Quotable: Charlie Manuel on Hitting

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Frustrated by the Phillies' approach at the plate? From his Wednesday afternoon press conference, Charlie Manuel on plate discipline:

-- "Yeah, I'm on board with Ruben on changing the approach. We gotta grind out more at-bats, learn how to work the count better. You know, plate discipline."

-- "We'll take a fastball right down the middle. And then you'll see a guy swing at a ball down in the dirt."

-- "I get upset sometime when you guys say that we don't hit as well as I think we should hit or you think we should hit. I don't care if you like it or not. I know how good of a hitting coach I am...We we will get better."

Pass on the fastball. Swing on the junk in the dirt. Charlie summed it up pretty well.

He would go on to defend hitting coach Greg Gross and insist that John Mayberry will be given every opportunity to become an every day player next year. Though he passed on pointing out specific expectations, citing that he simply didn't know who would and would not be back, Charlie made it clear that his team's ultimate goal will still be to win the World Series, a goal the manager believes he can achieve with "this current core of players."

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