The series between the Phillies and Yankees features the two teams in the majors that have come from behind to win the most. The Yankees have been especially good at this recently, winning 8 games in their final at-bat. So we had to figure a late inning comeback would happen eventually.
However, the Phillies have Brad Lidge, one season removed from being perfect. He had already blown three saves on the year and it’s not even June. I know that I sound like a spoiled Phillies fan, but so what? I was spoiled by Lidge’s success last season. That had never happened in baseball before. Lidge should have never set the bar that high for himself, he was doomed to failure.
All joking aside, Lidge just doesn’t look like he’s fully healthy. He just doesn’t seem like he’s fully confident in all of his pitches. His slider, one of the nastiest pitches in the majors, just hasn’t been the way it should be. He has been using that pitch to set up his fastball, instead of the other way around. Lidge gets people out with his slider, and he just isn’t capable of doing that right now.
I’ve heard some discussions on just sitting Lidge for a few games and letting Madson handle the save situations to see if Lidge can get healthy and back into his rhythm. I don’t know about that. Madson is definitely a future closer, but Lidge needs to either work through this, or go on the DL. He recently started wearing special insoles to take some pressure off of his knee, but I just don’t think his knee is fully healed.
Hopefully Lidge can figure it out soon. J.C. Romero comes back soon, so the Phillies’ 7-8-9 combo of Romero, Madson, and Lidge will be back in place soon. All they need is for them to do what they did last season. That might be asking a little too much.
-KK
