Doug Melvin and Gord Ash helped Ken Macha load up his rented SUV today for his drive home to Pittsburgh – not for the winter, but forever (at least as far as the Milwaukee Brewers are concerned). The polite gesture was just slightly less gracious than that they extended Macha over the last six weeks of 2010. By simply not exercising the team option to bring him back, the Brewers spared Kenny the humiliation of being technically fired.

The move was made official today, but everyone, including Macha (who offered a thank you to Uecker and the fans in the radio pre-game prior to game 162) knew it was coming.

To fire a manager on game #162, out #27, is to admit to the world that you’ve had your minds made up for weeks. You knew before the calendar turned over to September that Macha wasn’t the man to lead this team, yet you permitted him to stay, failing to rid the host of a parasite you’d definitively acknowledged.

You’d have been the first to question the professionalism of your players if one had shown an ounce of quit. But where’s the professionalism in leaving those men to be led by one you have deemed unfit? You expected nothing short of 100% from your players down the stretch, while your actions screamed “we’ve phoned it in.”

I don't know that it gets more hypocritical than that.