June 15 -- MOTOWN MEN

It's been two years since the Phillies traded Placido Polanco to the Tigers for Ugueth Urbina and utility infielder Ramon Martinez. It's been more than three since they picked Charlie Manuel over Jim Leyland for their vacant managerial job. And with the Tigers in town this weekend, people want to talk about how both of those moves were mistakes.

My take: Stop living in the past!

But, if you insist, the Phillies were desperate for a setup man in 2005 (sound familiar?), and they got one for Polanco. Because Urbina is sitting in a Venezuelan jail, it's easy to forget how valuable he was to the '05 Phillies. Without him, I doubt they finish one game out in the wild-card race. Could the Phillies have gotten Urbina for David Bell? Don't be so sure. I wasn't covering the team yet, but from what I've heard, there wasn't much of a market for Bell, just like there's no market today for Pat Burrell. So, moving Polanco to third base to make room for Chase Utley wasn't an option unless Bell was benched or traded.

Leyland is a superb manager. There's no question he has made the Tigers better since taking over before last season. But, when I look at this lineup (Sean Casey bats 7th!) and starting rotation, it's hard to think any manager wouldn't succeed. I know it's en vogue to rip Manuel, but he should get plenty of credit for where the Phillies are. Admit it: if I told you in spring training that Ryan Howard, Freddy Garcia, Tom Gordon, Brett Myers and Ryan Madson would be on the DL for any length of time, you would never guess the Phils would be two games out of first place.

Thoughts?