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Now is the time for a new closer

It's time for Charlie Manuel to have the meeting with Brad Lidge. The one in which the manager tells the pitcher he's no longer the Phillies' closer.

It's time for Charlie Manuel to have the meeting with Brad Lidge.

The one in which the manager tells the pitcher he's no longer the Phillies' closer.

No amount of respect and gratitude for Lidge's sensational 2008 season can delay this day of reckoning any longer.

Brad Lidge - 0-6 with nine blown saves - can't close major-league games now, and there's no point in further discussion.

As the season turns into September, the change must be made now to give the team time to find a replacement by October.

Critics will say there's no good alternative to Lidge, and that may be true. But there's no longer any point in waiting, either. An alternative must be found - or developed - by Oct. 6, when the Phillies are likely to face off against the National League wild-card winner, with the Dodgers and the Cardinals waiting in the wings.

Hitters have been salivating to get up there and take their cuts with Lidge on the hill, and the Pittsburgh Pirates don't send up Albert Pujols or Manny Ramirez.

So, what to do?

Right now, a closer by committee might be appropriate, since Ryan Madson has shown he can't close, either.

Some combination of Chan Ho Park, Scott Eyre and Chad Durbin could be used.

If J.C. Romero or Clay Condrey come back healthy, either one is a possibility.

If Brett Myers can get healthy, he's another.

If Pedro Martinez can do it in the playoffs, when he won't be needed as a starter, he's a fourth choice.

Scott Mathieson, Mike Zagurski, Sergio Escalona . . . you name the sore-armed minor-leaguer. Right now, if he's healthy, he's a better choice than Brad Lidge.

It didn't have to come to this. On the same day general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. made the brilliant acquisition of Cliff Lee, George Sherrill was sitting in Baltimore's bullpen with a "trade me to Philadelphia" sign around his neck.

But Amaro wouldn't make the move, and now Sherrill will be closing for the Dodgers in the playoffs.

So Amaro needs to nudge Manuel in Lidge's direction.

If the manager won't make the move, then Amaro must.

And if he can't do it, then send Dallas Green.

Big D will have no trouble telling Lidge, "Son, we're making a move. It's no reflection on you personally; it's just baseball."