I hope I'm not asking too many newbie questions... I really did search around for this to no avail.

I can't seem to find the equivalent of Windows Task Manager. Something to see which programs are running so I can kill the ones I don't need right now as to not drain my battery.

Press ALT and ESCAPE. Your running apps will appear.

There are several which you cannot stop: Homescreen, Phone, Address Book, BBMessenger and Browser (just make sure it is not an active browser page loaded), and others according to what 3rd Party apps you have.

Good luck.

I have only found one way to get to this.

Go to Options > Screen/Keyboard and change one of the side convenience keys to "Application Switcher." This sounds like what your looking for.

There must be a way to get to this without wasting one of your convenience key options, but I can't find it.

Anyone else?

You beat me to it! I can only switch between applications here, I don't have the choice to kill them. I have that Outbreak Control game just stuck running and when I go to it all I see is the game's splash screen. No options to end it. Hopefully pulling the battery will kill it.

Resetting the BB will do it... pulling the battery is one method, yes.
How do I reset my BlackBerry? - BlackBerryFAQ