Lidge will be activated Friday
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Lidge will be activated Friday
Matt Gelb
The Phillies will activate closer Brad Lidge from the disabled list before Friday's game against the Mets, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. announced Thursday.
To make space for Lidge, lefthander Antonio Bastardo will be optioned to triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Lidge was placed on the disabled list at the end of spring training as his recovery from off-season elbow and knee surgeries had stalled.
He combined to go 0-1 with a 5.19 ERA with four walks and eight strikeouts in eight rehab appearances between Lehigh Valley, double-A Reading and single-A Clearwater. After allowing five runs over his first two rehab appearances in 1 2/3 innings, Lidge pitched seven scoreless innings over his final six appearances.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said Wednesday he wasn't sure if Lidge would be his closer immediately upon his return.
"I don’t know," Manuel said. "We’ll have to see where we’re at with that. I’ll just play it by feel. I’ll talk to him first and see where he’s at and how he feels."
In Lidge's absence, Ryan Madson has not fared well as closer. He is four of six in save opportunities and has a 7.00 ERA in nine games. Madson blew his second save of the season Wednesday against San Francisco.
Bastardo, who was used sparingly, pitched well. In seven games, he had a 1.69 ERA with five strikeouts and four walks. But he had options left, unlike Nelson Figueroa and David Herndon, two relievers the Phillies would have had to expose if removing them from the 25-man roster.
Don't the Phils know, like Bill Conlin does, that Bastardo is the next Sandy Koufax in waiting ? He scouted him exclusively.
In contrast to a previous comment, I actually think this is a very good, efficient post that has a very high ratio of relevant info to words/characters, and that is the way of the present closing in on the future. But then again, I died years ago so WTF do I know...— BySaam- Good to have those guys back! Check out http://thephilliephanatics.blogspot.com/ for great Philadelphia sport insight.— robklein23
- Lidge should be the closer immediately. That is what he is being paid for. We can then see him back up his talk. I hate to see Bastardo sent down. The next cuts will be interesting when Blanton and Happ are ready to return. Will Kendrick be sent down, will a deal be worked out with the Angels to allow Herndon to be sent down, or will high pitch Baez be given his walking papers?— dross
- The big question who goes when Big Joe comes back Mon.? I guess Cholly is going to give Romero and Herndon plenty of work this weekend. Kendrick is the only one with options.— EarlKeese
- CLIFF LEE says he feels real bad for the poor bastardo...— stan the man too
- Romero is not the answer. His pharmacist and his velocity have abandoned him.— mick314
- Bastardo has the best name for a closer, let's hope he some day earns that role.— jlmfl
But Romero is not OK pitching wise. I think that was Jim's point. (HTML deleted)- I'm not sure Romero will ever be back to his pre-injury/pre-suspecion self.— DPL
- With Romero we SHOULD be OK leftie-wise— robinlupe
- Just don't let Madson close. Use Bayez.— davekrieg
- Jim, Romero is the lefty right now. Lidge hopefully will be somewhere between '08 and '09. If that happens, then the Phils are in good shape. To get Madson back in his comfort zone as the 8th inning set-up guy, this is good. With Blanton coming back as well soon, this is even better, now we need Happ and Rollins to return and all will be nifty.— ESFjellin
- Well said Therev...This was really our only move,...— phigglesfan75
Comment removed.- so, no lefties in the pen right now? interesting..hard to imagine herndon lasting the whole season so why string it out? the fact they werent in a hurry to activate brad and not sure he'll be closer tells you something... not like you can bring in brad with a man on base either...— jim715
Dull, that's one of the dumbest posts I've ever read. And that's saying something.- I can only imagine how that conversation will go... Chollie: "Brad, where are you at? How do you feel?" Lidge: "I feeeel good, da na na na na na na"
- bastardo is the only one with options left, this makes perfect sense. Figueroa is pretty useful right now since he can start and relieve(he had a solid start for us this year). I still have some hope for Herndon. Bastardo is young so we will see him again, don't worry.— therev
- For as little as they've been using Bastardo, he'll probably be sharper if he pitches three times a week or whatever at AAA. Better this than Herndon going back via Rule 5 or Figueroa getting picked up by whoever has an injury or two.— B in DC
- I want Lidge back in the saddle, but it shouldn't be at the expense of Bastardo.— fcskills
- Romero will get his fastball back by next week and we will be in good shape!— BammBamm
- Does Charlie have to wait for Dubs and Ruben to tell him what to do?— Dull
