• March 28, 2024

Lidge injury mitigates enthusiasm for first place

Something is just wrong with this season for the Philadelphia Phillies. They can’t get ahead, and when they do, something goes wrong.

I’m not trying to be pessimistic, but I got to bed last night and the Phillies have a 1/2-game lead on the National League East. I wake up this morning and Brad Lidge has elbow soreness. You can’t make this stuff up.

“Lidge unavailable tonight because of a sore elbow. Manuel hopes he could be back Friday. Lidge had elbow surgey [sic] in offseason,” MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki tweets.

This is how it starts. This is how the Phillies do it. “Oh it’s just a little soreness,” or “it’s just some tightness.” That’s what they right before someone has to have an arm amputated.

Make all the Lidge jokes you like, the guy has been pretty darn good lately, despite his fastball topping out at around 91 mph. In his last 10 appearances, he has five saves with only one blown save. He’s given up just one earned run during that time.

Maybe I’m making too much of this, but I’ve seen this too often from the Phillies this season and I’ve heard this rhetoric from the team too often. Remember when J.A. Happ had a little tightness in his forearm early in the year? How long was he gone? Exactly.

Ryan Madson has done a good job this week, but he’s not a closer. He’s proven that. If something is really wrong with Lidge then something is really wrong with the playoffs and this season.

Micah Warren

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phillywill
phillywill
September 8, 2010 1:02 pm

ty i just called for this post
many of u thought the season was over when we were 8 out
but the season has just begun and i’d take this bunch of guys over any1
i dont mind if this team lose of course i want to win but i feel secure knowing this team will give everything
this team has the most heart of any philadelphia team in any sport in recent history

hey i hope lidge aint hurt that will hurt us but we wont roll over this team will fight i love the phitans win or lose

Iggles
Iggles
September 8, 2010 2:35 pm

I’d say this past season’s Flyers showed at least as much heart (were in 29th place and passed 15 teams to get in), when you consider how many guys were severely hurt, even in the playoffs, still coming back before healed. They finally had first coach in many years who knew which system to install to play that typical, historical style we’d been used to for years… hard on the puck, strong backchecking. Liked Stevens, but he had those guys playing a much softer, containment style rather than the attacking system Pete brought in which took a while for those guys to adapt to.

Butch007
Butch007
September 8, 2010 5:39 pm

I suspect Lidge will be good by playoff time! I mean how much more bad luck can a team have? The fact that the Phillies are in first place, have been close all year with all of the injuries and question marks says as much about the positive mojo that the team has as the bad luck and “Bad Carma” that the team hass run into along the way. The plus now is that the Braves have to play Cardinals still while their trying to make a wild card run.