[ESPN] Lidge Looking to Regain Mojo

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2842914




Lidge looking to regain mojo
By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com

Brad Lidge isn't going to be a Devil Ray any time soon. Or an Indian, a Phillie, a Rockie or a Nippon Ham Fighter, either.

Sorry to report that. It's really not a helpful fact for those of us who have notes columns to write and trade rumors to disseminate. But facts often have a pesky knack for getting in the way of those trade rumors. And this would be another one of those times.

"An asset like that," Astros GM Tim Purpura told Rumblings, "you just don't move without an extreme reason. And we don't have an extreme reason right now."

Just because the Astros don't have an extreme reason doesn't mean they don't have any reason, however. So the baseball buzzards have been hovering ever since the Astros decided, a week into the season, that Lidge wasn't their closer anymore.

"Oh, I don't fault any general manager for making the call," Purpura said, "because that's our job. You have to do your due diligence. You don't want to be the guy who wakes up one morning and says, 'Oh no, they traded so-and-so, and I never called to ask.' So I don't blame anybody for doing that. But to expect that, just because we've done this, we want to move him -- [that] would be shortsighted on our part."

An official of one team that checked in confirms that his club was told the Astros have no interest in trading Lidge, barring an offer they'd be nuts to refuse. So that ought to clear up any confusion about the Astros' state of mind.

The bigger question, though, is Lidge's state of mind.

You might be shocked to learn it's better than you think.

In a 10-minute conversation the other day, Lidge didn't use the word "angry." Not once. He used the word "frustrated" a few times. But if he wasn't frustrated right now, he wouldn't be breathing.

"I'm a little bit frustrated," he said, "just because it happened so fast."

Well, it sure couldn't have happened much faster.

There was a blown save on Opening Day, on a Xavier Nady home run. Then five days of sitting around. Then a messy appearance (2/3 IP, 5 runs, 2 earned) as a mop-up man in a 10-1 loss, a game in which everybody agrees he was just supposed to get his work in.

And then boom, he'd lost his job. Yeah, his ERA after those two outings was 16.20. But the more pressing reason this move was made was another number: 1-5. Which happened to be the Astros' record a week into the season.

"So, obviously," Lidge said, "people wanted answers, and they wanted somebody to do something, and that's what happened."

In fact, even the man who made this decision, manager Phil Garner, admits that's exactly what happened. He'd watched two outings in which his closer clearly "didn't have his scheme down." But he also had watched his team play six games that already had shoved its whole season to the edge of the cliff.

"So here's what I'm faced with," Garner said. "I've got a club that can't afford to lose another game. And now I've got a guy who I think needs a lot of pitching time to get his scheme down, to where he's back and he throws the ball and he says, 'This is where I'm going to get an out, and the game's over.' And he'll show me when that's happening. And he'll get his job back. But I don't have the margin for error right now."

So Garner did what he thought he had to do. Then he called Lidge in and explained why he was doing it. And he told Lidge he'd get his closer job back as soon as he got his "scheme," and his mojo, back.

Lidge listened to all that. And he's tough enough, mature enough and a good enough teammate to say: "He's my manager, and I'm going to do whatever he wants me to do. And I won't argue, at all."

But he still doesn't quite understand. Yes, this happened last year, too. But this year was different. It was September when he lost his job last season, and he had an ERA over 5.00 and six blown saves. This year, he was two outings into the season. Two.

"Last year, I was going through some struggles, so I understood why he was doing it," Lidge said. "But this year, after two games, you can't really say that I was going through struggles because there wasn't enough of a sample of time, really."

Is he right about that? Absolutely. Was this something any player would feel was just? Probably not. But if you look at the big picture, it's obvious Lidge is a different animal now than he was in 2004 and 2005. And that's the genesis of all of this.

Lidge by the numbers
Yr. ERA H/9 K/9 K/BB
'04-'05 2.07 6.3 14.5 4.9
'06-'07 5.38 8.8 12.13 2.6

We've had three scouts tell us, in the past week, that "his stuff is still there." But that aura he had two years ago? That's not still there. The ability he once had to get hitters to chase his man-eating slider? That's not still there. The mechanics that used to make all that possible? They haven't always been there, either.

So last year, when he lost the feel for that slider and for his delivery, Lidge made some changes he wishes now that he'd never made. He tried abandoning the windup and going solely from the stretch. He tried fiddling with new pitches. But he realizes now that all that experimenting "was just ridiculous."

"I'm better off," he said, "if I just rear back and throw my good fastball and my hard slider. That's really all I need to do. Unfortunately, I tried to do too many other things, and it didn't work."

In all that analysis of what "went wrong," you might notice something. The one thing the rest of the world is convinced "went wrong" with Lidge -- Albert Pujols' stunning October home run -- isn't in there. Because that theory is just about total myth.

"I understand why people say it," Lidge said, "because last year didn't go well. So I understand how people think that. And to be honest, I can't say a dang thing about it until I start pitching better.

"But the truth is, I think there are a variety of other things that got in the way. And the thing people don't understand is that I face Albert like eight times a year. It's not like I always wonder what it's going to be like to face him again. I face him all the time."

And the last time he faced him, he got him out, by the way. So Pujols is no longer relevant to this discussion. The only thing relevant anymore is whether the Astros' current strategy -- getting Lidge extended work in less pressurized situations -- and Lidge's current strategy -- going back to the fastball/slider combo that was once so unhittable -- will get him back. Not just to the closer's job but to what he used to be.

He hears the theories that it will be impossible for him to do that as long as he stays in Houston. He hears people speculate that he actually wants out. But there's no evidence at the moment that he would prefer a new area code or that the Astros would love to give him one. That could change. But it's official April reality.

"This is my team right now -- the Houston Astros -- and I'm not going to sit here and wonder about anything else," Lidge said. "I've been here my whole career since I got drafted. And my bottom line is, I want to be on this team when we're winning games and playing well, and that's it. I'm not going to dwell on, or even think about, anything else."

So those buzzards might keep hovering, but "We're not looking to trade Brad Lidge," Garner said. "This is not a case where we think this guy is done or anything like that. And he's not out of favor. None of those things apply here. To me, this was just the right thing to do for our ballclub at this moment. And if we can get him more consistent work and it helps him and it helps our club, then we're on the right track."

And all those Lidge trade rumors you might have heard? That would mean they're on the wrong track. Well, for now, anyway.