It's official, Brad Lidge
Hyperion
Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
Hyperion
Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭
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charlie just came out and might be YANKING him, bases loaded.
Yep: YANK.
In comes Madsen.
Truly a Watershed moment.
to take him out back and get it over with.
<< <i>Lidge can't even throw it over the plate anymore. I've seen too many Astros games in the past to believe this guy is going to ever pitch again. Chuck needs
to take him out back and get it over with. >>
Then off to the glue factory!
No looking back, Lidge still Phils' best option
By Bob Ford
Phila Inquirer Sports Columnist
Sept 8 09
Immortality doesn't last long in professional sports, particularly for those players not lucky enough to make their signature accomplishment the final stroke of the pen.
Just this week, we learned that if you catch a football against your helmet with one hand and make possible a Super Bowl victory, the shelf life of that magical moment is a little more than a year. David Tyree was cut by the New York Giants on Saturday, which may seem cold, but, hey, he hasn't caught one upside his head since.
The 2008 season of Brad Lidge was not a momentary highlight like Tyree's, but a multiple-reel thriller. For bullpen closers, who walk the narrowest of ledges with the thinnest of leads, however, what Lidge accomplished last season, from a degree of difficulty perspective, was the baseball equivalent of Tyree's catch.
He didn't blow a save in 41 regular-season opportunities and trumped that perfection with seven more saves in the postseason, including, of course, securing the final out of the championship-clinching game.
Even a great season would have trouble following that act and Lidge has not enjoyed anything close to a great season in 2009. He has blown 10 saves in 38 opportunities and the drumbeat of popular opinion is resounding with the message that Lidge should be removed from the closer's role and replaced by Brett Myers, or Pedro Martinez, or almost anyone, up to and including Madman Muntz.
That was the shelf life of perfection for Lidge, the time elapsed between being the toast of the town and merely being toast. Thirty-eight save opportunities. That's how long he had.
In the opinion of Charlie Manuel, however, the one who actually makes these decisions, Lidge still has a while longer.
It isn't the popular way to go, particularly after Myers' second appearance back from the disabled list produced another scoreless inning yesterday, but it is the right way to go. Brad Lidge will remain the closer because he is still the best option for that role.
That could change, but it hasn't changed yet. If Myers has another two or three strong outings - he got away with line-drive outs in his first game back - then perhaps Manuel will give more consideration to that option. If Lidge has a few more stinkers, that will speed the process, too.
But as bad as it was Saturday when Lidge gave up two hits and two walks in blowing a one-run, ninth-inning lead, that failing is being magnified by the whole team's difficulties lately.
The Phillies, after being swept in Houston, have lost eight of their last 13 games. For the most part, it is because they have gone into a scoring slump, producing just 31 runs in those 13 games. They scored 10 runs in four games at Minute Maid Park against a pitching staff that has been giving up just under 4.5 earned runs per game.
Does that make it any better that Lidge blew the save? No, but he and the other starters and relievers are operating with very little cushion. One mistake, one bad inning - such as the one suffered by Chan Ho Park yesterday - and a game disappears. It is no excuse, but if the pitchers grip the ball a bit tighter, that is human nature.
There's no denying this hasn't been the Brad Lidge of 2008, however. Those games were tight, too, and the pennant race wasn't over as quickly as this one appears to be. But Lidge has had his moments, too. Since coming back from the disabled list at the end of June, he has converted 15 of 19 save opportunities. He racked up eight straight saves from June 28 to Aug. 6, and had converted six of his previous seven chances before Saturday's game blew up on him.
It is likely that his right knee, the one that helps drive him toward the plate, is still not 100 percent. Pitching coach Rich Dubee says that when Lidge is out of kilter, he literally falls off the first-base side of the mound as he delivers. Whatever the reason, Lidge has been unable to fool batters with his slider and they wait patiently for his fastball.
A year ago, Lidge struck out just about 12 batters for every nine innings pitched. This season, it is more like 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings, and his inconsistency with the slider is the reason.
Despite those unsettling numbers, and perhaps because of them, Lidge is still the best option for Manuel. The numbers to this point make no sense and if you judge the pitcher's velocity and his history, the right move is to stick with him.
Luckily for Lidge, nine of his 10 blown saves have been on the road, and he hasn't lost an opportunity at home since April 18, the game that broke his lengthy streak. Looking at that record, you would figure the Phils' home and road results would be reversed, but they are still 14 games over .500 on the road and just five games over .500 at home.
Like many things, that makes no sense, either. In baseball, the best thing to do is shrug and wait for them to even out.
The time for waiting is getting short, however, and Lidge doesn't have much leeway if things continue as they are. But the time to change hasn't arrived yet. Not just yet. Ignore the drumbeats just a while longer if you can.
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