No, it's not wrong. Why did you back up to August? No one has said his problems began in August! Look at his numbers the last week of the season, and look at his numbers games 1-4 in the NLCS.
The last week of the season (09/27 - 10/01, he did not pitch the 23rd -26th)he pitched in 4 games. In 3 of those games, he pitched a total of 4 innings faced 12 batters, gave up 0 hits and 1 walk. In the other game he blew a save and got the loss. In 3 games against the Braves in the NLDS, he allowed some base runners in 4 innings , but did not give up any runs. In game 2 of the NLCS he pitched 2 innings, struck out 3 and gave up 1 hit and got the save. In game 2 he gave up a hit, a walk and a run, but held on for the save. In game 3 he gave up a couple of hits, but no runs and got the save. We all know what happened in game 4. He did NOT pitch badly the week before the playoffs. He also pitched pretty good over the course of the NL playoffs. The most logical "problem" he probably had was fatigue.
What you're describing, however, is an increase in WHIP and ERA over where he was before. "He did NOT pitch badly"--by average relief pitcher standards. But his ERA and WHIP weren't what they were for the previous several years. And, I agree with you that it was probably fatigue, especially considering his history.
That's one way to look at it. The other is that in 4 innings against the Braves in the NLDS, he put 6 people on base. After completely destroying the Cardinals over his entire career to the tune of something like 2 hits in 20 innings, he gave a run in game 3. And then he put men on 1st and 3rd with no outs and needed a miracle Adam Everett double play to prevent a blown save in game 4. And then he blew a save in game 5. In the 6 playoff games previous to the Pujols HR, he didn't have a single 1-2-3 inning. He was flirting with disaster the entire playoffs and finally got burned in the Pujols game.
Sorry, slight correction - he did have a 1-2-3 inning in the first STL game where he had a 2 inning save.
Lidge today, pitched the 8th inning. Allowed 2 hits. A run scored on a passed ball (counts as unearned run). All 3 outs were strikeouts. ERA down to 3.78. He's aaaaalmost back. At least starting be a respectable pitcher again.
After giving up that run on the pass ball, he flashed back to 2004 NLCS Lidge, completley dominating two hitters, they never looked like they had a chance
Run was unearned. Wouldn't have scored if Quintero hadn't been so unprofessional behind the plate. ERA still under 4.00.
You are correct sir, initially gamecast had it as an Earned run, I guess the official scorer either changed his mind, or didn't agree. Either way, he still looked hittable ...2 hits in 1 IP. I still don't trust him. DD
Uh, didn't agree with who? Himself? The runs were unearned because of a little tidbit you're neglecting to mention: he struck out the damn side. The run doesn't score without the passed ball, thus unearned run.
After the two consecutvie pass balls he stuck out the next two hitters on around 7 pitches. They looked overmatched completly. He started out poorly, but picked it up after the two hits.
Wouldn't the run count against him if it was deemed a wild pitch though? But since it was counted as a passed ball, the error was on Quintero.
