Lidge is snakebitten. I think he still had the Pujols homer in the back of his mind and it hit him again. Phil Garner, Andy, Roger and Roy need to help him get his confidence back and quick.
When lidge took the mound last night, I wasn't worried, seriously...I really thought he'd put us in a good position to win...boy, was I wrong... It's a mental thing that he needs to get over...I still think we can win it...We are the cardiac kids of course... Btw, Qualls and Wheeler chocked too...Law of averages...It's our turn next...
yeah, i told my wife i was as confident in our bullpen as i was our starting pitching. i told her that as wheeler was taking the mound. yikes. i'll shut up from here on out. chris burke's slide was so money, though.
I voted for "fluke", but "what's wrong with Lidge" is actually answered by two points: 1) He threw a hanging slider to Pujols 2) Konerko guessed him right (did you hear the interview) ...and that's pretty much it.
Lidge does not seem to be in command of his pitches over the last games of the season and the playoffs. I don't know why, but he appears to be in a funk. Desperately needs a good outing.
I think his only problem this post-season is his control. It's just not as razor-sharp as last year. His stuff is still excellent. He's still our best option in the bullpen. Who else are we going to go to, Wheeler? Qualls? Those two didn't do so great last night either.
His location seems to be off on his fast balls AND his sliders. Seeing as how the fastball sets up that nasty slider he has its not good news when his location si eratic...
i hear ya, in general. but what's ironic is the pitch that got hit out on him last night was a good pitch. it was low. good location. the guy just got around on it.
Did posednik have any homeruns this season? then he hits a 408ft blast? Yeah.. I would say they got him figured out... or he's tipping his pitches.
Last night was Podsednik's 2nd HR of the post season, after hitting zero homeruns during the regular season.
It was NOT a good pitch, it was an OK pitch...94mph is not good for Lidge, he needs to be 97+ to be effective with his fastball.... His slider is his best pitch, he has to throw that for strikes....and that has been his problem lately, not being able to count on his slider. If his slider is working he throws 95% sliders, and does great, if not....and he has to rely to heavily on his fastball, he is a good closer, but not great. DD
Yeah, but he 12 last year and 9 before that, so it's not like it's unheard of. He also hits a lot of doubles and triples, which tells me that even considering his speed he does have *some* pop in his bat.
If we're justifying Scott Pdsednik's power, that means something is wrong with Lidge. He's not a bad pitcher nor is he a choker, I just think he's out of gas after a 170+ game season.
Its a bad stretch that's unfortunately coming at a time where we can least afford it. I would have been more devastated if last night's game was a blown save leading to a White Sox win... but as it was, I didn't have a good feeling about the game after the grand slam anyways... so I'm not as torn up about Lidge as a lot of the rest of you. That being said... he needs to get this turned around right now, or we'll be in serious trouble. Pitchers have bad stretches all the time... its just a matter of minimizing the damage once you're there. If you remember the middle of the season, Oswalt was feeling a dead arm... and he was flat-out awful for 3-4 starts in a row. After a little re-tooling, he was able to work his confidence back... and now, he's on cloud 9. Lidge doesn't have that luxury of "re-tooling"... but I also have a feeling that not much needs to be done. He just needs to get one of those gimme/easy saves at home in one of these next three games... and soon everybody will forget and let him go on with his life (the life of a dominant closer). Also, I don't expect game 3 to be close... I really expect us to hit Garland well, and for Roy to be Roy... so maybe he'll get a free inning in a blowout.
He was given time off to "fill his tank." I think that Pujols blast is messin' with his mind, and that not having him in an earlier game to help get that behind him was a mistake. Yes, the weather totally sucks, but it sucks for all the players, not just Lidge. You have to step up. We need to win the next three games, and while that's possible, it's not going to be easy. I still think we come out on top, after the dust clears. (this series is driving me crazy!!)
I wasn't going to use the weather as an excuse... but take a look at the releif pitchers who came into the game last night cold, not used to the wet mound, and put right in the fire of key situations: Wheeler - double, walk, Hit batsman Qualls - Grand Slam, blown save Jenks - single, walk, 2-out 2 RBI single by Viz, blown save Lidge - walk-off HR. That's BAD releif pitching by 4 pitchers with great stuff, who have looked DOMINANT over the short time-span of 2 weeks (minus the pujols incident). I know a releif pitcher can have a bad game every now and then... but for all 4 to lay an egg like that on the same night makes me feel that the weather might have played a bigger role.
