Lidge: One bad outing or a red flag?
More than once while in Florida, various Phillies personnel joked before games by asking me what I was writing. "Boring these days, huh?" one said.
Lidge: One bad outing or a red flag?
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
More than once while in Florida, various Phillies personnel joked before games by asking me what I was writing. "Boring these days, huh?" one said.
For the Phillies, that means full steam ahead. Consistent winning without issues or controversy. Few times this season have we been able to say that.
So it is with that where I begin to try to find something for people to concern themselves with. (That's my duty, right?) We'll start here: Brad Lidge. It was but one outing Wednesday -- 23 pitches in a complicated season for the Phillies' closer.
But it was such a terrible performance that it begs a closer look.
"He didn't have very much," Charlie Manuel said following Wednesday's 10-5 win. "He'd probably be the first one to tell you that."
Another caveat: I was never able to speak to Lidge after Tuesday or Wednesday's games. Tight deadlines for the dead tree edition of The Inquirer prohibited me from spending a great deal of time in the clubhouse.
On Tuesday, Lidge was sharp despite not having appeared in a game for eight days. Originally, soreness in his right elbow stopped Lidge from pitching in two games, but he proclaimed himself ready Sept. 10. But the Phillies didn't need him until the 14th.
His slider was sharp. He threw it nine times and it was a strike six of them. He threw his fastball for strikes, too, and closed out a one-run game with a 16-pitch ninth inning.
Then came Wednesday. The Phillies had a big lead, but Manuel wanted to use his closer on back-to-back days.
"When we got there, I wanted to use him," Manuel said. "He had pitched the night before and we have an off day tomorrow. We wanted him to throw some. We wanted to try and keep him sharp."
Manuel won't say it, but his motivations could have gone beyond keeping Lidge sharp. The manager probably wanted to see what Lidge can actually give his team right now.
There are differences in being healthy. A pitcher can be healthy enough to throw a ball. And a pitcher can be healthy enough to actually pitch.
In the last week, Lidge has steadfastly maintained he is healthy. No problems. The soreness is gone and so long as he doesn't try to overthrow another pitch, it shouldn't return.
And by no means am I saying Lidge is lying. Again, we're talking about one bad outing here.
But there were quite a few red flags. Lidge couldn't throw strikes. There were a few close calls, as Manuel duly noted, but there were a lot that weren't close. Lidge threw 11 fastballs on Wednesday and just two of them were strikes.
From Aug. 1 to Sept. 6, Lidge was at his best (a 0.55 ERA) because he was throwing strikes. In 16 1/3 innings, he had walked just three (against 18 strikeouts). He walked three Wednesday night while facing just five batters.
This season, Lidge's stuff isn't as good as it used to be. We've known this. His margin for error is tighter and limiting his walks is paramount to the closer's success right now.
And not only was he not throwing strikes, but his velocity was way down -- even from Tuesday. Compare:
FASTBALL (Season AVG: 91.8 mph)
Tuesday
AVG: 91.07; MAX: 92.5
Wednesday
AVG: 90.28; MAX: 91.3
SLIDER (Season AVG: 83.7 mph)
Tuesday
AVG: 82.04; MAX: 83
Wednesday
AVG: 81.15; MAX: 82
Yes, Lidge's velocity is down as a whole this season and on both days he underperformed the season averages. But Wednesday's numbers were even worse.
Again, it was one outing. But this is no doubt a situation that bears a close eye.
After issuing his third walk of the inning Wednesday -- this time allowing a run to score -- Manuel decided not to let Lidge finish the inning even with a five-run lead.
"I figured he had thrown enough," Manuel said. "He'll be all right."
I do not have the nerves of steel necessary to watch Lidge in the 9th inning - no matter what the score.— franb213
So... now do we get the article about Lidge being back to 2008 form after mowing down the Gnats Saturday night? The key thing is not to overreact, people.— Doctor D- MATT GELB.... diot. Tonight Brad Lidge threw 8 pitches for 3 outs. His Velocity was 92 mph at times. BL was tired and had ONE bad outing last week.— wxdavid
Don't think Gelb is an diot or idiot. There WAS cause for concern and may still be. But last night was a hopeful sign that the other night was just an anomaly to the more recent effective Lidge. Still, don't trust he will come close to the constancy of '08. Would love to be proven wrong!- Glad this is still out there. YOU'RE DOPES PHILLIE FANS!!! and this is a dumb article!!!
Brad Lidge pitched a perfect ninth for his 23rd save in 28 chances.
— Phillyexp - For the true Philly boo boo birdies, a win is a red flag--IDIOT— BEMiller
- Agree with above comments, he never plays well under non save situations, and he really shouldn't have been in there. I understand he needed some work, but IMO there were other guys with that big of a lead I would have put in. He is of no concern for me...— phigglesfan75
- Not at all, Lidge is not the only concern in the trash pen though. They seem to take turns on who can be the worst.— eaglesman1
- Even when he was going great in past years, he was not good in non-save situations. He should not have been put into that game, unless Charlie just wanted to knock some rust off, but it means nothing.— Steve2181
- The Phills Achilles heel is their bullpen. Madson has been great last 10 weeks Contreas has been good Durbin steady. Lidge has pitched mostly good but his decrease in velocity and spotty control is a concern. Brad played a big a part as anybody in world series win but now worrisome,— Don w
