This Saturday, I tuned into WIP for the first time in forever. I had the privilege of catching Sports Radio's Most Incompetent Idiot, Rob Charry, sneering at Charlie Manuel on the ground that Charlie hasn't been allowing Cole Hamels to pitch enough innings. (Yes, you heard right.)

Now, I wouldn't expect your typical backup weekend monkey like Charry to know anything about the extensive research that's been conducted into the danger of high pitch counts for young pitchers, etc. What was truly frustrating was that Charry based his whole argument on the premise that at least "four or five times" Charlie had cost the team a win by pulling Hamels out of the game when he clearly still had gas in the tank, only to see the bullpen immediately blow the lead.

Thanks to the magic of the internet (which I know they have in the WIP studio) anyone can look at Hamels' game log and see that that premise was just false. Hamels has gotten a no-decision in a loss only three times all year. In one of those games (8/4 vs MIL), he had given up 4 runs, including a 3-run inning his last time through the heart of the order - clearly no gas left in the tank that day. In another game (4/4 vs. ATL), the bullpen didn't blow the lead until the 9th, two innings after Hamels left the game, and Hamels had already thrown 110 pitches - again, Charlie can't be faulted for that one. There's only one solitary game where the argument is plausible - 4/9 vs. NYM.

Basically, what happened is that Hamels was arguably taken out too soon in his second start of the year, and since it was so early in the season it imprinted itself on Charry's mind. So now, even though that was the only time it's happened all year long, Charry has this vague impression that it happens all the time. And he didn't bother to look it up before spreading this false fact around on the air. What a journalist.

It's incredibly annoying that nitwits like Charry can go and basically spread lies all around the entire Delaware Valley just because they're too lazy to take thirty seconds to fact-check themselves on Yahoo Sports. Charry just knows in his gut that Charlie's messed up with Hamels, and when you feel something in your gut, what do you need to look things up for? I'm not saying Charlie's beyond any form of criticism, but please, I mean, you're supposed to be a journalist of some sort. Can't you at least get your facts right? The opinion leaders in the Philadelphia sports world simply have no concern for truth or reason. Morons, morons everywhere.