Charlie Manuel About to Expire

No, Manuel is not about to die, but his manager position is about too. I don't exactly have inside sources to cite or anything, but the Phillies are not doing anything to make me think otherwise.

The team was 2-8 heading into Saturday's game against the Houston Astros. After the series opener with the Astros, a game in which the Phills lost 9-6, Manuel was quoted to saying "If I knew would to do, I would definitely do it." If the manager doesn't know what to do, then how is he not fired?

I'm not even suggesting that firing Manuel would automatically make the Phillies NL Champs heading to the World Series, however a change is dangerously close to being overdue. Already the team is five games out of first place and it is not even Tax Day yet. The rumblings (not to be confused with this blog) are starting to point to why Chris Coste isn't with the team, the continuing stupid mental errors, the inefficient bullpen, the lack of run production with the bases loaded and more. A team leading the league in walks should not only have two wins.

What angered me the other night was the what Wes Helms said the other night after their 3-2 win over the New York Mets, a game in which Mets starter Oliver Perez had a line that two and two-thirds innings with seven walks. Helms stated that they really took advantage of the errors. Pardon me Mr. Helms, but how many hits did you guys get in all of those at bats with the bases loaded?

Zero. They didn't take advantage of anything, rather they were given a gift.

The game against the Astros is tied at 1 right now as I'm writing this and Cole Hamels is on the mound. Hamels has been the one constant bright spot in the roster so far in the early part of the schedule so we'll see if he can keep his stuff going to help his team.

Don't forget to check out my blog tomorrow when I announce the second Ramblings Phillie of the Week. A couple other things I'm going to get into detail about coming up include taking golf lessons and the Philadelphia Eagles schedule and the initial prediction (start thinking Arizona in February???).