And, with that, comes yet another win for Ruben Amaro Jr. in the trade stock market. This one may not be along the lines of Cliff Lee, Doc Halladay, Hunter Pence, etc. But, it should be one of the more noteworthy ones.

John Mayberry's summer surge has proven Ruben Amaro Jr. correct yet once again.

Who was Amaro’s first trade acquisition as a general manager? Yep, Mayberry. In Novemeber 2008, just days following THE parade down Broad, Amaro shipped Greg Golson to Texas for the Phillies current left fielder.

At the time, the deal was viewed as a swap of first-round busts. Amaro was just going after a fellow Stanford grad and trading a speedy guy for a bat with some potential pop. Until now, the deal still looked like a “my trash for yours” deal.

But, three years later, the Phillies have clearly won this deal. Golson is meandering in the New York Yankees system, stuck in Triple-A Scranton. He’s had a handful of appearances in the majors, mostly with the Yankees who acquired the speedy outfielder last summer. In 30 at bats, he is a .200 hitter.

Mayberry, meanwhile, had to wait his turn but is now flourishing. Getting regular playing time for the first time in his career thanks to suspensions (Victorino) and injuries (Ibanez), Mayberry is that right-handed power bat the Phillies lacked. Of course, Hunter Pence is the five-hole hitter, but Mayberry is a dman good option in the six spot.

The man who could keep Dom Brown down in Allentown next year, is hitting .269 and his 12 home runs are fifth on the team despite having half the at bats as the top four guys. He’s belting a long ball every 16.7 at bats, compared to Ryan Howard’s one long ball every 18 at bats.

In August, Mayberry has played 15 games and torn it up. He’s hitting a red-hot .326 with six homers in 43 at bats.He’s also knocked in 15 runs and scored 11 during that time frame.

And, the fact that he’s done it while an aging veteran, Raul Ibanez, is on the bench with an injury is starting to have people wonder if Mayberry, at 27, is the next coming of Jayson Werth. While that may seem a lot to ask, the fact is Mayberry is in a prime position to do that as he doesn’t have to be THE MAN in the lineup, much like Werth wasn’t in Philly.

Will he be Werth? Doubt it. But, can he be the everyday left fielder for this team? He sure looks like it.

For now, take in this hot stretch and just remember — Mayberry is yet one more example of Ruben Amaro’s incredible baseball acumen.

Chan Ho Park said he wanted to wear red pinstripes instead of blue this year.

If new Phillies relievers Danny Baez and Jose Contreras falter in their roles on the 2010 Phillies team, GM Ruben Amaro will have some major questions fired at him, especially after Chan Ho Park made it known toThe Inquirer’s Andy Martino today that he wanted to stay in red pinstripes.

Instead of returning to a clubhouse he deemed as fun, the Phillies best long reliever decided to jump ship and sign with the defending champions — the Yankees. Park wanted a raise from the $2.1 million he made last year, and the Phillies and his agent couldn’t come to terms. The Phils then moved on, and Park was left to sign for just over $1 million with the Yankees.

Of his offseason signing with the Yankees, Park told Martino, “I had a wish after the season,” he said.  “Philadelphia was the no. 1 choice.  I had a tough time leaving there.  I had much support from fans and community, and I had the best teammates there, so…”

Park also addressed comments made by Charlie Manuel that appeared to be directed at Park. He said his new relievers will pitch through inuries. Park said he was a bit disappointed in Uncle Charlie’s comments, but the big man is still his favorite manager.

Mets fans are so low these days that they count a Phillies World Series loss as a win for their squad of chokers.

Hug a Mets fan today; they need it.

Little Scotty from the blog More Hardball dubbed the Phillies loss “Christmas in November.” He mentioned how happy and elated he was that the Phillies got to their second straight World Series, but came up a Hideki Matsui bat short of back-to-back titles.

Umm, dude, the Phillies were still playing, something your pathetic team hadn’t done since June. Oh, and the team that won the championship was your cross-city rival. Have fun walking down Times Square among the Yankee faithful.

Seriously, Mets fans rooted for the Yankees? That would be like me rooting for the Patriots to beat the Giants in the Super Bowl two years ago. Didn’t happen. I didn’t give a flying Beltran who won that game. Either way, it hurt, because I am an Eagles fanatic.

As pitiful as it sounds to root for the Yankees, the Mets fans have displayed even lower levels of self worth during the postseason. They rejoiced when they discovered that Kobe Bryant grew up a Mets fan while living in Lower Merion, Penn.

A Flushing, NY, Mets fan site called Kobe being a Mets fan “an added bonus” to the Phillies losing to the Dodgers in Game 2 of the LCS. There are numerous other examples of this in the blogosphere.

That is how pathetic the Mets fandom has become these days. They are lower than Clippers fans these days. I honestly feel sorry for them, having been there myself in the mid 90s.

Do your good deed for the day and hug a Mets fan. They are desperate for attention and affection.

Last year, that move was Raul Ibanez. What does this offseason have in store for the Phils? What do they need to do to stay on top of the NL and close the gap between them and the Yankees?

Following are a few thoughts, some obvious and others may shock you.

Could Shane Victorino be moved this offseason?

• Beef up the bullpen. Sign a guy as a set-up man who you can move to closer if needed. Brett Myers may be that guy. Also, resign Chan Ho Park and make get a lefty reliever in case JC Romero isn’t ready to go.

• Overhaul the starting rotation. Cliff Lee is here, and so is Cole Hamels. JA Happ figures to be the third guy. After that, are you comfortable with Joe Blanton and his increased wages due to arbitration? The Phils need to find legit guys to fill the back end of the rotation.
• Do not resign the Pedros. Martinez was a great guy for the role he filled. However, he can not be counted on to last a whole season and be effective. Resign him, and you are basically filling the 5th spot with Jamie Moyer. Again. Feliz is a vacuum at third, but he didn’t hit as well this year and is 34 years old. Adrian Beltre is four years younger and a decent defensive player. Maybe take a look at hime.
• Spend the money to get a legit infielder/bench guy. You need someone to take the pressure off of Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins. They are over 30 and need breaks during the season. One name thrown around in the media is Marco Scutaro from the Blue Jays. He just enjoyed a cfine season hitting .282 with 12 homers. He will cost more than Bruntlett, but can fill the role.
• Trade Jayson Werth or Shane Victorino for a starting pitcher. This is a huge gamble that many fans will question. However, this is exactly the type of move that Gillick was talking about, and it will help the payroll. The Phillies will not spend a lot more money, yet they have players who will see major bumps in arbitration this offseason. The fact is, after next year, you won’t keep both of these outfielders anyway. The values of those two players will never be higher and now is the time to bring up Michael Taylor. Platoon him with Ben Francisco in right to start the year. Taylor is a legit top-10 prospect with power. It’s only a matter of time until he is ready to play everyday. And, you still have Dominic Brown coming up through the ranks to take Ibanez’s spot in 2011 or 2012. The Phillies are set at outfield for the foreseeable future.
• If you are able to trade one of the outfielders, make a run for Joe Mauer at catcher. We all love Chooch, but he is what he is. Mauer is a legit weapon at the plate, and could ultimately make a move to first when he gets older and Ryan Howard leaves via free agency. Craig Biggio made a similar move to second midway through his career. (EDITED: Mauer is not a free agent until December 2010. The Phillies will not pursue him in a trade.)

The Phillies do have some tweaking to do, and will likely make a big move if Ruben Amaro stays with the Gillick formula. When that shoe drops, questions will be asked and heads will shake. However, how can you argue with a formula that has brought us two the doorstep of back-to-back world championships?

World Phucking Champs, no more. Back to being the bridesmaid. This is Philly. Second place is normalcy.

Being on top of the baseball world was fun while it lasted. All 371 days to be exact. We were champions and the exuberance we felt running through our veins, the effervescence flowing from our bodies was unparalleled.

Being a champion was fun while it lasted.

But, were we ever really comfortable being champs? A generation-plus of sports fans in Philly had no clue what winning felt like. Once we achieved the pinnacle, did we really know what we were supposed to do? Or, did we start to lose our identity?

Following a championship, people were nicer and opened doors for each other. The chip on our collective shoulders was gone.

We didn’t boo our beloved Phillies as much as we did before Uncle Charlie hoisted the championship trophy on a crisp October night in 2008. Even Charlie himself said that early in the season when his team wasn’t playing well. We had gone soft.

For once, the City of Brotherly Love was not an oxymoron. We had a team we loved like brothers and respected like the champions they were.

Sure, there was the occasional discontent among the fans that was aired on talk radio. However, it wasn’t as brazen as it had been during The Drought.

When Brad Lidge struggled early in the year, many fans said to give Lidge more time. You couldn’t expect perfection each year. At about the eighth blown save, those fans eventually came around. In the past, the catcalls would have rained down after the third or fourth blown save. The result of a champsionship was that we had become nicer.

But, wasn’t that just human nature? Or, were we supposed to react the same way we did before the championship? Was it too greedy to rip a championship team apart because you wanted a second title?

The truth is, we didn’t know how to respond. And, we still don’t. As a city, we hadn’t been in this position in 25 years (28 years for the Phillies).

Even as recently as Monday morning, the fans ire wasn’t what it would have, or even should have been. When Brad Lidge and Pedro Feliz bumbled Game 4 and the World Series away late Sunday night, you expected pure outrage. Think Donovan McNabb puking-and-not-calling-timeout-in-the-Super Bowl outrage.

Instead, people were more numb than angered. Fans were upset, but instead of decibel-level breaking boos, the crowd got fairly quiet, fairly quickly. The tone on talk radio the following morning was more laid back in the “I feel like I got kicked in the nutsack” way. The true anger lacked.

In the past, those players would have been lambasted.

The only player to receive some negative feedback was Cole Hamels when his comments about wanting a fresh start were taken out of context. Cole is a laid back Californian, so it was easy to misdirect the frustration solely toward him. However, even then, he didn’t get the same treatment that Ricky Watters did following his infamous “For who? For what?” comments. People will be harder on Cole next year now that we’re no longer champs.

Even today, as we wake up following another championship defeat, the feeling isn’t what it should be. The mood is more of “we lost, but we’re happy with the run and to have been there again.”

Don’t get me wrong. We should be proud of the Phillies and thankful for the three-year run they have given us to date. They did end the championship drought. Uncle Charlie could and should be elected mayor tomorrow.

However, the Yankees weren’t clearly the better team. The Phillies could have won the series with a couple of balls bouncing their way. To be happy to have been there is unacceptable. Where is the sadness and the anger that we’re used to?

It’s not there because we didn’t know how to act as champions. The collective fan base hasn’t been itself.

Today that can and will change. Dig deep down and pull out the brazen, hardcore, chip-on-the-shoulder fanatic. It’s who we are. Honk your horn and flip the finger to a New Yorker. Throw a snowball at a Mets fan this winter. It’ll make everything normal.

Hideki Matsui was named the 2009 World Series MVP.

Based upon his six-RBI performance in the deciding sixth game, Hideki Matsui was named the 2009 World Series MVP.

Many, including Matsui himself, were surprised that he won the award considering he played in only three games as the DH.

“It’s awesome, it’s just unbelievable,” Matsui told FOX after the game. “I’m surprised myself.”

How can someone who didn’t play every game win the award? He basically won it off of Pedro Martinez’s arm. Hideki may now be Pedro’s daddy considering he took Pedro deep in Game 2 and again on Wednesday.

In our view, Andy Pettitte with his two wins may have been a better choice. Heck, Derek Jeter and even Chase Utley were better options. Hideki’s performance on Wednesday was incredible, but one game does not make an MVP.

This once again demonstrates why the media itself should not determine MVP Award recipients.

Matsui had a two-run double, single and home run in a career-defining performance.

Matsui got things rolling with a homer off of Phils starter Pedro Martinez in the third. He followed with his double in the third. He added the single off of Chad Durbin in the fifth.

The Phillies got runs in the third when Jimmy Rollins drove in Chooch Ruiz on a sacrifice fly. Ryan Howard added a two-run shot in the sixth inning.

Otherwise, not much went right for the Fightins who were subjected to watching the team that Greed bought celebrate another championship.

The soundbite. It’s the thing that drives all broadcast media journalism.

With limited time, television and radio newscasts rely on brief, 10-second soundbites to tell stories. That is really nothing new. However, in this day of the race to be first with news, and not necessarily accurate, news outlets will take a statement and run with it. The fallout for those speaking to the media can be devastating.

Pro athletes must now be as careful as a political candidate or a company CEO. Say the wrong thing, and your reputation or approval rating will drop quicker than a Brad Lidge sinker (when he’s Lights Out).

Cole Hamel's postgame comments on Saturday demonstrate that pro athletes must receive more media training.

Cole Hamels proved this point with his postgame comments after Saturday’s loss in Game 3 of the World Series. The Phillies 2009 postseason LVP was quoted as saying, “I can’t wait for it (the season) to end. It’s been mentally draining. It’s one of those things, a year in, you just can’t wait for a fresh start.”

These quotes set off a firestorm in Philly among fans, traditional media, social media and talk radio.  Many, including your Daily Philadelphian, called for the end of Hamels’ season even if the team went on to force a Game 7. How do you wish for the season to end when your team is in the thick of World Series battle?

Hamels is lucky he’s not an NFL quarterback or he’d have had the Ray Lewis and Brian Dawkins of the world battling him in practice the next day.

However, it now appears his comments were taken out of context. According to media members such as Comcast SportsNet’s Leslie Gudel, Hamels was first asked about the game and answered those questions. He then was asked if he couldn’t wait for the season to end so he could reflect on it. That is when he made the absurd statement heard around South Philly.

Hamels is honest and always has been, sometimes to the detriment of his reputation. Of course, win, and his reputation will regain its all-time high status.

All the 2008 World Series MVP did was answer a question honestly in an era when athletes don’t talk frankly. However, Hamels and other athletes need to learn when to, and when not to, answer questions. They need to learn how to answer certain questions.

Hamels simply should have said something such as, “You know, we’re still in a battle to defend our world title, and I’m going to prepare to pitch a Game 7, if I’m called upon to do so. I’ll have plenty of time to reflect on the season when this series is over. Until then, we have nothing to think about except how to win the next ballgame.”

Deflect the question on reflection until after the season is completely over.

Chad Ochocinco is an athlete who may benefit from additional media training.

To avoid these situations, Hamels and pro athletes need media training. They need the same workshops and lessons that CEOs and politicians learn from their public relations professionals.

Many athletes are paid higher than the leadership of Fortune 500 corporations, and they need to be trained as such. They are the ambassadors for professional sports franchises. A frontline pitcher, hitter, quarterback, defensive back, or point guard is the spokesperson for the organization.

That’s not to say that pro teams’ public relations staffs haven’t worked with the athletes. The NFL and MBA conduct rookie symposiums, and media relations is likely part of those programs.

However, more must be done as young players enter franchises. Unless the players studied communications and public relations in college, this is a topic and a skill they know very little about.

Athletes must learn how to avoid making inflammatory statements. They must learn how to work with the media.

Pro teams should not be as overzealous as the New York Knicks who insisted that Larry Brown only talk to the media when a member of the PR staff was present.

However, they do need to teach athletes basic PR rules such as:

• Always talk in good times and bad (Mitch Williams himself will tell you this);
• Never say “no comment;”
• Don’t lie;
• Never say something you do not want to see in print;
• Remember to speak in 10-second soundbites, which means simply to keep in mind a long answer (or the preceding question) may be left on the cutting-room floor. Had Hamels known or thought of this point, he may never have made the statement he did.

There are many more points to media training, but these basics would help deflect any potential controversies in a number of situations.

With ESPN, Comcast SportsNet, Fox Sports, Sirius Radio, and countless Internet sites and blogs, athletes will continue to be under scrutiny unlike any faced by athletes throughout time. The microscope they are under will only get bigger with time.

Media training should become a necessity with periodic workshops throughout the season and offseason. Then, you won’t risk the chemistry of a team based on what is said and reported in the media.

Frank Ward is a public relations consultant and freelance writer. To contact him, please send an e-mail to dailyphiladelphian@gmail.com.

Yankees fans and Pedro have endured a well-documented love-hate relationship through the years. If you don’t know anything about it, then go back under the rock where you resided last week.

Pedro Martinez takes the mound for Game 6 on Wednesday.

In any event, Pedro will take center stage in the Bronx one more time in his Hall-of-Fame career. The game is do-or-die time for the Phillies. The team needs Pedro to pitch the way he did a week ago, especially when he is opposing the all-time winningest pitcher in postseason history — Andy Pettitte.

The man relishes his place in baseball lore, especially when it comes to the Yankees. He’d like nothing more than to stick it to the Bronx BALCOs and their fans in Yankee Stadium en route to securing a Game 7.

If he has one last great game left in his Hall-of-Fame arm, Wednesday night would be the night to bring it. And, he will.

Pedro-Yankees. Game 6. Do-or-Die for Phillies. New York City. The stage is set.

And, Pedro’s ready to grab the spotlight and run straight to Game 7.

For the Phillies, getting a big lead is key because it could put them in a posiiton to pull Cliff Lee after six innings. That would give him a better shot to be rested for a potential Game 7, which he will have to start. The Phillies have no better options.