BY SCOTT LAUBERSo, I appeared on a radio show this afternoon on WIP and was asked if the Phillies would consider pulling Brad Lidge from the closer spot, especially after J.C. Romero returns from his 50-game suspension next week. My answer: "Absolutely not."
Turns out, Charlie Manuel had the same answer.
"I want Lidge to feel like we've got all the confidence in the world in him because I do," Manuel said about an hour ago in the Phillies' dugout. "People are going to voice opinions and all that and say, 'Sit him' and all this stuff. What's sitting going to do for him? Sooner or later, he's got to get back out there and pitch and get somebody out. What's going to be good for him is when he goes out and throws a good inning. He does that a couple days in a row, and then, I think you'll see a huge difference. Once he gets his command, he'll be off to the races. Sitting is just kind of prolonging it. That's how I'd look at it if I was a player. If I say to him, 'After the last two days, I'm going to give you a break or slide you into the seventh inning,' how would you feel? I'd say, 'Chuck don't like me too good.' Believe me, that's how I look at it.
"I think his stuff is there, and I think it's just a matter of him making more quality pitches and cutting down on his walks. That's what I think. His stuff will play out over 162 games. That's what makes him a good closer. Will he blow some games? Sure. He had a perfect year last year. He wasn't going to top that. He had to have some letdown this season. And that's baseball."
Asked if he would consider using setup man Ryan Madson as the closer until Lidge gets his stuff together, Manuel said, "No. That's worse. What kind of message is that? That's really worse. That's what Houston did. They used to slide him in the sixth and seventh. What good did that do?"
The answer: It didn't do any good. In 2007, Lidge allowed six runs (three earned) and blew one save in his first two appearances and was removed from the closer role. If anything, then-Astros manager Phil Garner shook Lidge's confidence, and it took a trade to the Phillies after the '07 season for him to regain it.
More on Lidge in tomorrow's News Journal.
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Tonight's lineup against Marlins RHP Chris Volstad (3-3, 3.64):
SS Jimmy Rollins
2B Chase Utley
LF Raul Ibanez
1B Ryan Howard
RF Jayson Werth
CF Shane Victorino
3B Pedro Feliz
C Carlos Ruiz
LHP Jamie Moyer
1 comment:
My first time on your blog. Good stuff.
We may think Cholly is dumb and is a horrible strategerist (I made up that word), but, he's a great people person. He deftly is managing what's inside Lidge's head. He must be doing this to all the guys because this Phillies team has the "mind" of a champion. Sportswriters will often say a team has "heart", but this one has a mindset that will not let them give up or get down after a loss. As a fan, we may not know it, but Cholly must be partially responsible for the way this team thinks.
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