An Open Letter to...

Our good friend Carl P chips in with these thoughts on his change of heart regarding the Phillies skipper

Dear Charlie,

It was the bottom of the ninth of Game 4 of the NLDS when I realized that everything had changed between you and me.   You see, back in the old days, I was that voice in section 316 that would turn into a raging lunatic every time you'd leave Jon Leiber in for three batters too long and pull Pat Burrell out three innings too early.  One time I was convinced that you made a double switch because the blue Septa bus beat the red one.   Even when you led the Phillies to that glorious 2008 World Series title, I wasn't totally onboard your bandwagon.  With that kind of talent, anybody could win.  You're a "players' manager"?  Come on.  That's like a "students' teacher".  You know, the one that kind of stunk as a teacher, but gave out great grades and let you goof off.  Everybody loved that teacher.  I pictured Victorino starting food fights and J-Roll copying Chooch's homework.   So I really didn't think you'd do well when all the new questions started coming this year.  How will your team stay motivated now that you've won it all?  What are you going to do with Mendoza Rollins?  How are you going to manage this suddenly-shaky bullpen?  And for god's sake, who is our closer?   Fast-forward to the bottom of the ninth, Game 4, 2009 NLDS.  I said to my buddy in the middle of our delirium, "Who's Charlie bringing in to finish this thing???"   "It's Lidge again.  He's our closer."   And, just like Game 3, my stomach dropped.  But then something weird happened.  I said to myself (possibly out loud -- the baseball playoffs do strange things to your sanity), "You know what, Charlie's got this.  He'll do the right thing."   The game came back from commercial and there was Scott Eyre getting ready to start the ninth.  It made perfect sense by the numbers.  He'll pitch to two lefties and turn a switch-hitter around to his weaker side.  It was the exact opposite of what Jim Tracy had done in the top of the ninth, which is leave his right-handed closer in to face Ryan Howard when the matchup absolutely dictated that a left-hander would be optimal.  Then, you told yourself that if the inning gets to the right-handed Tulo, go to Lidge, who you've backed since his very first blown save in April.   We all know what happened, and with that clinching Game 4 victory, I realized you had knocked every single one of these questions out of the park, off the McDonald's sign, outta here.  You dealt with struggling players by staying loyal to them, letting Lidge exorcize his demons on the grand playoff stage.  You dealt with a shaky bullpen by going with a combination of what the book says and going with your best players in the most important situations ("Eyre's hurt?  First and third, nobody out?  One-run lead?  Gimme the tall guy").  And anybody who thinks your 2009 Phillies team isn't motivated hasn't watched a pitch of these playoffs ("Just get me to the plate boys").  Getting a bunch of millionaires who already have a ring to want another one even more may just be your greatest accomplishment of them all.   Quite simply, you've won me over.  For the first time, I believed that you, the manager of our Philadelphia Phillies, are an advantage in a playoff matchup.  You just had the best playoff series of your career, and you're having the best season of your career.  Last year was easy.  This time you needed to win some tight games with ballsy moves, and you plain old outmanaged the crap out of Jim Tracy.   As Lidge would say, mad props Cholly.  Torre's next.