Too little, too late; Lidge records clinching out for Phillies

Sorry Mr. Manuel, your closer showed up a bit too late to the Phillies party this season. I applaud the effort of bringing Brad Lidge in to get the last out in a 10-3 game that would win the NL East for your team, but there will be no saving your closer, at least this season.

It would difficult to find a player that took a such a monumental nose dive from one season to the next. Lidge went from the most dominant closer in both the regular season and postseason in 2008, to the man that single handedly gave Phillies fans everywhere heartburn when he came in the game in 2009. So far this season, Lidge has blown 11 saves; that's 11 more than he blew all of last season. 11 blown saves is a huge number in the first place, but add it to the fact that he was perfect in save opportunities last season, and the only question is "what happened"?

The easiest, most obvious, and probably the correct answer, is confidence. Even for a professional pitcher, it has to be next to impossible not to allow some doubt to seep into your mind when the sports media crushes you anytime you give up a hit. In Lidge's case, the talk has clearly gotten to him, and may have cost him his role for the Phillies come playoff time, and possibly beyond. As of right now, Philadelphia has turned to Ryan Madson to fulfill the closer responsibilities while they try to solve the Lidge mystery. Unfortunately, that ship has sailed for this season. It's a bit late in the game to get your go to closer mentally prepared to cap off a game now isn't it? The Phillies problem is now they head into the postseason with a giant question mark at the back end of the bullpen. Unless Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee can pitch a complete game every time out, the Phils are going to need someone to shut down opponents batters late in the game. As of right now, they don't have that guy.

The great tragedy with athletes is that once "it" is gone, it is gone. And the worst part; "it" can go in the blink of an eye. Has this happened to Lidge? Maybe, only time will tell. However, don't expect the Phillies to go very far in their quest to repeat as World Series champs if they trot the regular season version of Lidge out to the mound in a close game.