Lucky Lidge? Not on this night
Lucky Lidge? Not on this night
Sam Donnellon, Daily News Sports Columnist
There is this understandable review of Brad Lidge’s Game 3 save as more luck than design.
I saw it differently.
Lidge pitched to the situation, maybe as well as he has done all season, maybe better. He got struggling Brad Hawpe on two pitches. He never gave in to the red-hot Carlo Gonzalez, finally walking him after the Rockies leadoff hitter – who has eight hits in 13 at-bats so far -- just got some timber on a couple of nasty sliders.
He surprised Jason Giambi with a 1-1 cutter, a pitch he said he had kept in his back pocket all year, and induced a pop-up to third. Two outs. Aware of his numbers against lefthanded Todd Helton (.364 lifetime) and his numbers against the ensuing batter, Troy Tulowitzki (0-for-3 two strikeouts), he tried to bait Helton into bad swings before walking him on five pitches.
He then jammed Tulowitzki with a 1-0 fastball, inducing a soft fly to left to end the game.
``When I've had trouble, I've thrown just tons of sliders over and over and over,’’ said Lidge. ``And the hitters start getting onto that. We tried to mix it up a little bit tonight. We ended up getting him out with a fastball in and hopefully I'll have a chance to do something else tomorrow. But I think I'm best when I'm not too predictable out there.’’
That’s pitching. That’s what Lidge meant all September when he said things could and would change for him in October. It doesn’t mean he will succeed today or tomorrow, if necessary. It just means that what you get from him is a guy who has been under this pressure before, a guy who will go out there with a plan.
The Rockies were justifiably proud of their bullpen entering this series. It entered last night’s game having surrendered just one run in seven innings. But the Phillies nubbed out two against that pen over the last three innings last night. Pitching out of the stretch, baserunners on: That’s what relief pitching is this time of year, more than numbers.
Lidge has failed an incredible number of times this year. Nine of his 11 blown saves were protecting a one-run lead. He kept asking for the ball, for another chance. Credit him for asking. And credit Charlie Manuel for never abandoning him, the way almost every other manager would have if Lidge had floundered all season long like he did for the Phillies.
``Faith will be rewarded,’’ Bruce Springsteen croons in ``Land of Hope and Dreams.’’For this night at least, it truly was.
-30
Good analysis.— DrexelDragonFan- Like it or not, Brad Lidge will play a part in the success or failure of the 2009 Phils. Everyone might as well accept it.— phillyabe
- Charlie was rewarded for using Madson in the 7th inning 1st and 3rd no out jam, when the game was either going to be won or lost. There's far too much "by the book" use of bullpens these days, so it's good to see some thought.— Gmanonskis
- When last did we have a 1-2-3- in that order in the 9th inning?— baeboo
- Quoting Bruce Springsteen...that's lame.— Dr. Michael
- I agree completely. There was no way to go 1-2-3 with the batters due up. This was a perfect plan to get outs on the batters who can hurt you less. Trying to pitch to Gonzalez and Helton would have been dangerous. They proved they were not going to chase, so you would have to put balls in the strike zone. Not a good idea. A good performance all around by the team in a tough game and tough environment.— mikemcnhl
- That FB Tulo popped up was a meatball that should have been spanked. He wasn't "jammed," he just missed it. Still good to see Lidge challenge batters with that "not-so-scary-fastball."— PhillyPhantastico
- i'm with ya, sammy. good white knuckle outing by lidge last night.— idiotbox
- I disagree. Since when is walking the other teams hitters a good strategy? It is a recipe for disaster— 93phils
- Lidge pitched the way his manager told him to pitch. That's all that is needed to know. "A man gots to know his limitations." If we have another parade this year I hope all of you nay sayers stay home.— charladan
Comment removed.- When you get to the playoffs, your closer isn't going to throw a 1-2-3 inning, I don't care who he is, Rivera doesn't even do that. You're facing the best teams in the league... Nathan and Papelbon couldn't even hold leads. Getting out of the inning is more important than getting everyone 1-2-3— LAEagle
- i disagree also...Lidge got lucky on Tulo's out. It was grooved down the middle and Tulo got under it. If he had that pitch again it is a 3 run hr.— tl8125
- Um, turned out it was a good strategy last night! For the reasons clearly cited here. By the logic of your implication, 93phils, you'd pitch to Albert Pujols instead of a relief pitcher who was due up next, even if the opposing team's bunch was empty. Yeah, walks usually spell trouble. Usually isn't always. Gonzalez is white-hot. And Tulowitzki was a much better matchup for Lidge than Helton was. It was a risk to pitch around Helton, but a calculated risk. And properly calculated, this time.— PhilaLogic
- Lidge is clearly not the same pitcher. He faced 5 batters and got behind all of them and I only remember one swing the Rockies didn't hit the ball and that was Todd Helton who looked frozen at the plate. The Slider isn't fooling anyone right now and his fastball has no movement and he can't locate it. With all that said, our offense & D are better than anyone else and we can still win this, but stop expecting Lidge to be Brad Lidge 2008 (it aint happening)— Setdawgy
Reach Sam at donnels@phillynews.com.
