the lidge meltdown we all expected

In April, the chinks in the armor already were showing.

After his perfect year, Brad Lidge would be far from perfect. Everyone knew it. We all saw it. We didn’t want to, but we did.

When he blew his first save on April 18, the signs were already there. He had already given up two home runs, exactly the same number he had given up in all of 2008. 

Then came May, which Lidge started by working eight straight appearances giving up at least one baserunner. From May 5 to May 15, he worked six straight appearances by giving up at least one run. After his second blown save in Washington — a game the Phillies game back on won on May 15 — he had a 9.19 ERA. It would be his high for the year.

But still, we looked past the problems. Until back-to-back blown saves in New York against the Yankees on May 23 and 24, we were content to look past his obvious issues and chalk it up to WCGP — World Champion Grace Period.

After that weekend, everything changed. Phillies fans opened their eyes nice and wide and noticed Lidge for what he was — a pitcher who may or may not be hurt, who may or may not be emotionally damaged, who may or may not have become complacent after signing a multi-year extension midway through the 2008 season.

What was true for sure that the current arrangement, with Lidge anchoring the back end of the bullpen, wasn’t working.

That was Memorial Day, traditionally the one-third point of the season. That gave the Phillies two months until the trade deadline, three months until the waiver trader deadline and four months until a possible playoff appearance to figure something out.

oh, man, that's right. i'm supposed to cover third. whoops.

In that time, they could have put Lidge on the DL and let him get healthy (tried temporarily, failed). They could have tried someone else out in the role (tried temporarily, failed). They could have added another relief pitcher (they did not). Even trying other options during the year, the Charlie Manuel mantra stayed the same.

“He’s my closer.”

He being Lidge. The same guy who, without a doubt, kept the Phillies from winning 100 games. Who kept them from securing home field advantage throughout the National League playoffs. Who hadn’t looked remotely comfortable on the mound, win or lose, since last October.

There is a reason baseball is the most grueling, drawn-out sport in the world. Because after playing 162 regular season games in six months, you know exactly who your best players are and what role they fit best into on the lucky, off chance you make the postseason. 162 is the largest seasonal sample size of any sporting statistical grouping. You can fool people for a week, you can fool people for a month, you may even be able to fool people for a half.

But you cannot fool people for an entire 162 games. Brad Lidge managed to somehow fool Charlie Manuel especially over these last few weeks when he convinced not only Manuel, but smart, right-thinking Phillies fans all over the Delaware Valley that he was “back.”

No, he wasn’t.

You can’t be mad at Lidge for what happened last night. He was no different in that game than he had been for an entire 162 game season — easily rattled, out of the strike zone, living batter-to-batter by the seat of his pants. He was 2009 Brad Lidge, and for 174 games of the 2009 season, for as bad as he was, he somehow managed never to cost the Phillies anything serious.

Game 175 ended that streak. In Game 175, Brad Lidge, predictably, miserably, frustratingly, cost the Phillies their shot at the world championship.

And we all saw it coming, everyone but Charlie Manuel.

That ninth inning will be like The Civil War, which is what we call it up here because the North won. Down south, they call it The War for Southern Independence. As much as Phillies fans will remember Lidge’s bungling as the reason for the loss, Yankee fans will revere Johnny Damon for his gritty at-bat to just reach base, his steal of second and heads-up advance to third that even made it possible. They’d be correct. After all, they’re the winners — they get to remember and write history however they please.

soak it up, boys. you deserve it.

Lest we forget that it was A-Rod, continuing to pen a new ending to his baseball legacy, who made the whole thing possible anyway. It was A-Rod who got the Yanks started Saturday too when it looked like Cole Hamels, Lidge’s Phillies partner in 2009 downfalls, had gotten his mojo back too. A-Rod is successfully ending all the “choker” and “steroids” talk and getting himself back in the “most gifted player ever” discussion.

The fact that Lidge would even dare say something like “real close” in describing Sunday’s appearance is disturbing. Maybe someone changed the rules and I didn’t hear about it, but as far as I know, it takes three outs to end an inning, and he didn’t get them. It was probably destiny and Phillies fans should all just let it go, but it’s tough when we all saw this coming 1,000 miles away and were powerless to do anything.

The baseball gods nailed Melky Cabrera yesterday. On Saturday, he pulled off a real d!ck move when he caught the third out of an inning, turned to the Phillies fans in centerfield and fake-threw the ballto them. Figured he was just lucky enough there is a tunnel from the stadium to the Alladay Inn next door for him to escape. But you can’t do those kinds of things without getting someone angry, and that someone was apparently his hamstring.

What also may be forgotten by Phillies fans, but remembered by Yankee fans, is this is one pretty nerve-racking series, one that for the most part, has been played well by what are obviously the two best teams in baseball. Give us a week. Maybe then we’ll remember it that way.

I’m pretty content in believing, Cliff Lee or not, that this thing is pretty darn close to over. Discuss.