Hitters are too darned comfortable against him, his fastball is str8 and right down the middle.... He should have backed people off the plate more often.....ala Roger Clemens and Roy O..... And all would be solved if he started throwing his curveball again.....he needs an offspeed pitch. DD
make that 2-5 now wonder if this will last as long as "closer by committee" that garner tried last year.
To me it looks like the fastball is a crapshoot every time he throws. It might be a strike, but it is not ussually where he wants to throw it (the pitch to Molina yesterday was inside when Ausmus had his glove outside). He can throw the slider for strikes, but its more effective when he gets people to chase. I think his struggles are simply not being able to locate a fastball, leading to him getting behind in counts or throwing it in the happy zone, and this negates his slider. Get strike 1 with a fastball consitantly and he will be dominant again.
That's always been true, though. It's just that his slider and fastball looked sufficiently similar to fool batters into swinging. Something's tipping the slider now. Ausmus (reported through Mike & Mike) said that Lidge's slider has a "hump" in it now, and hitters are seeing that. Last year it was glove position prior to delivery.
He stopped throwing his curve ball because his arm couldn't take it. He was never healthy for a full season until he moved to the bullpen and stopped throwing the curve. It's a shame because by all accounts it was filthy.
Well his career is in the crapper, he needs to start throwing it again. I thought that the organization was not SURE if he arm could take it, not that it wouldn't take it. One would have to believe that if he can throw the slider, he should be able to throw the curve...... And if his career is in jeapordy he should be playing around with it, or at least a change up. DD
I know. It's freaking hilarious that one of the best closers in the game just 2 years ago has seemingly lost it and the Astros have to go with a somewhat unproven entity. Funny stuff.
Haven't seen this pic before. Seriously--all the times I see this pic, my *favorite* plate appearance of the whole 2005 playoffs is Pooholes's very next one after the one pictured above. Remember that one? The one where Roy O made him look like a 6-year-old school girl? Awesome work from Roy. That one "swing" by Albert was hilarious. Where's the gif of that?? That's the gif we should be pasting all over these boards.
This is weird, from Yahoo's Brad Lidge page: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6913/news Apr 17 Alyson Footer, of Astros.MLB.com, reports Houston Astros RP Brad Lidge will not be moving to the starting rotation, despite the recommendation of SP Roger Clemens (Astros). "I don't think it's a good idea," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "The reason they put Brad in a closing role was because he had a lot of arm trouble. There is some logic, if a player is really, really broken, to try to start him. But Lidge is not broken. It's not necessary." Why is Roger even involved?
I actually think that's a great idea. Everyone said Byung Young-Kim was finished but he's become a pretty solid starting pitcher in Colorado. Lidge is still the 2nd most talented pitcher on our team. He just needs to start anew.
Pretty solid is probably not the proper term for Kim. He's been pretty much a horrible starting pitcher for Colorado, going a combined 13-24 with an ERA over 5 over the past two seasons. All his numbers are terrible compared to his relief numbers: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6237/career
