Bowa: Now Here's How You Win

In Larry Bowa's mind, the Phillies and most other teams will never be confused with the Yankees, and not just because of the billion-dollar payroll wielded without apology by the Bronx Bombers.

That attitude Bowa says the Phillies lack permeated the winningest team in baseball, by design, Bowa learned in this, his first season in New York.

"It's not an issue of if you get to the playoffs, but it's 'you'd better get to the playoffs" around here," Bowa, the Yankees' third base coach, said. "That's the goal, and it's non-stop here. Anything can happen once you get to the postseason, but in the speeches from Joe Torre and the front office in spring training were, 'we expect to play when it's cold out.'

"In my situation, a lot of times I was told, you can't be that competitive. You put too much pressure on people, which I think is hogwash."

Bowa believes true leaders can take the cues to win, no matter how aggressive and relentless the message.

Again, he points to the Yankees clubhouse, where Pressure is always spelled with a capital P.

It's amazing, the leaders here. When [Gary] Sheffield puts on the uniform, the way he plays, ARod, Moose Mussina, [Johnny] Damon. I mean, I could go all up and down the lineup. I don't want to leave anybody out. But when your leaders do it, obviously it makes everything easier for the staff and the front office, for everyone."

Money doesn't assure that, Bowa knows. Lots of bloated payrolls fell way short of the promised land this final week of the regular season. Not the Yankees, some of whom wouldn't recognize October if it didn't contain a playoff series or two.

"Look, a season is a grind. It takes a special person to grind it out, from the first day of spring training until the end," said Bowa. Look, a season is a grind. It takes a special person to grind it out, from the first day of spring training until the end.

"We had two guys go down in Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui - and you're talking 50, 60 home runs and 250 RBIs between them. And the kids filled in.
we had two guys go down in Sheffield and Hideki Matsui - and you're talking 50, 60 home runs and 250 RBIs between them. And the kids filled in."

Kids like Melky Cabrera and Robinson Canoe, the No. 9 hitter who threatened to win a batting title going into the last day of the season.

"When you get players who grind it out and never let up, it makes a difference. When you get a group of them it's something special," said Bowa. "Most teams don't have groups of them."

The Yankees seldom don't, a case of the rich not only getting richer, but picking right when it comes time to choose the pick of the big-league all-star litters.

Phils: 20-20 Won't Be Kind

It won't take long for the good feelings about the Phillies' season to give way to a harsher reality.

Forget late-night rain delays and the residual fatigue. Forget questionable calls by umpires. The bottom line is that, in a weakened National League, the Phillies could have, should have won the wild-card berth. In their hearts they have to know that. They had everything, including an easier schedule in terms of opponents' winning percentage, the final two weeks of the season, compared to the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Thing is, Ryan Howard could not pull the train alone in the end. Nor could Jimmy Rollins, nor Chase Utley, who revived his bat in the final week, but will be left to wonder what if after a slump ruined most of his September stretch drive.

In the end, the Phillies won't escape their own self-examination or those always willing to critique. Like former Phils manager Larry Bowa.

"The season is 162 games and you have to have an attitude - from Day 1 of spring training 'til the end - an attitude that never goes away," Bowa said in dissecting the Phillies on Saturday, the day the team was elminated from wild-card contention. "You don't just wait until August and say it's time to click it in. And it happened to me, too, but there's no way that team should have been under .500 earlier in the year."