Posted: Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 5:07 PM | 14 comments |
 

Lidge and Ruiz, lineup
options
 

 

Here is the first new news of the day of Brad Lidge and Carlos Ruiz:

General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said that Lidge is not headed to the disabled list, at least not yet. “We’re not thinking DL yet,” Amaro said of his closer. “There may be a time when we’ll have to consider it.”
 
Lidge is suffering from inflammation in his right knee and was unavailable last night (Charlie Manuel did not say definitively whether the pitcher was available tonight, but it seems unlikely). Amaro said that the closer had a cortisone shot six days ago, but the issue resurfaced during Saturday’s game Florida. That night, Lidge loaded the bases in the tenth inning before earning the save.
 
Amaro attributed Lidge’s struggles this season ( a 7.27 earned run average, with the first blown save of his Phillies career) to the injury. “Any time you have an injury, it’s going to effect performance,” Amaro said. 
 
Added Charlie Manuel: “I’m concerned.”
 
Amaro said that Ruiz (strained right oblique) felt pain during batting practice last night. “He’s feeling much better today,” the GM said. Ruiz played catch this evening at Citizens Bank Park and will hit tomorrow. No word yet on his timetable.
 
Here’s the Phils lineup tonight:
 
Rollins SS
Victorino CF
Utley 2B
Howard 1B
Werth RF
Ibanez LF
Feliz 3B
Coste C
Hamels P
 
Here’s the Nats lineup:
Belliard 2B
Johnson 1B
Zimmerman 3B
Dunn LF
Dukes CF
Kearns RF
Flores C
Gonzalez SS
 
John Lannan starts. Also scheduled to pitch: Paul McCarthy, Ringo Storr and George Morrison. I know. But I couldn’t help it.

 
Posted by Andy Martino @ 5:07 PM  Permalink | 14 comments
14
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:17 PM, 04/28/2009
    Hard to know what lies ahead for Lidge, but I for one am pretty comfortable with Madson closing in his place for a while. Up to about September of last year I could not have imagined saying that, but he's transformed himself into a very tough late inning guy.
    — bobby
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:48 PM, 04/28/2009
    For me, the immediate concern is how long the Phils can afford to go with the day-to-day, wait-and-see approach regarding Lidge while keeping him on the roster. Because our starting pitching has been, let's see how I can put this delicately, less than acceptable, the bullpen has been getting a lot of work. Effectively being one man down out there only increases the workload of the other relievers. Unless the starters can give us innings consistently, beginning now, we will need to have a full complement of arms out there. Hopefully, Lidge's issue is minor, the starters will finally settle down and stop throwing BP, and it won't come to that.
    — bski
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:48 PM, 04/28/2009
    Madson is ok but he is no Lidge! Even with Lidge having trouble so far this year spotting his fastball I would still rather have him out there.
    — wstollenmaier
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:10 PM, 04/28/2009
    That is why we await Romero back. The other two lefties have ERA's like Double A guys.
    — KGKoons
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:11 PM, 04/28/2009
    Interesting that they have positioned Happ as the setup man...big vote of confidence!
    — JBP
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:19 PM, 04/28/2009
    The only problem I see with Madson as the closer is the 8th inning.
    — Souf Phil
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:21 PM, 04/28/2009
    I agree, Bobby. Madson can do it. Lidge is not going to have a repeat year. Last year was incredible. He's very good, but a knee injury for a pitcher is not good. But we'll make do.
    — Baci
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:30 PM, 04/28/2009
    Why has there not been an article or anything written about the fact that Moyer is at career win 249, and can get number 250 this Saturday against the Mets?
    — Skwimua
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:33 PM, 04/28/2009
    Didn't Lannan play rhythm for the Rutles?
    — spinmeister
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:26 PM, 04/28/2009
    Elbow. Shoulder. Ankle. Fragile.
    — spinmeister
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:38 PM, 04/28/2009
    Can't believe it. Cole takes a liner in the shoulder last week. Now he twists his ankle on a dribbling bunt. What's next? A spiked big toe leading to a lost toenail? He needs a witch doctor to break the hex.
    — CenterCityPhan
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:23 PM, 04/29/2009
    Who's Paul McCarthy?
    — James TL
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:25 PM, 04/29/2009
    Elbow....normal spring soreness. Shoulder....could have been a lot worse. Ankle... bad luck.
    — James TL


14 comments
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