Wow BMoney you sure are prophetic . .. why did we trade Wheeler again? **** Lidge we should have gotten rid of him while we could have gotten something for him. Anything.
Lidge folds every time there is pressure. He is a choker. How many times do we have to go through this ?
The guy hit a slider breaking at his feet... much like Beltran's HR off Julian Tavarez in game 5 of the 2004 NLCS. Lidge has hung his share of bad pitches since 2005, but Braun did a pretty damn good piece of hitting tonight... he's indeed a stud. Combine that with the two infield dribblers, and this is a tough tough outing for him to take. The HR to Fielder, however, was inexcuseable (just a badly spotted fastball).
This is getting old . I saw that coming from a mile away . As soon as Braun came up to bat I called HR !
I have no problem with the Lidge bashing when he hangs pitches, or inexplicably loses fastball control... compounds bad turn of events with worse outcomes (like the Fielder HR tonight). But, in this case, I thought Braun did a great job of getting the "good" slider... something I've never seen a hitter do against Lidge (when he's actually throwing the good slider). And that pitch came after Lidge simply threw a "get me over" slider for strike 1 that was right down the middle... the scouting report must have indicated that Braun takes a lot of first pitch strikes. Nevertheless, I thought the turn of events deserved to be mentioned, instead of the typical "Lidge blows" response. BTW, Qualls didn't help anything with his 5 hits allowed (although he technically did do his job).
So the 32 saves last year and all his other great performances this year, there was no pressure in any of those at all?
Mariano Rivera, Game 7, World Series -- blown save HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! He must be the worst clutch player ever!!!!!!!
oh i agree... same thing happened the first game of the season... nady just took a great swing. yet everyone wanted lidges head
I'd say it's definantly time we hire a closer in the off season. This Lidge experiment has officially failed. How much more time do we give the guy? I think he's proven he can be a set up guy. Qualls, Lidge and a real closer would give us an A+ bullpen. Close to when it was Lidge, Dotel, and Wagner (hard, harder, and hardest). We hit for 9 innings, while the opponents only got 6 innings to score. Lidge isn't even under the pressure of a playoff race or closing in the post season. Of course if we don't spend big money in the off season, then i guess there is no point on wasting money for a closer on a losing team. I miss Billy Wagner.
Sorry, the pitchforks and torches have been put away a long time ago. Lidge and Qualls have great stuff, but they simply have not got the job done enough when we needed them this year. Having great stuff won't make up for leaving pitches out over the plate. Batters have been sitting on Lidge's slider since the end of 2005. Braun golfed one out, but it was still over the middle of the plate.
You do realize that Wagner never saved a playoff game as a Houston Astro (Had 2 blown saves, and continued to falter against the Cards in last year's NLCS)... and the Lidge-Dotel-Wagner trio faltered in their drive for a playoff run in 2003.
Where should it have been? Two feet off the plate as a wild pitch or HBP? The good slider has to appear like a fastball for a strike (which are typically over the plate), and then breaks sharply down which invariably causes the batter to swing over it. Average hitters don't just "golf" one of those out when he's throwing the good one consistently (which he has since he came off the DL/regained the closer job).
Agreed. They're both great setup guys, but not closers. For the record, i was never a Lidge basher. Add a closer and you have a great bullpen. I spent my time the last few years bashing Everett full time, occasionally Ausmus, and starting pitching when we don't/didn't have it.
wow....I really hate Lidge. Sadly, even when he got them down to 2 outs. I still didn't celebrate. I knew what could, and most likely would happen.
