The Philadelphia Phillies had an incredibly difficult decision to make when it came to the future of manager Rob Thomson. Well-liked and highly respected, firing him was no small task . But, something had to be done to shake up the team, and moving on from the manager was deemed to be the right path moving forward. After 28 games and a 9-19 record, Thomson was fired. Taking over on an interim basis was Don Mattingly , who knows a thing or two about helping a struggling team turn things around. With the Los Angeles Dodgers, he overcame early deficits in the standings to win the National League West. It will take a lot of work for that to repeat itself with the Phillies, but the team is certainly happy about how things are going out of the gate. Despite a 12-1 loss to the Athletics to finish that series, Philadelphia is 8-2 since making the managerial change.…