Card race, largely on the back of first baseman Ryan Howard, who would eventually be voted the National League Most Valuable Player.
Though a hot August and September couldn’t repair the damage caused by the slow start, the team showed enough to keep the focus on contending, rather than building — and creating optimism for 2007.
To read and re-live the Phillies 2006 season, click here for this article in full and review the game-by-game reports here and here on this blog.
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