Is it the fact that he still has the Pujols monkey on his back? Or is he tired and ineffective now? Or maybe he just can't pitch under pressure. Either way we're screwed now.
Destiny. You can't be on top until you've been to the bottom. See Bagwell and Biggio. Good news is bottom was hit with 5 games to go. That's 5 games to get back to the top.
I think hes either a) Tipping his pitches or b) Overtired and not getting good movement on his slider/fastball His slider is still biting ....I think hes tipping his pitches maybe
I agree. I don't know how you can call him a choker. He up until his last 2 games, he had been almost untouchable in the post season.
If anyone noticed - he's been ineffective starting with that Cubs series when he blew that save and then almost blew it the next day. He did well against the braves after some rest, then he was pitched 2 innings at a time and high pitch counts througjh out the braves and cards series. Now I think we're seeing the result.
although in all seriousness lidge is a playoff choker this year last year was different, he was lights out but FAR from untouchable this postseason.
he needs to stop letting his teamates down. and the town of houston. come on straighten out lidge please.
These two home runs are completely unrepresentative of what Lidge is capable; 42/46 save/opportunities during the regular season. In Game Five of the LCS, you could tell that he was just getting really excited, hence Eckstein got onto base, the walk to Walker, and the Pujols homer. I pretty much expect that performance from Pujols; it was Eckstein that had been biting my ass the whole series. Flash forward almost a week later, to tonight: a very cold, rainy night in Chicago. We made a nigh impossible comeback after the Dye fiasco... and in comes Lidge. I'd like to say that not only was his arm physically cold, but also cold from not being used in such a long time (for a closer). Maybe it was the elements, or maybe he just got excited again. I think that a huge factor in tonight's game is that our boys aren't used to playing in those conditions. I'm going to hold off any judgements until I see how they perform in our ballpark. And that damn roof better be closed, at least until the later innings. Start the commotion.
The guy has been f***ing good...I mean friggin' good for us...we have to ride him this series...after this series we will know if he can recover or not...(he should have never cursed, bad karma)...
I agree weather is probably a big factor. One disadvantage that most astros players have is that we don't ever play in these types of cold, wet conditions. The Biggio dropped flyball is an example where some experience in this weather couldve paid off. Lidge located the pitch fairly decently but Podsednik obviously saw it coming. That being said, Lidge just isn't the same this year as last year. Partially I'm guessing its because now that everyone in the league has seen him for a full year, they know his stuff somewhat better. Another problem I've noticed is that he doesn't locate his fastballs as well lately. Consequently people just sit and wait for those. His career isn't over and he's still one of the best but he picked the worst possible time to have a down stretch.
Lidge is one of my favorite players and it really pissed me off to hear some fans last night talking about how we should get Wagner back here and not having Lidge as our closer. That's ridiculous. Brad Lidge is the man and he will definitely bounce back from this. I expected him to dominate this series because none of the Cheat-cago White Sox have seen him before. Remember what he did in the All Star game? I thought maybe the reason he looked a little rough against St. Louis was because they had seen so much of him. I think last night's HR was just a fluke. Lidge will be fine.
It looks like hes tired. His fastball does not have the typical movement and his slider is decent at best. I think the home crowd will get behind him and he will be better at MMP
Lidge's problems seem to me to be: 1.) Has had trouble throwing and controlling his slider. 2.) Has trouble getting ahead in the count and makes mistakes when he falls behind. 3.) His fallback pitch of a fastball when all else fails is hittable. That said...he needs to work his problems out on the mound and he is our closer. If he cannot get it done, then we lose obviously. I'm not going to complain about it after the fact. He is the man and, as Garner has said, we shouldn't hesitate to use him when he is needed. However, as Lidge goes...so go the Astros.
you forgot to put "hurt and not saying anything about it" on the list. if you guys havent noticed lidge has not really been the same all year. i've been thinking that he has been hurt for awhile now and we all know lidge has had a history of injury problems.
The SOX utter the F-Bomb about 22 times a game (on average). Keep track. You could form one helluva drinking game on the over/under of 22. If it's really bad karma for f-bombs, then the white sox plane would have gone down on the way to Houston. (i would never want that to happen, I'd rather beat them straight up in 7 - ROY on the hill).
