So what should Lidge have done differently on that pitch? All the whiners, tell me. He threw his best pitch. It broke sharply. It was low and out of the zone. What else should he have done?
just an observation, but id like to see lidge speed it up on the mound and not take forever in between pitches, he makes it too damn tense and he might be able to catch the hitter off guard
That's the problem, though. Braun is not an average hitter and Lidge needs to account for that. Don't throw the slider out over the plate to a guy hitting .350 who is *waiting* for you to throw that pitch. Is that so complicated? Work the fastball up and in. Throw a changeup (learn how to throw one, first). Just don't leave a slider where he can get any part of it.
So your solution for Lidge approaching any above average hitter (which Braun is) is to: A.) shelve your best pitch... because he's expecting it. B.) Throw the fastball up and in... which would invariably not be a strike. C.) learn a new pitch which he's never thrown in his life. Wow... great suggestions. Do you honestly think batters haven't been expecting/"*waiting*" for Lidge's slider? They do expect it... they do account for it... and they still strike out. The only time the slider is ineffective is if he overthrows it, or loses complete command of it (ie - the ones that don't break late, or end up in the dirt in front of the plate). And once again... having a slider where "he can't get any part of" would include the ones 2 feet off the plate which lead to probable wild pitches. The only solution for tonight would have been pitching around Braun, and facing Fielder... who is the odds-on favorite to win the MVP. That's not a great proposition.
Wagner is still our all time saves leader and has more post season experience then any bullpen pitcher we have. The Lidge, Dotel, and Wagner trio didn't fail us. They gave our anemic offense a chance to score more runs by allowing the opposing teams only 6 innings of hitting. They weren't out there to score runs for us. I've never seen Baseball Tonight always show the highlights of a bullpen everyday like they would with that group. You can't say there's a better bullpen than that trio we used to have out there today. I'm not gripping that we should have kept them together, i understand moving Wagner gave us salary room for Petitte, and Dotel never really worked out as a closer either, but would of kept getting more money in arbitration. Just saying i miss Wagner, that's all. He's is a much more consistent closer and more exciting. People would stay to watch him humiliate batters. He would lead the league in the most 100mph pitches thrown over every single pitcher combined. Now people stay to see if Lidge blows the save.
If memory serves, he tried to add another pitch...and it didn't work. And one of the reason he got so f***ed up in the first place is because he stopped throwing his slider where the batter could get any part of it.
Are you high? Just because he was on the 97,98,99, and 01 teams that were one series and out doesn't make him the most experienced/accomplished post-season bullpen pitcher the Astros have ever had. Hell, he was a potential liability the way he pitched for us (and he didn't look all too stellar with the Mets last year). Just look at appearences, IP, K's, ERA, and SAVES between him and Lidge in the post-season (or hell, him and Qualls, him and Wheeler). Additionally, Wagner's fastball becomes much more hittable in the post-season... where batters are geared up for straight heat, and in as much focus as possible. Also, the Lidge-Dotel-Wagner trio was basically a dominant force for HALF a seaoson. HALF. Meanwhile, Lidge dominated ALL of 2004 and ALL of 2005.
Wagner's postseason "experience" accounts for s**t considering he choked most of the time. I would take the Lidge of '04 any day over Wagner...because he not only brought it during the regular season, but the playoffs as well. And the Qualls, Wheeler and Lidge tandem of '04 and '05 was just as effective as the Lidge, Dotel, Wagner...who the hell cares which had more highlights on ESPN..it's about getting the job done...and the latter helped get the team to the NLCS one year and the WS the other.
There is nothing else Lidge can do. It's too late for him to add a pitch. The batters wither wait for a fastball or usually sit on the slider. There's nothing he can do about it. The league figured him out after 1 year. He can still be an above average setup man. I don't think people are bashing him just for tonight. It's become routine with him. You should be able to leave the ballpark after 8 innings when up by 1-3 runs with a good feeling, not so anymore. He's just not consistent (and a closer has to be consistent) and the good hitters have the ability to be patient and wait for their pitch to hit.
There are numerous excellent relievers who lean essentially fastball/slider. Secondly, how stupid is this? Do hitters somehow become "better" in the ninth inning than they are in the eighth? If he can't be a good closer because of his "stuff" (which is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard), how in the hell could he be a good setup man throwing the SAME PITCHES? Furthermore, it's become routine? Where the heck were you during his seven saves in the last three weeks?
How old are you? You seem to have a 4 year old's mentality on baseball... and with as much as you've been posting lately, that becomes problematic.
The 04/05 Lidge is gone. It's time to move on. The batters have his number. They know they can hit 1 of his 2 pitches if they sit on one. To think Oswalt, Petitte, and Clemens wasn't the main factor we got where we did in the postseason is just foolish. We had the best starting pitching in baseball. Qualls/Wheeler/Lidge does not = Lidge, Dotel, and Wagner no matter what year you talk about.
only very good hitters can distinguish between the fastball and slider... have to be even better to hit lidge's slider. do you even know what a slider is?
I'm sorry. So what part of my post you quoted did you disagree with? I must be older than you since i'm not going to get into a personal bashing war on a web forum, just because you don't agree with my opinions and take them personal.
I definitely agree with that. I mean, how many plays did Ty Wigginton NOT make? Some of those ground balls, if not all, should have been relatively easy outs.
Nick, you are being disingenuous. Spotting his fastball up and in and setting up his slider, or another fastball off the corners of the plate is hardly asking the impossible for a major league closer. How do you pitch to any great hitter? Keep them off balance. You can twist this anyway you want, but Lidge still left the pitch over the middle of the plate. It was low, but it was over the middle of the plate. Would the average MLB hitter park that pitch? No. But, Lidge *does* have to account for who he's pitching against. Braun is one of the best hitters in baseball right now and hitting nearly 50 points better than Fielder. If Braun is sitting on your best pitch and you leave it over the middle of the plate assume he will knock the crap out of it. Look, credit first and foremost to Braun for the hit. Lidge blowing *this save* during this crappy season is not a hanging offense, but it seems par for the course this year. I don't think Lidge, nor Qualls are washed up, but they sure seem to have a lot of this "bad luck" at the most inopportune times this year.
