Not only does Charlie Manuel presumably have carte blanche at Bookbinder’s, Pat’s and Geno’s for the rest of his life, he also will be paid to manage the Philadelphia Phillies until at least 2011.

Delaware Online reports that Manuel and general manager Ruben Amaro agreed to a contract extension Tuesday night.

Manage the World Series winner, get stuff you deserve. That’s how America should work. OK, except for coach Steve Smith.

Funny, though, that Manuel’s job had seemed in danger for most of his Philly life — the club fired a bunch of coaches but kept the skipper after ‘06 — despite Manuel averaging 88.5 victories since 2005. That doesn’t include the 11 playoff wins this past October the Phillies needed to take their franchise’s second World Series.

So, now the Phanatics can stow Charlie’s Job Watch for at least… 80 games.

In other news of a possibly near nature, Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan reports that the Jake Peavy trade (zzzzzzz) hinges on the Cubs being able to move Jason Marquis‘ hefty contract. In the multi-team deal, Mark DeRosa would be coming to the Phillies. Sweet for them, not so much for the Cubs, who rely on DeRosa’s diverse skills.

Also, sources say that Passan and ‘Duk are dining this p.m. with Donnie, Walter and the Dude at a Vegas In-N-Out Burger.

Fresh off a World Series championship, the Philadelphia Phillies annouced that 2B Chase Utley had right hip surgery and could miss the start of next season.

Philly is listed at +1200 to repeat as World Series champs in 2009.

Earlier today, we discussed the tragedy that occurred in Fairfax, VA, where the Mason athletic department decided to kill off Gunston, the ambiguous green blob, in favor of some pumpkin-headed, chisel-chinned freak of a mascot.

Well, we’ve come across some more upsetting mascot news. First, we travel to Tampa, where — earmuffs kids — the actual human being inside Raymond has been fired for no apparent reason:

"I’m just as confused as everyone else," [Kelly Frank] said. "I really didn’t get an explanation."

Frank said she was praised as recently as three weeks ago, when her supervisors told her she out-enthused the Philadelphia Phillies mascot, the Phillie Phanatic, during the World Series.

Out-enthuse the Phanatic? Impossible. But I’m certain she never lost a dance-off, which is the key ingredient to being a successful mascot. (Or Miami Hurricane fan):

Second, we travel to Texas, where Rowdy, the Cowboys freakishly giggly, half-man, half-child looking mascot, has been put on probation after chest-bumping T.O. while celebrating a touchdown a few weeks back. The penalty means Rowdy can only come out at halftime and once in the 3rd quarter to shoot shirts into the crowd. This, of course, has commenters at the Dallas Morning News referring to the NFL’s employees as "Nazi clowns," which, as it turns out, were the mascots of the Third Reich. They were evil, evil clowns.

All of this would leave us feeling very sad if we didn’t absolutely despise mascots. Except for Gunston. He was pretty righteous.

Today’s naming of Ruben Amaro Jr. as Pat Gillick’s successor in the Phillies’ GM chair was such a certainty that it doesn’t even qualify as a "worst-kept secret."

But how certain was Amaro’s eventual ascension from being Philadelphia’s assistant GM to earning a three-year contract to be the main man?

Let’s put it this way: The 43-year-old had more than enough time to book a super-saver airline fare to this week’s general manager meetings in Dana Point, Calif.

I must admit, though, that I was ignorant to the fact that Amaro is a Philadelphia native and was the Phillies batboy 25 years ago before serving a short mid-90s tenure in the team’s outfield.

On one hand, that’s a great self-made man story and it’s nice to see a dream come true for a guy who knows Philadelphia unlike any other. He knows exactly what he’s stepping into and I think owning an institutional memory can be an asset for him. 

But on the other, it opens the door for a lot of "What do you expect, he’s the batboy?" criticism should Amaro not be up to the task of reloading the world champs for another run.

Though he has a nice 2-3 year window to work some more magic at The Bank, Amaro’s first big challenge will be restocking a farm system that produced a bulk of the World Series team but is currently thinner than an alley cat. Since Amaro beat out baseball lifer Mike Arbuckle — who ran the drafts that produced Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Chase Utley and Pat Burrell — he’ll have plenty to prove.

What’s more is that Arbuckle resigned upon hearing that he wasn’t getting the job, so it’s all on the former batboy to make sure he’s got all the controls down pat. For better or worse, the ship is now his and it’s loaded with many more expectations than it was a month ago. 

I know this is really, really confusing, especially when you’re from a place with zero MLB franchises, so follow closely, Ms. Palin: Pennsylvania has not one, but two baseball teams. See, one of them — the Phillies — is near the easternmost part of the state, while the other one – the Pirates — is way out near the westernmost area. The two are over 300 miles apart.

I hope you’re still with me, Sarah, ‘cause this is about to take another twist. There is also this place called “Cleveland,” which is in a whole separate state — it’s called “Ohio.” This might blow your mind, but some people in PA root for the team in Ohio called “the Indians.” Particularly people in areas such as Erie (420 miles from Philly, as they map above clearly shows), where you were campaigning yesterday.

So, to summarize: Western PA; most root for the Pirates, some root for the Indians, none root for the Philles. I’m glad we cleared this up so that in the future, you won’t do this:

On Thursday at a rally in Erie, Pa., Sarah Palin touted the victors in the World Series to thousands of supporters. "I am thrilled to be here in the home state of the world-champion Philadelphia Phillies," Palin said.

The crowd booed.

Palin has been booed by Pennsylvania sports fans before. Earlier this month, the Republican vice presidential candidate was loudly heckled at a Philadelphia Flyers game.

I know Palin isn’t listening to campaign managers anymore (she’s gone rogue!!!!), but it might be worth asking her to steer clear of sports between now and Tuesday.