brad lidge, eleven games, etc.
okay so i said i didn’t want to talk about it, but i can’t NOT talk about this brad lidge thing. i am trying my hardest to not lose faith in the guy, but eleven blown saves? i understand that you can’t repeat perfection twice. I GET IT. he went 48-for-48 last season and it was incredible. it’s never going to happen again. just like cole probably won’t have another season like last year’s. i really do get it. but it’s like… i don’t even know. where the hell did the brad lidge from last year go? if it’s an injury, okay. that explains some of it. but it’s not an injury. and you know the guy’s frustrated, he’s upset, he’s probably feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders right now. that obviously isn’t good for his mindset. but every blown save is just going to make it worse. and i thought charlie said they were only going to use him for non-save situations, just so it’d be less stress for him? i don’t think they’ve sent him out in low-stress situations since charlie said that. he’s our closer, i know his job is to go out there and win the games for us. but it’s not happening. and who do we have as a backup? madson wasn’t that good as a closer when he stepped up for brad. park’s injured, bretty’s injured. the other guys are relief guys, are setup guys. our starters have been awesome lately, but we can’t expect them to go 8 or 9 innings in every game, especially not going into the postseason!
i love lidge. i’m frustrated as hell over the blown saves and it’s disappointing, but i’d really just like to know what’s wrong with him. and, whatever it is, i want it to be better and not an issue. we’ve all seen what he can do and how good he can be. something just has to change, and soon.
i don’t know. i love the phillies. no matter what happens, i’m going to stand by them and root for them. brad lidge included. we’ve only got eleven games left to play, and milwaukee isn’t going to just be a breeze for us. we need to step it up, we need to play hard. we need to play better. during game 1 yesterday, we were scoring runs on small ball plays. we need to do that more, we can’t just rely on home runs – and we can’t rely on one person to win games for us, like our starters or like ryho. the boys just need to get hungry for it again, they need to kick some ass, because there is absolutely no reason whatsoever we can’t make it into the postseason.
eleven games left. magic number is five. let’s do this, boys.
As unfortunate as Lidge’s record is this season, I don’t find it very surprising. I remember having a heart attack every time he came out last year, because he would walk a couple players or he would come really close to blowing the save. It’s not like he would step up and throw three K’s to close every game.
I think part of what’s happening now is his average is coming back to bite him in the ass. Sure, he’s lost confidence, and he’s simply not performing, but I think he can get his groove back.
I remember that, too. But that was part of the fun. You’d start to panic, and then he’d strike the last batter out and get the save. This season, it’s just tough. The butterflies in your stomach are more like rocks this time around. It’s hard to watch.
I don’t doubt that Lidge has what it takes. He didn’t have a great record with the Astros, and then we acquired him, and he had the perfect season. He can do it. He just needs to get his head together, his command back, and his confidence back. I just hope it happens much sooner rather than later.