Johnette Howard

The gall Charlie Manuel is showing right now is nothing new. But you still had to laugh at the Phillies manager’s consistency when someone asked him on the eve of the playoffs last week to clear up the scariest question his defending champion Phillies dragged into the postseason: Who was going to be the Phillies’ closer?

“Hard to tell,” Manuel smiled and said. “Whoever you see walking out there.”

It was not a response calculated to soothe fears back in Philly. Not that Manuel worries about that. You could just imagine the talk-radio switchboards lighting up and callers spitting out the same insults they’d thrown at Manuel all summer because of his refusal to rule out sticking with Brad Lidge as his closer. Charlie’s dumb! Charlie’s dangerous! This time ol’ country Charlie has just gone too far.

Now, if Manuel’s willingness to trust Lidge keeps working out for the Phillies the way it did this weekend, their story could be a buddy movie waiting to happen. Manuel — the folksy, white-haired manager with the baggy uniform, fractured grammar and backcountry Virginia drawl — is fearless. And Lidge, his scuffling, veteran closer who left everyone wondering if he’s got the magic anymore after a nightmare season, may rebound yet, because of the unusual faith his manager kept showing in him.

Until Lidge rewarded Manuel by trotting in Sunday and Monday to finish off two saves and push the Phillies past Colorado into the National League Championship Series — which begins Thursday in Los Angeles — it had been a difficult summer for both of them.

There seemed to be no way Manuel would handcuff himself — and perhaps the Phillies’ chances of repeating — by using Lidge in the postseason as often as he had during the regular season. That was just a stubborn show of loyalty, right? Lidge had gone a perfect 48-for-48 in save chances last year and had a crazy-good ERA of 1.95 as Philadelphia won its first championship in 28 years. Mentally, he’d finally put himself back together after coughing up the three-run homer to Albert Pujols that helped knock Houston out of the playoffs a few years earlier.

Then Lidge struggled this year to an 0-8 record, a league-high 11 blown saves, and a horrid 7.21 ERA. Manuel kept trotting Lidge out anyway. Critics kept screaming why?

Slideshow   Celebs in the stands A look at some of the celebrities attending the 2009 MLB playoffs. more photos

It wasn’t until September, long after Manuel had gotten himself called crazy and everything else, that Manuel finally let Ryan Madson be his closer for a few games.

Whether you now prefer the storybook version (Manuel truly believed Lidge would come around like this) or the more cynical assessment (Manuel had the luxury of making Lidge a reclamation project because the Phillies had a safe lead in the NL East much of the season), the bottom line is so far it’s been another of Manuel’s unconventional moves that somehow keeps working out.

The 65-year-old Manuel is a vanishing breed among managers, a gambler who confounds the sabermetricians by tossing their stat binders aside and going with his gut a lot of the time. Dodgers’ manager Joe Torre likes to think of himself that way, too. (Remember how one of Torre’s parting salvos at the Yankees was to tell GM Brian Cashman to be careful his growing affinity for numbers didn’t leave him tone deaf to the “soul” of people in the game?) But Manuel makes even Torre look meek when it comes to taking risks. Now let’s see who has the better championship series. Torre has the bigger rep, the smoother image. But Manuel might be on a better roll.

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