On Friday night, I decided to take it easy, spend the night at home eating pizza and drinking some soda, and watch the Phils in an attempt to both save some money and give my liver a little rest. It was a perfect plan for a relaxing evening, especially with Jamie Moyer pitching a truly brilliant game, highlighted by his 7th inning performance.
After giving up a leadoff double to Rafael Furcal, Moyer got Orlando Hudson and Casey Blake to ground out to third, leaving Furcal stranded at 2nd with 2 outs. Then, he should have been out of the inning when he forced James Loney to pop one up to right, but Eric Bruntlett froze like a deer in headlights, allowing the ball to drop and Furcal to score. I know it sounds odd to be incredibly impressed by Moyer in an inning where he gave up a run, but it was really awesome. Forcing two straight groundouts to third after giving up a leadoff double was awesome, and he did his job. It's not his fault Eric Bruntlett continues to suck at baseball.
The truly sad part about that horrible play by Bruntlett is that it did end up costing the Phils. Although I don't entirely blame the bearded one. Jamie Moyer pitched brilliantly, and the Phils got the game to their closer with a lead in the ninth.
Things started out all well and good for Lidge. He struck out Furcal to start the inning and got Hudson to ground out weakly right back to him. That's when the wheels came off. Lidge jumped out in front of Casey Blake 1-2, but couldn't put him away, as Blaked singled to extend the game. Then, after getting ahead of Loney 1-2, he fucking walked him. And then, he jumped out ahead of Russell Martin 1-2, this time actually forcing a grounder, but somehow, the usually sure-handed Pedro Feliz booted the ball. Safe all-around.
The next batter, Andre Ethier, ended the game with a walkoff double. Gay.
Yes, the error was huge. Lidge could have been out of the inning. Should have been out of the inning. But he still let two guys get away from him before that when he was ahead 1-2 in the count. And he still had a chance to get the save if he could have gotten Ethier out. But he didn't get the job done. Again. For the millionth time this season.
Then he did it again on Saturday, giving up a home run to Furcal to blow the save, with the Phils losing in extra innings. Thank God I didn't have to see that one, as I was at the Roots Picnic/passing out at the time.
Mercifully, the Phils built a 5-run lead last night, meaning no Lidge sighting, and the Phils won easily 7-2 as Ryan Madson threw flames to close out the Dodgers. The magnificent Bastardo picked up his 2nd win in as many starts, and Chan Ho held down the fort, giving the Phils a 2-2 series split with the Dodgers.
It should have been a four-game sweep. The Phils should be on a 10-game winning streak. And the Mets should be buried. But Brad Lidge sucks, so instead of being a solid 8 or 9 games up on the Muts, the Phils are only 3 games up.
Look at the team. It's due to Brad Lidge. The numbers don't lie: 0 wins, 3 losses, 7.27 ERA, 6 blown saves in 19 chances, 33 hits, 23 runs, 21 earned runs, 28 strikeouts, 14 walks, 7 home runs in 26 innings, and a 1.81 whip. Terrible doesn't even begin to describe his performance.
How much longer can the Phils let Lidge hurt them? Yes, they are in first place. Yes, they are playing well over all. But right now, so far this season, Brad Lidge sucks. That won't get in done come October.
Oh, and Jimmy Rollins, I hope you get off your high horse and learn to embrace hitting down in the order. Because you suck as a leadoff hitter, even if that .222 average and .261 on-base percentage somehow says leadoff hitter to you. For the second time this year, you get dropped in the order and actually get a couple hits. Face the facts, Jimmy. You aren't a leadoff hitter.
That is all. Quite a bit of complaining about a team with the second-best record in baseball, huh? Just imagine if these guys weren't in first place.
Oh, and GM Carson sums up my feelings toward Lidge this year very well and has an outstanding photo essay of Friday and Saturday's games.
Personally, I was scared to death everytime Lidge came in last year with only a 1 run lead because he puts people on base. Its what he does. Especially bases on balls, even when he gets ahead. He starts throwing sliders out of the zone and all the hitter has to do is not chase. Which is still really hard to do. For some reason (his fastball), hes just getting hit this year. In his career he gives up about a BB every 2 IP. This year he gave up 14 in 26 IP. Thats about right. Except he also gave up 33 H including 7 HR. He averages about .75 hits per IP for his career. So thats way up. He averages about 1 1/3 K/IP on his career and has 28 this season which is a little low but still good. So just looking at the stats, for what its worth, hes not that far off from himself. And honestly, if hes not injured, the best way to fix it is to let him pitch through it. Last year he pitched great but he was helped out a lot by good luck and defense. This year hes pitched poorly, but hes also been the victim of bad luck and bad defense. I would say its guaranteed that he returns to form sooner or later. At least much more likely than Jimmy.
ReplyDeleteYou could just turn that into a whole post if you want lol
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think I could. But the thing that worries me more than anything is the hits part, and that is directly due to his lack of command of his fastball. Like you said, guys lay off the slider sometimes. Fine. I can live with that.
ReplyDeleteBut he can't put his fastball where he wants to ever. It's either right down the middle or nowhere near his spot. That's why he's sucking. His stuff is there. He just can't control it.