Charlie "Daddy" Needs to Go 4/14/07
   Every spring I look forward to the beginning of baseball season. This year I was especially excited because the Phillies were supposed to be good. With reigning NL MVP, Ryan Howard, anchoring the lineup and a great pitching staff including Cole Hamels and newcomers Freddie Garcia and Adam Eaton, the Phillies looked to be the team to beat in the NL east. 
   I know that most Amish and Mennonite churches discourage involvement in sports. Amish and Amish Mennonites forbid radios. However, since I'm Amish Mennonite and we're allowed to have internet, I am able to watch a lot of games on the web. 
   The day I knew things were going to go bad, is when Jimmy Rollins declared that the Phillies are the team to beat in the NL east. Such a wild comment not only showed the Phillies are out of control and over confident. It also made the Mets and the Braves mad. 
   Two weeks into the season the Phillies are a dismal 3-8. Only the Washington Nationals have a worse record in the entire league and the Braves, Mets, and Marlins are roaring with laughter as they look into their rearview mirrors. 
   Those three teams took turns beating up on the Phillies during the first week of the season. The Braves swept and the Marlins and Mets took two of three. 
   The reasons for their their slow start are many, but it's mostly Manager Charlie "Daddy" Manuels' fault. Not only does he look very simple, he's about 70 years old and he talks like a man with a mental disorder. If you should ever get the chance to watch a game, make sure you look for him. He stands there with his two coaches, who are older than he is, and look just as simple.
  He doesn't understand the game and he always puts in Geoff Geary when the team is ahead by one run. Geary is a worthless reliever and always blows the game. The other day against the Mets he came in with a two run lead and the Mets scored seven runs that inning. 
   The team is playing poor defense and making dumb mental errors. Charlie Daddy needs to be fired now. He is so old he should not be coaching and the Phillies would be much better off with anyone else. I think they should hire Larry Bowa again. He would make lazy Pat Burrell hit or sit.
   The team needs to turn it around now so they don't miss the playoffs by one game for the 5th year in a row. They haven't been to the playoffs since 1993 and I wasn't even a Phillies fan then. 
   Philadelphia sports is starting to disgust me. All the teams are worthless. But firing Charlie Daddy could only make the Phillies better.
(Jim Stoltzfus, BIHN Sports)