Nice guy act only took Mackanin so far
Uplifting exit for Mackanin
PHILADELPHIA » Terry Collins cried. Pete Mackanin almost did. Such is the difference on baseball’s closing day when one team scores 11 runs and the other scores none.
Even one loss by so many runs doesn’t mean the end of the world, but for Mets manager Collins Sunday, it also didn’t mean he’d be fired with a very ugly last-game loss stamped on his resume.
For like Mackanin earlier in the week, Collins instead accepted a position in his team’s front office, complete with a managerial resignation letter.
“It’s been a blast,” the 68-yearold Collins said in the soggy postgame confab, “but it’s time.”
For the 66-year-old Mackanin, who counts Collins as an old friend, there was no resignation, at least not the kind put on paper. He was effectively fired Thursday — or “transitioned” as general manager Matt Klentak termed it — but decided to manage these last three games against the Mets because Klentak had tacked on a couple of years to his contract under the promotionary title of “special assistant to the general manager.”
That didn’t stop Mackanin from choking up Sunday after taking the lineup card out to home plate. He hugged Collins, turned and noticed some 20,000 people applauding around him, including all Phillies players who had emerged from the dugout.
“Probably one of my greatest days in the major leagues,” Mackanin said. “I almost started crying. I didn’t want to cry. It was really special. It meant a lot to me. I don’t know who set it up, but it shocked me. I looked at (Larry) Bowa and I said, ‘Is this for me?’ He said yeah ... tip your cap. I didn’t know what to do.”
Asked when he’d last experienced a curtain call, Mackanin said, “Never ... in Little League! When I was named MVP in my Little League. It was just a fantastic feeling. Totally surprised me and I’ll remember it forever.”
While Mackanin heads home to Arizona to do what it is a special assistant to a 37-year-old GM does, most of these Phillies are left looking up from a post-All-Starbreak record of 37-38, this after a first half of 29-58. They were 23-19 since Aug. 18, and it was that finish — along with some very complementary Klentak words as he was handing him a managerial contract extension May 11 — that gave Mackanin the idea that he’d have one more season in the dugout to help keep turning the club around.
Alas, won’t happen. Not for him, anyway.
“I’d like to think I had a little bit to add to the little bit of success we had,” Mackanin said. “One thing I’m real happy about is the players never quit. They played hard and played with energy.
“I think what happened is some of the players who were with us from the beginning showed improvement and with the emergence of a couple of the young guys it gave us a spurt of energy and a more positive attitude. Looking toward the future, you combine those two things, there’s a lot things we can feel good about going into next year.”
Rhys Hoskins closed his remarkable two-month rookie campaign with three strikeouts, and acknowledgement that he was tired. But hitting 18 home runs and collecting 48 RBIs in less than one-third of a season will do that.
It also resulted in Hoskins becoming an instant Philadelphia sports celebrity.
“It was fun. It was a little bit surprising to me, that’s just the kind of person that I am,” he said. “But to look around and see those little sticks flying around and the (Hoskins) shirts everywhere, it was pretty surreal. It’s cool. I used to be that kid holding Barry Bonds’ face or wearing Barry Bonds’ t-shirt as a Giants fan growing up.
“It’s something that I don’t know has hit me yet.”
Nick Williams ended his first year in style, with a bomb off the top of the center-field fence that rebounded right, and turned into an inside-the-park home run in the midst of a five-run eighth inning.
“I always wondered if I’d ever hit an inside the park homer, especially in the big leagues, because I haven’t in the minor leagues,” Williams said. “I don’t think I have since like, Little League. So that was crazy.”
Like Hoskins, Williams admitted playing into October for the first year of his career took a toll, especially on that thrilling last at-bat as he rounded the bases.
“I thought I had a piano on my back running,” he said.
Some Phillies won’t be back, of course. A few of the utility guys, probably Cameron Rupp, maybe Cesar Hernandez and Tommy Joseph. Even Maikel Franco if someone is willing to give up pitching for him in a trade package.
But perhaps the toughest personnel decision of the offseason will be that of Freddy Galvis. Predictably, longtime favored shortstop prospect J.P. Crawford’s ascension went well, and even saw him look good for a spell at third base.
Along the way, Galvis emerged as the team’s heart and soul leader in the clubhouse, played well enough to be considered a Gold Glove candidate at short and finished the season with a respectable .255 average with 12 homers and 61 RBIs. He’ll be looking for a long-term deal and a big boost from his $4.35 million salary, even though he has one arbitration season left. And with a pinch-hit double Sunday, he became the first Phillie in nine years (Ryan Howard in 2008) to play all 162 games.
“I think it’s pretty cool. I think just to be able to play 162 games and try to help the team I think is awesome. I feel like proud for myself,” Galvis said. But as for his future with the club, he added, “It’s kind of weird. I think it’s going to be the first time in the offseason with that kind of situation. I just have to be ready for whatever happens.”
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NOTES » Nick Pivetta went five innings, striking out seven to boost his rookie record to 8-10. He’s expected to have a very good shot at making the club’s starting rotation out of camp next spring . ... Franco homered for the fourth time in five games, finishing with a team-leading 24.