Watching the Phillies With Lidge on the Mound is Like Banging My Head Into a Needle-Covered Wall . . . Very Forcefully

I’ll update.

I wonder if there’s some way to take the baserunner situation at the time the game is over and use normal runner/out outcome charts to figure out what his ERA “should” be without the “gift” he’s getting by ending the games early.

With no close games!

Not that it makes any sense, but I still hear some “who is the better option? Madson wasn’t much better in his chances” and “Lidge is the only one with a closer’s mentality” arguments. Its honestly more frustrating to me to know that Charlie is not alone.

In another vein: can you imagine being a player on this team? It must be the epitome of frustration to watch your manager put your team in a position to lose time and time again after the other 24 guys have all done enough to get so close to winning. I wonder how the pitchers in the pen have grown to dread that call in the 8th… Oi.

Yeah, I think nail-covered wall would be more logical.

It’s way past tums my man. Way past that.

But that doesn’t win games.

I’d still switch it up now because (1) homefield might have some very small benefit for us, which is better than nothing, and (2) even if a miracle occurred, it would happen over such a small number of games that it would be unreliable. But I agree that using him now isn’t unreasonable.

Those who are getting outraged are assuming that Charlie will continue to use Lidge as the closer in the postseason, come hell or high water. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t, but that’s an exercise in mindreading.

And if he pitches right now – charlie hasn’t ‘tested’ anyone else out at closer.

People who keep saying it doesn’t matter if he pitches right now are short sighted in my opinion – if charlie continues to run him out there in closer situations now he will do so in the playoffs now – he’s not SUDDENLY going to switch to a different closer come playoff time – if lidge continues to pitch (and most likely suck) for the rest of the regular season he’ll most likely pitch (and suck) in the playoffs as well…there is no K-Rod on the horizon like the angels had (nor do i think charlie would trust a guy untested come playoff time either)

The reason why right now matters is that the sooner we clinch, the sooner guys can get rest, the rotation can be ordered as needed, etc. I’d rather that happen sooner than later.

Here’s a thought that I don’t think has been mentioned. Let Lidge be a set-up man/closer in the ninth inning until someone gets on base, then put in Walker or Madson or Happ (in the playoffs). Lidge can get people out, he just can’t seem to get three outs before getting into trouble. So in the game vs. Florida, he gives up a double and you put in Walker. Or you say, okay, see if he can get the next guy and you keep him in until he walks Ramirez, then you pull him; but at least he held the lead and got two outs. Maybe someone else can come in and get one out. Do that a few times and Lidge might actually help get through some tough ninth innings without feeling as if he’s totally responsible for losing the game if they can’t hold the lead. It’s probably been decades, but I seem to remember a time when ninth innings were often looked at as a time when multiple pitchers would be used to close out a close game. Might be time for the Phillies to bring back that concept.

I know my limits. My co-bloggers are much better at these colorful expressions than I am, so I usually try to stay away, but I couldn’t resist here since this is so painful.

Check out the second video on this site. Even though the nails are sharp, when there are many of them close together, the pressure is distributed over a wider area, so they don’t puncture the skin.

Incidentally, Paul Hewitt (the bearded guy) is the man who wrote the physics textbook (Conceptual Physics) I used in high school, and my high school physics teacher, Marshall Ellenstein, was one of his good friends. Mr. Ellenstein would also walk barefoot on broken glass!

Mr. Ellenstein, Hewitt, and some other guy:

You can’t see it in the photo, but Mr. Ellenstein had really wild curly hair.

Afraid, or just can’t? Perhaps due to a lingering injury to which we are not privy.

At this point, I’m much more concerned with getting him far away from situations that matter than I am in figuring out what’s wrong. That was something the team should have done earlier in the season. Late September is not a good time for that.

His ‘stuff’ looks the same, same bite on the slider, same power pitches, he just isnt locating.

Look at the two pitches which blew the save and lost the game last night – hanging sliders / fastballs over the middle of the plate. Of course the Marlins are going to hit those. Hell, I would hit those. (Not very far, but I’d make contact.)

Last year everything was down or on the corners. His killer pitches last year were the slider in the dirt and the one which one the World Series – looks like a fastball on the outside corner of the strike zone, then dies at the last second. Dude swings and misses. Struck ’eeem ouuuut.

I haven’t seen that pitch nearly as much this year, because he’s been missing with it. I guess the “strike” which was called for Out #2 last night was that pitch, but it wasn’t as sharp as it used to be for sure. He tried to do it on the inside corner with Ramirez and missed by a good deal. We all know what happened after that.

His head’s not right. He never used to look like someone just smacked him on the head with a frying pan, but he does all of the time now. He is stunned out there. It isn’t the look of someone who knows how to get three outs in rapid succession.

I’ll admit that I want us to make the playoffs almost to save face. We’re not going to be blowing teams out of the water if / when we get there. We’ll have good starting pitching, but so will the other playoff teams. Combine that with the shaky back-end of our bullpen and now you’ve got worry.

He went so far as to almost indirectly suggest that Lidge be left off of the postseason roster, an area where I would think he would have significant input, no? That’s not entirely up to Charlie, is it?