dude needs to be sent down or sit out (seek some help) and just calm down. Comeback next year 45 saves...
Granted, this is a good thing, but terrible for Lidge's frame of mind...Yes, he did give up two singles, but c'mon, he has close 26 of 31...It is just emphasized due to losing 4 in a row...
no one is going to agree with you because you are wrong. lidge's ERA and WHIP have still been horrible. he hasn't just had one bad game. since june when his era was around 5.00 it has gone up to 5.70 where it's at now. and you are trying to say that this is just one bad game? it's like you are looking at the color red and saying "i know no one will agree with me but that is a great looking blue." and why did you even mention turnbow? if you haven't been watching baseball for the past couple of weeks then i will inform you that he has been yanked as closer. remember the brewers traded for cordero?
Has there ever been a case of a guy losing it so completely and then getting it back? Rick Ankiel lost it and never came back....anyone make it back? Lidge is just not mentally tough enough. At least Wagner was mentally tough. DD
Lidge has not lost it to the point of Rick Ankiel or Mark Wohlers. They completly forgot how to throw, not just pitch. Wohlers, incidentally, got it back after a couple of years. He wasn't what he once was, but he became a solid reliever again. There certainly is something wrong with Lidge. My personal belief is that he's overthrowing. I think he's more effective around 95-97. When he's hitting 98 and above, he leaves it up and it looks as if he's tipping it. When he overthrows the slider, it hits the dirt well in front of the plate. I'm sure there is something going on in his head, too. Either way, this is the right move...I would have probably done it differently, though. Not after an 18 inning heartbreaker. It seems more like a knee jerk reaction than a move to improve the team. I think he needs to take the winter off and not touch a baseball or think about baseball. If he gets his head right, he could definitely be back next season as strong as ever. His career is not over by any stretch of the imagination.
No he is under club controll for two more years. Lidge will go to arbitration this winter and next, Prediction, the two sides will not agree on terms and there will be one ugly, ugly hearing.
Always a possibility. I hope not though--if not the Astros will have successfully (and remarkably) avoided arbitration hearings for nine years ( ) since the DK fiasco after 1997.
Nieve should get the shot. He's naive ("Naive Nieve?"... or "Nighty-night Nieve") enough to not be pressured by the situation (as Lidge was 2 years ago... before he started failing), and Wheeler is far more important as the 7th or 8th inning guy to ensure that the game even gets to the 9th with a save. Qualls... eh... he's been mediocre this year as well, only he didn't have an "ultra-dominant" stretch as Lidge did for us to compare him to. I'd have the same fears with him as a closer as I now have for Lidge... gives up HR's on a whim, hangs his breaking pitches randomly, and gives up plenty of leadoff walks. In many ways, Wheeler is the best pitcher in the pen becuase he DOESN'T have as great natural stuff. He actually has to think out there, and keep his mechanics and location flawless, or else he'll get roughed up.
1 Word... idiots Should of traded him for some prospects.... Lidge is done.. Nothing in the organization will help him get back to the way he is.. He needs a change of scenery....... Damn Astros you should have traded him....
Hindsight is crystal clear. Do you have any names of who they should have traded him for? Or just got rid of him any way possible. Hell, are we going to be saying the same thing about the Rockets and T-mac next year? At least Lidge didn't have an injury to his shoulder (which is akin to T-mac having a bad back, in b-ball medicine)... why don't you call the Rockets idiots right now for taking a chance on a guy returning to form physically? They gave him a chance to get out of it... after his dominance the last two years, he was at least owed that much (if not more). In fact, he'll likely have another chance down the road some time... sports can be very forgiving (especially if his replacements falter as well).
you see stretches from lidge - such as his save the other night against the pirates - where he is, once again, absolutely flat-out dominant, and then you hear or read interviews with him and the guy always seems to say the right things... and it just doesn't appear that it's mental or or that he's lost his skills, and you start to wonder... and wonder... i think i may have a theory. did the WBC screw with lidge? he didn't log very many innings, i know, but it thrust him back into a competitive situation after not only a tumultuous october but two consecutive years of logging A LOT of innings; a lot of pressure-packed innings. and i just wonder if being away from his comfort zone this winter didn't mess with him a bit. or a lot. maybe, after the kind of end his season had, he should have laid low, stayed with the team, stuck to his routine and taken it easy. rested more. regrouped more. i don't know... i just... it seems likes it more than just "he's fried" or "he's lost it." could be he's worn out. could be the WBC contributed to that more than a "normal" spring training would have.
Dude, that is an intriguing thought. The things that he's doing: bad location, overthrowing, leaving pitches up, are certainly all indicators of either a fatigued good pitcher or a pitcher who just sucks. Lidge historically fits into the former category. And remember that until his breakout year as the 7th-inning stud he had logged precious few innings due to injuries.
Pujols destroyed this guys career. Just like Joe Carter did Mitch Williams. 0% chance he is with the Stros next season.
OK, fair point to a certain extent but come on Brad Lidge and T-MAC in the same sentance come on now.
