Mike - First off. OMG! you need a little lesson on brevity. Your post intimidated me at first. 
The issue with stalling this car with a manual transmission is very common. In fact, the first time I drove one the salesman said "I guarantee you will stall it, as everyone does." To this day, I have not come close, but I have a high degree of driving experience and training. Anyway, you seem to have the issue of torque reversed a bit. It is because of the engine's torque that you are stalling the car. The lower the torque, the less likely that you will stall an engine. Maybe think of a Geo Metro with a manual trany versus a giant dump truck. The Geo is way low on torque, making the car very easy to drive by the least experienced of drivers. The dump truck on the other hand is made for pulling power and if one has never driven one, you'd be guaranteed to stall it...probably many times because of it's torque.
I think the key to getting the very best gas mileage is to keep the RPM's to the lowest that you can without bogging down the engine. This is why the DSG is giving the same car better mileage, apparently, then the manual. The DSG is designed to be constantly shifting up and down while trying to keep the minimum RPM needed for what is needed of the car at the time. A lot of people drive manual transmissions "high revving" to give them the most control over the accelerator, and in doing so will certainly suck more fuel, but the DSG is maintaining the lowest RPM needed for the engine and thus giving it the most economy...so long as you are not in the "sport" mode or manual mode.
I hope that his has helped a little in answering your question.
The issue with stalling this car with a manual transmission is very common. In fact, the first time I drove one the salesman said "I guarantee you will stall it, as everyone does." To this day, I have not come close, but I have a high degree of driving experience and training. Anyway, you seem to have the issue of torque reversed a bit. It is because of the engine's torque that you are stalling the car. The lower the torque, the less likely that you will stall an engine. Maybe think of a Geo Metro with a manual trany versus a giant dump truck. The Geo is way low on torque, making the car very easy to drive by the least experienced of drivers. The dump truck on the other hand is made for pulling power and if one has never driven one, you'd be guaranteed to stall it...probably many times because of it's torque.
I think the key to getting the very best gas mileage is to keep the RPM's to the lowest that you can without bogging down the engine. This is why the DSG is giving the same car better mileage, apparently, then the manual. The DSG is designed to be constantly shifting up and down while trying to keep the minimum RPM needed for what is needed of the car at the time. A lot of people drive manual transmissions "high revving" to give them the most control over the accelerator, and in doing so will certainly suck more fuel, but the DSG is maintaining the lowest RPM needed for the engine and thus giving it the most economy...so long as you are not in the "sport" mode or manual mode.
I hope that his has helped a little in answering your question.