Charlie Manuel and Phils Want to Start Something

The beloved Philadelphia Phillies were accused of stealing signs using binoculars in the bullpen while playing the Colorado Rockies recently. A number of players and teams are accused of this over the course of any given season, but Phils' manager Charlie Manuel got a little testy when confronted with this accusation. Here's what he told CSN Philadelphia:

"“Somebody maybe ought to check the Mets if they did that. Their [bleeping] home record is out of this world and they’re losing on the road. Sometimes that’s a good indicator of getting signs and [crap]. I see somebody setting there at 17-2 at home and 4-12 on the road, I’d get concerned about that. That kind of crosses my mind… I’m not accusing them, but you look at that and – damn. We’re about the same home and road. I’m just saying their record is much better at home and they hit better… ”

I'm not accusing them? Bitter much? Wow. If I'm sitting in first place and have basically owned the Mets for the last two seasons why would I even bother bringing them up like or starting a verbal debate? It's just weird, but that's the Napoleon complex of Philadelphia sports.

Jerry Manuel responded in classic Jerry fashion by saying basically that the Citi Field bullpen was too far away to steal signs.That's probably true.

Usually the verbal jarring is between big mouthed players like Jimmy Rollins and a Billy Wagner, but Grandpa Charlie wanted to make sure he didn't miss out on the action.