The Slide Piece
Brad Lidge throws one of the nastiest sliders in baseball.
The Slide Piece
Todd Zolecki
Brad Lidge has one of the best sliders in baseball today.
Jim Salisbury takes a look at how Lidge throws it, and why it's so effective:
Lidge's "out pitch" slider breaks so unusually that some folks don't know what it is. Jamie Moyer said it looks like an "accelerated curveball." Former major leaguer Fernando Vina, an analyst on ESPN's Baseball Tonight, routinely calls it a splitter. A splitter will break downward, but it does so with more of a tumbling effect. Lidge's slider breaks down with a more intense bite.
A longtime NL scout who didn't want to be named said Lidge has the best slider he's seen this season.
But even the scout wasn't sure it was a slider when he first started seeing it.
"If you walked into a park, you'd say, 'Oh, he's throwing a split,' " the scout said. "For years I thought he was. But it's a slider. And it's a great one. He's throwing it for strikes. Last year, he wasn't. That, along with his fastball coming back, have been the key for him."
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This isn't exactly how they planned it, but the Phillies will take yesterday's 10-9 victory over the Braves.
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Bob Ford tells us that yesterday was a good time to remember how good Cole Hamels has been this season. He also makes this observation about Jimmy Rollins:
"And the team needs to get Jimmy Rollins' situation settled.
"Rollins blew off reporters again yesterday. ("What a game. That's my quote," he said as he left the locker room.) But that's the least of it. Since being benched for getting to Shea Stadium late on Thursday, Rollins has made a point of showing up just in time to beat the manager's arrival deadline, and he affects a body language that indicates he doesn't much care what anyone thinks of it. If his teammates aren't tired of the act, you can be sure the front office is. It doesn't take much to mess up the mechanism of a baseball team. Rollins could do it all by himself.
"That is a combustion for another day, however. The Phillies are letting it simmer now and hoping the heat dissipates. Good luck."
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In the Phillies Notebook: Greg Dobbs tied the franchise record with 20 pinch-hits in a season. Doc Miller also had 20 pinch-hits in 1913.
could not get logged in on ramirez comments. GIVE ME A BREAK! RAMIREZ IS A LOSER! OVERPAID , UNDERPERFORMING.. yOUSE PHILLY FANS WHO WANT HIM HAVE BEEN DRINKING TOO MUCH BEER. HE IS POISON. HIS SALARY IS OVERWHELMING. I WOULD NEVER TRADE ANY OF OUR GUYS FOR THIS 'STAR'
PS....I've been saying for 6 weeks now that Utley was hurt/hiding an injury (most likely from diving to snare all the line drives given up by Eaton and Myers)......and that's why his hitting has dropped off so much.....PG confirms it tonight and admits it's hurt his hitting.....— Mark1npt- PS....I've been saying for 6 weeks now that Utley was hurt/hiding an injury (most likely from diving to snare all the line drives given up by Eaton and Myers)......and that's why his hitting has dropped off so much.....PG confirms it tonight and admits it's hurt his hitting.....— Mark1npt
- One question.......Knowing that Chase has been playing with a sore hip....WHY THE HECK DID STEVE SMITH WAVE HIM HOME FROM 1ST??? A sore hip is not only going to affect a players hitting, it will affect his running, too. DUH! Plus, Chase barreled into McCann on the play. More damage? Is the DL far behind?— Norma
- CHASE UTLEY'S last 72 gms, close to half a season.--.253 with 12 homers and 45 RBI.--Very Avg.— Truth
- Truth, his hip is probably more than a little sore, he may have torn cartilage in it which makes it hard to pivot with all your weight loaded on it....he is very avg when injured significantly, any star player would be reduced to average. It also tells me that it's something more than what a few days off at the all star break would have helped. He's going to play out the string for the team and put up avg stuff til he can get it taken care of after the season, same as we've seen in Jroll all season too......— Mark1npt
- Yes Norma, I did. These Sunday games have been an adventure with rain delays this season. But it was a great game after the delay. Have fun at the Phestival tonight. Two bonehead plays from yesterday, Smith waving in Utley and Werth trying to catch a ball clearly in front of him. And I'm with KMG on Eaton, this guy has got oe be put on ice, worth $5 to me.— jimmymack
- Anybody think we might have a deal in the works? Paul Hagen reports that J. A. Happ was removed from his start yesterday after only 2 2/3 innings and he was getting high fives in the dugout. It looks like he's coming back up, but who is he replacing? Maybe the Phils are just going to put someone on the DL. Anyway, we'll find out soon. Here's the link to the article: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20080728_Phillies_Notebook__If_Happ_is_back__who_will_be_gone_.html— bski
- It seems like from what I've read Eaton will suddenly develop a mysterious ailment and be put on the DL and Happ will make his return to the majors. Sounds like a positive move. Great wins over the weekend---I hope this really the start of a winning streak for our Fightin' Phils. Jimmymack & Norma thanks for bring some positive energy to the team!— KarenA
- Trade Rollins now if we can! Send Myers packing too and get Eaton to carry their bags. Chase hurt is not good!!! This team soooooo needs a LEADER!!!!!!— mondonj
- Don't know if I could qualify the wins this weekend as great.....we can't survive for any length of time winning 10-9, 12-10.....that is not playoff caliber baseball....good pitching always trumps us 2-0, 4-1, etc.....not to be a downer but that braintrust of ours better be working on something.— Mark1npt
- Don't know if I could qualify the wins this weekend as great.....we can't survive for any length of time winning 10-9, 12-10.....that is not playoff caliber baseball....good pitching always trumps us 2-0, 4-1, etc.....not to be a downer but that braintrust of ours better be working on something.— Mark1npt
- I hope Gillick doesn't think bringing up Happ to replace Eaton solves our problems. We still need, at mimimum, another lefty in the pen, a right handed bat and a quality starter (yeah I know, sounds easier than it is to get them). C'mon Pat, go for it, make your last year a memorable one for the team and the fans.— jimmymack
- It was great to see us put up double digit runs in back to back games. I think it's the last time we did it was against Colorado, right? We scored 15 and then 20 runs on consecutive days. Anyway, Jimmymack...on Saturday I happened to catch a little of Pat Gillick on the radio taking phone calls prior to the game. He very clearly stated that he is aware that we need another lefty reliever. He also addressed the Marson situation by saying it would be unfair to bring him up at this point in the season because neither he nor the pitchers are familiar with each other.— bski
- JRoll will be gone by the deadline. He is emulating Manny and that is absolute poison.— mick314
