Lidge: One bad outing or a red flag?
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Lidge: One bad outing or a red flag?
Matt Gelb
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."
major red flag -> his facial expressions displayed SHEER HORROR, FEAR...."I DONT WANT TO BE OUT HERE!!!!"— zen- ONE BAD OUTING? Where have you been? What about the game last week where Lidge hit a batter, then intentionally walked the next guy (while throwing one of the "intentional balls" OVER THE PLATE, then balked in a run? Lidge is a disaster waiting to happen. If he can get 3-up and 3-down then he's ok, but as soon as he allows a baserunner, he gets squeamish and all hell breaks loose. Charlie might as well remove him after the first batter reaches base, and give the Phillies a better than 50-50 chance to come away with the win.— jman
- wxdavid: Lidge's performance has nothing to do with the size of the lead he inherits. If he can keep guys off base, he is fine. Once there are baserunners, Lidge invariably wets the bed and the Phillies either lose, or they must rely on extra-inning heroics to win. How many times can this team go to the well to bail out this 9th-inning handicap?— jman
- Joe WS, your statement is ridiculous: "Tons of closers who are brought in with blow outs always do awful. Its a different mentality and the game doesn't matter as much." ... The game doesn't MATTER as much? Isn't the objective still to win? Dolt!— jman
Comment removed.- I'm waiting for someone to find a closer with a 0.00 ERA. Until then, I'll gladly take one bad outing with a 6 run lead over a bad outing with a 1 run lead.— rounddollar
- "dead tree edition" - what a great expression. Please, tell me where you heard that first, unless you coined it. With today's state of the art and journalism, that is nearly a perfect way to refer to two different deadlines. Kudos, tip of the hat...— RichieAllen64
- Someone mentioned Wild Thing. Can anyone out there tell me where I can see video of Wild Thing coming into a game with the stands rocking and the music going? The 1993 Philles' video has nothing. I wonder if it's a political thing where they are trying to forget Wild Thing ever happened. There just seems to be no fottage. I didn't find any on YouTube. If there is please post the link.— RichieAllen64
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great comments, RichieAllen! I, too, loved the "dead tree" line and wholeheartedly agree that closers should not pitch in games with comfortable leads. I've been following Phillies since black and white tv's had tubes that you had to test and buy at stores (before Radio Shack, even) and it has always been an unwritten rule that you don't use closers in these kind of games. I know it doesn't make logical sense, but we're not talking about computers here, these are fallible humans with strengths and weaknesses. Managing is about more than a line-up card; a bullpen session with a radar gun, as suggested earlier, would have been a better option. Get Baez some work-if he get's hot right now, what a big help. Sports are about who is hot right now, not what they did earlier this season. - I have to say this once again, if Lidge doesn't throw anything but his 2 sliders he will take a whipping. Like Hamels you can't get away with 2 pitches in the majors. This is another case where Dubee should have been on top of things and worked in the circle change and maybe a cutter. Throwing those sliders pitch after pitch is the reason for the elbow damage and he will get hit in the playoffs. Lets hope Contraras and Madson are up to the task.— Wally 24
- If the Phillies win the Series and Lidge makes a significant contribution in it (the only fair criteris with which to judge him because that winning the WS is what it's all about), then Amaro may be able to keep him as the closer and fill in the rest of the very questionable bullpen in the off-season. Otherwise, Lidge should be history and Amaro is going to have to earn his pay. Personally, I hope all the playoffs are not close games and Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels can go 7-8 innings. If it's only a 1 to 3 run lead, we're going to be in trouble.— 1republican
- They're just not as smart as you Richie - don't spend as much time as you do watching the players or charting their performance. Haven't seen as many games, situations and pitchers as you have either. Oh well - gotta make do, I guess. Hope they win 17 in September again like the last few years...they really are lost in September, y'know?— Ed3
- A closer loses his edge in a no close situation.
- Lidge will need to close games on consecutive nights in the playoffs. Wednesday's performance makes one wonder if he physically can. And if not, then what?— cowpoke
- Wait a minute.....it wasn`t a close game, it wasn`t a save situation you don`t put a closer in a blow-out, well maybe not BUT, Everytime he steps on the field he should be trying 100% His attitude sucks. Hopefully he`s gone by next season.(along w/ Blanton,madson,Kendrick) Now let`s hope Kendrick can go at least 5/6 with-out too much damage tonight— huck tooey
