( Michael S. Wirtz / Staff Photographer ). 9/12/09. EDITORS NOTE: PHILS13. Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Mets. Citizens Bank Park.
- Phillies fall to Marlins
- Lidge, Moyer deserve our patience
- Joe Blanton works on his mechanics
- What's wrong with Lidge?
- Brewers win duel of hurlers
- Is this a new Mets team?
- A-Rod powers Yankees over Texas
- Welcome back, A-Rod
- Reading's Savery stymies Altoona
- Andy Martino: The Phillies Zone
- 11 a.m. Tuesday: Chat Phillies with Andy Martino
- Photos: The 2009 Phillies
- More on the Phillies
- Buy Phillies jerseys, playoff t-shirts, hats, and more
- Purchase Phillies playoff photos & reprints
- Photos: 2009 Phillies
- Relive the memories: Coverage of the World Series run
RELATED STORIES
Phil Sheridan
Lidge, Moyer deserve our patience
If the Phillies have a one-run lead against the Florida Marlins tonight, Brad Lidge will be the guy running out to pitch the ninth inning. And he should be.
When the Phillies host the Washington Nationals Sunday afternoon, Jamie Moyer will be on the mound trying once again for his 250th career win. And he should be.
It's a little early and a lot unseemly to turn on last year's heroes. Win a championship and we walk together forever. Or at least until the first bumpy patch.
Let's be clear. Charlie Manuel shouldn't stick with his closer and his 46-year-old starter because they were key players in the franchise's first championship in 28 years. He should do so because sticking with his players was one of the main reasons the Phillies won it all last year.
If 2008 didn't teach us to have some perspective, to ride out the occasional rough patch, then nothing will.
After 43 games last season, the Phillies had exactly the same record (24-19) as they have today. That doesn't mean the next five months will automatically be as wonderful as 2008, but it is reasonable to have at least a little faith in the judgment of the manager whose hand was on the rudder for that fabulous ride.
You don't manage a major-league team as if it were playing 162 Game 7s. You manage games, people, situations with an eye on the full season. Manuel hears the rumblings that he should make changes, and he ponders the same moves we all do.
Then he does what he thinks is best. In the case of Lidge, that means doing nothing at all. Not now.
"I want Lidge to feel that we have all the confidence in the world in him, because we do," Manuel said before last night's game.
"People are going to voice opinions and say sit him. What's sitting going to do for him? Sooner or later, he's going to have to go out there and pitch and get somebody out. . . . He does that a couple days in a row, it's going to be a huge difference."
The experts in the media or watching on TV or firing off nasty comments to message boards don't have to look Lidge in the eye. And they don't have to take responsibility if mishandling Lidge blows up and Ryan Madson, or whoever, can't handle the closer role.
Manuel puts a lot of stock in showing support for his players, and that support has been rewarded often enough to trust him here. This is when that support means the most.
"If my manager comes up to me and says, 'Look, you failed the last two days, I'm going to give you a break and let you sit the next three or four or five days - or I'm going to slide you back in the seventh inning,' how would you feel?" Manuel said.
"You guys ask me if I worry about guys' confidence. I think about treating him right. I think he deserves a chance to work it."
Lidge has blown four saves this season, including two in a row at Yankee Stadium over the weekend. There is cause for concern here, but not panic.
"The stuff is still there," Manuel said. "If he was throwing 86, 88 [miles per hour], and I didn't see good sliders, we'd be talking different. But the talent's still there, the stuff's still there, and that will, over the long haul, get people out. . . . His stuff will play out over 162 games. That's what makes him a good closer. Will he blow some games?
"He had a perfect year last year. He wasn't going to top that. He had to have some letdowns this season. That's baseball."
It is also baseball when players' ages catch up to them. As long as he continues to pitch, that will be a concern when Moyer isn't at his best. The problem is gauging whether he's lost something he can't get back or he's just in a down period.
"He hasn't been in this game 20 years and not had a bad month," Ryan Howard said. "Nobody in here is talking about his age."
The Phillies scored a total of six runs in Moyer's last three starts. The offense simply isn't doing him any favors. His biggest mistake of the game wasn't the home-run ball to Wes Helms, it was the two walks that preceded it.
"I had good command except for two batters," Moyer said. "The final result's not there."
Moyer won more games last year than Cole Hamels. Lidge converted every save opportunity. Oh, and they helped the Phillies win the World Series.
That doesn't buy them or anyone a free pass for life - not on the field, anyway. But it ought to buy them more than a couple of rough nights.
Contact columnist Phil Sheridan at 215-854-2844 or psheridan@phillynews.com.
Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/philsheridan.
