yes. the consensus is that since his meltdown in LA, when his ERA peaked at 6.49, he's been a much better pitcher. and the stats bear that out. his ERA has dropped a run (5.49) and his WHIP over that stretch is 1.16, compared to 1.46 overall. and he's struck out 34 in 25.1 IP. so he's still fooling quite a few hitters and, for the most part, keeping guys off base (FYI - his WHIP last year was 1.15 and he's only slightly off his K pace). he's essentially had three awful outings since the dodger game - at WAS (3 ER); at CWS (4 ER); saturday against STL (2 ER) - that's what's sinking his ERA over that stretch - small sample size due to his # of innings; he's not a starter. i know all about ifs and buts, but... take away those three disasters, and he's done this since may 12: 10 svs; 23.1 IP; 33 K; 2.34 ERA; 0.736 WHIP -- all better than last year. so it isn't hopeless. saturday, he was plain beaten; it was a bad outing. last night, he said on the postgame show that he was too jacked up, and it led to the HBP and single that started the inning, but after that, he got puljos and rolen - absolutely made his look bad - and then got beat on a great slider the guy was lucky to get his bat on... i'm not saying i'd be comfortable giving lidge the ball with a 2-1 lead in game 7 of the WS right now... but i'd feel better about it than being down 2-1 with ensberg, lane, ausmus and everett due up. the bullpen is showing signs of getting better. the offense isn't.
Supposedly Tejada's one of the players Grimsley named. That's all still rumor though. If I were Timmy P. I'd stop munching on cheesy doodles and try to get over my fear of making a trade.
a team contending has no use for ensberg or taveras. taveras is garbage and ensberg is a question mark - he's either really hurt (again) or has lost the ability to play baseball.
In Stark's Insider blog, he mentions that the Padres and Astros both seem to be interested in Burrell. (and that the Phiilies would rather trade him than Abreu) Also says that Seattle has asked about Willie T.
Lidge didn't get beat by a great slider. Lidge threw a probably ill-adivsed an awful slider in the dirt, then got beat by a fastball middle-high and inside. Miles was practically sitting on it; he knew it was coming. It would have been better for Lidge to throw the fastball first. Dunno how much you can blame him for that though cause Munson was behind the plate and not Ausmus; would Ausmus have called it any different? I have been a constant defender of Lidge all season, hoping he'd pull out of this funk and return to (somewhat) normal form. But with each passing day, it's becoming more clear that he might not ever get it figured out. I surely hope I'm wrong, and while he has still converted 21 saves, they haven't exactly been "walks in the park." He clearly has and is losing confidence and the sooner he comes to terms with that the better chance he has over turning it around. The bullpen was resonsible for 2 of the 3 losses to the Cards this past week. Everytime it looks like they start to come around, they regress. I'd say inconsistent and/or shaky would be the best way to describe the pen right now. And that needs to change; the team should feel secure in having a lead late in the game. The offense on the other hand erased a late 5-2 deficit last night (after a Wheeler implosion) to give the team a second chance (but yes were unable to score the winning run in a number of opportunities). While the offense is far from perfect, it is slightly better than last year and has been getting the job done; there have been less shutouts and 1-2 run games. They can get better, especially in the clutch hitting, situational hitting dept; but our bullpen must improve for this team to have any chance.
Outside of the last 2 days, what makes you think he hasn't gotten out of his funk? Before those two games, he was 10 for his last 10 save opportunities - in which he gave up a combined 2 hits and 0 walks. He hasn't even given up a hit or a walk in a save situation since May, let alone a run. He's certainly sucked in non-save situations, but he's been virtually perfect in save scenarios since the early May struggles. Its very strange, though - for example, with a 4 run lead vs. the White Sox, he gave up 4 runs.
Are you positive he only gave up 2 hits and no walks in his previous 10 saves? It just seems that there were nights where he shut 'em down and nights where he struggled to put batters away. But maybe I'm thinking of those non-save situations. Still, overall he is clearly less effective than last year; he's already blown four, his total from all of last season. It just seems more times than not, he's shown a lack of command when on the mound, both physically (in locating his spots) and mentally. Maybe he does have it figured out...but he certainly doesn't show it. He doesn't seem to have much of a mound presence these days.
yup - he is terrible in non-save situations, and you're probably remembering the times when he comes into a tie game and blows it (like yesterday). But for whatever reason, he's been ridiculously good in save situations for a while now. Here is the game log: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6913/gamelog;_ylt=ApGD8TZtCcdW1jpBsubD0d.FCLcF
There you go Tim. Just what we need, another player in the mold of Wilson and Lane. Because we don't already have enough players that hit for a low average and strike out at alarming rates. Quit jacking around and go get an impact player in Carl Crawford please.
no, it was a slider; heard him interviewed last night on the way home from the game, and have since watched the replay - it was up and away; myles swung at a pitch he shouldn't have and made contact.
the wheeler "implosion" came after he coaxed a clutch double play grounder from, of all people, puljos that lamb fumbled. should have been out of the inning. and for the record, oswalt gave up the GW saturday; not anyone in the bullpen.
Well I don't wanna argue something relatively meaningless now but I distinctly remember him throwing that slider in the dirt that got away from Munson. Both runners advanced. With a runner on third Lidge was forced to throw a fastball, since if he were to throw another slider and it bounced away Eckstein could have scored. He had to throw a fastball and it was outside (you were right there) and middle-high. "He started me off with heaters, and when he got ahead of me, fastballs down and away," Miles said. "[He] painted them good. Then he tried to bury a slider a couple times, and luckily I fouled it off a couple times. Then he buried one and moved the runners up. And then a fastball, outside corner, and I just put a good little stroke on it." Cardinals news article I don't blame Wheels for giving up the run to tie...and you're right the error by Lamb extended the inning. However, Wheeler still gave up a three run shot to Scott Rolen, and put the game almost out of reach. And while Oswalt gave up the winning HR in the game Saturday, it was a situation he should have never been in if Lidge hadn't blown the save. "It's tough for me and it's tough for the guys in the clubhouse," Lidge said. "I also feel bad putting Roy in that situation. He, obviously, doesn't come in the game at all if I don't blow the save." astros news article Not trying to be hating on Lidge or the bullpen; I just think that it's pretty clear the guys in there have been shaky all year and perhaps a reshuffling of sorts is needed.
Supposedly the Astros are interested in Huff.... "Having boosted his average by nearly 100 points to .283, Huff faces an uncertain couple weeks anyway. The Rays are in talks with more than a half-dozen teams about trading him, and a deal - with the Angels, Astros, Dodgers, Tigers and Yankees among the possibilities - seems likely before the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline." http://www.sptimes.com/2006/07/10/Rays/Huff_wants_to_keep_on.shtml
Actually, you are wrong. It was a fastball. The slider was taken away as a viable pitch because of the wild pitch which advanced runners to 2nd and 3rd, and because Munson isn't as good as Ausmus is behind the plate.
I would absolutely love Huff. He's what I've been clamoring for all season, a left handed power hitting corner outfielder.
ok. i heard tom franklin interview lidge on the way home from the game; he said it was a slider and that he put it right where he wanted it. having seen the replay, franklin then concured. so i got home and watched, and they were right. so, regardless of what it was, it was a great pitch - the guy was fortunate to get bat on the ball. that will happen to the best of them. it wasn't like he hung a fastball over the plate.
Don't know what replay you watched, but it was definitely a fastball. Watch it again here: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/NASAp...tent_id=1550096&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl Everybody knew what was coming. No chance he throws another slider in that situation. It was a good pitch, but them's the breaks.
i like it better that he plays 3B. he should be the first of two moves. stick huff @ third, grab a viable corner OFer.
