I don't know if I should laugh or cry! All season long I've been criticizing Phillies' Manager Charley Manual for his stubborn insistence on using Brad Lidge as the "Closer". In the Phillies game against the Mets on September 11, Charley refrained from bringing Lidge into the game, and the Phils won. This prompted me to write a blog entitled "Did Charley Wake Up?" because I thought he had finally given up on Lidge as the "Closer". But no - I was wrong. Charley Manual remains the most stubborn pig-headed excuse for a Manager that I have ever seen, and I have been an ardent fan of the Phillies since 1950, when Eddie Sawyer was Manager. I have seen a lot of managers come and go and this is the one I really think should GO. He has single-handedly prevented the Phillies from clinching the NL East because of his utter failure in handling the pitching staff. His maniacal stance on Brad Lidge ("Brad Lidge is my closer!") defies logic or reason. This pathological compulsion Charley has is SICK!

Tonight I saw victory handed to the Florida Marlins, as Brad Lidge was once again brought into the game in the ninth inning. Every ball the Marlins hit (even the fly ball that was caught for an out in deep right field) was smacked hard. I have said it so many times I must sound like a broken record: DON'T USE BRAD LIDGE AS THE CLOSER!

The Phillies have lost so many games needlessly, just because of Charley Manual's idiotic support for Brad Lidge. If they had a normal big-league manager, they would have already clinched the NL East. As it is, they still might win it DESPITE Charley Manual, but it would be so great if we didn't have to play ball with this handicap of having a Manager who suffers from a stubborn obsession! Please, Charley, take your retirement this year. Join me as a retired senior citizen and let a younger man take over leadership of the Phillies. Then you can write blogs like I do, and you can tell the world that the new manager should be bringing in Brad Lidge to pitch the ninth inning of every game in 2010!