Phillies Going Back to Coaching Classics to See if that Works

Not only has Larry Bowa seemingly found his way back to Philadelphia, not that we’d arranged a series of highly complicated, infuriating obstacles around the tri-state area, but the Phillies have turned to Pete Mackanin, former bench coach under Charlie Manuel, to fill the role vacated by Wally Joyner.

May 22, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin watches batting practice prior to the game against the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

By the way, Wally Joyner has left. Joyner was the second hitting coach that we were all hoping would be Matt Stairs or Mike Sweeney but then wasn’t. Dom Brown volunteered Joyner’s name as the influence behind his power flux. And now he’s gone. Good bye, Wally. I have a weirdly large amount of your baseball cards.

The Phillies were without a member of the Manuel administration for a few entire days, after Rich Dubee and Mick Billmeyer were let go. Now that Mackanin has resurfaced after… what was he doing? Interviewing to be the Red Sox head coach? Oh… he was a Yankees scout. Gross. It’s been said his low profile role and demeanor have disguised him as a ‘nothing’ guy, though the people who know him beg to differ.

Steve Henderson, babysitting the Reading Feral Ostriches for a season while they finished in last place, will climb back up to the Big Club as a hitting coach, and Mackanin will step in as Sandberg’s third base coach. There are still three positions open, and the guys currently in two of them (Juan Samuel, Rod Nichols) are certainly being considered.

People do love Mackanin. He lights up people’s faces across the game, apparently, and has interviewed for manager’s positions since the beginning of time, including the Red Sox, Rockies, and Cubs, and even took the wheel of the Pirates briefly in 2005 and 2007. Also, he was drafted by the Washington Senators in 1969. Fun.

So, the coaching void gets a tad less gaping as the Phillies prepare to not be a ghost ship of the damned. Just wait until they start adding players! That’s when the real [noun] will begin!