Not Just a Blown Save, but a Blown Game

Brad Lidge did it again.

He squandered a lead by giving up first the tying run to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates in the bottom of the 9th last night, and then gave up a walk-off, game-winning homer to Bucco centerfielder Andrew McCutchen. That's now 9 blown saves for Lidge, whose ERA was re-inflated to a gruesome 7.33, by far the worst ERA of any major league closer. In the process, he blew a remarkable comeback by the Phils, who scored two in the top of the 9th on a double by pinch hitter Ben Francisco and a Shane Victorino muffed fly ball that turned into a triple that gave the Phightins a 4-3 lead, as well as two solo homers by Jimmy Rollins (including a lead-off homer to start the game). In the process, Lidge squandered a solid start by Joe Blanton, who didn't have his good stuff but still pitched 6 solid innings.

For once, Lidge was honest last night. He spoke of being tired after pitching in four straight games, and acknowledged, too late to do any good for the team, "I didn't have anything on the ball tonight." For once, Charlie Manuel seemed to be entirely at a loss for words. Perhaps he has finally realized that Lidge is not going to turn it around this year. Perhaps he has finally realized that Lidge is not going to be the answer to the Phils' problems.

Brett Myers is nearly ready to return, and his velocity has been up around 94 mph, which makes for an overpowering fastball. Chan Ho Park has been truly outstanding since being sent to the bullpen. J.C. Romero has the stuff to be an effective closer. Perhaps the time has come to give one of these guys a chance to close, because the Phillies simply cannot afford any more blown saves by Lidge. At this point, I can't help but wonder if the Phillies shouldn't leave Lidge off the post-season roster, because I can't imagine him closing in the World Series the way he's going.

And Billy Wagner is a now a member of the Boston Red Sox. While a return to Philly by Wagner would have been less than an ideal situation--Wagner said he would not waive his no-trade clause to allow it--he certainly couldn't do any worse than Lidge, reconstructed pitching elbow and all. Wagner is no longer an option, which can only benefit the Red Sox. While I admire the job that Ruben Amaro, Jr. has done as general manager, he should have claimed Wagner off waivers and given it a shot.

SOMETHING has to change....

Vick to Play on Thursday Night

Andy Reid has stated that Michael Vick will see his first playing time as an Eagle during Thursday night's pre-season game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He said that Donovan McNabb and the rest of the starters would play the first three quarters and that Kevin Kolb would play the fourth quarter. That means that Vick will NOT line up as quarterback. Thus, it appears that the only time that we will see Vick is when Andy decides to trot out the Wildcat formation.

When Andy was asked about what he expected of Vick's performance, he said, "I can only go off what I've seen in practice and it looks like he's been moving around pretty good. Again, it pretty much has been two years, so we'll see how it works out. We'll give him a couple shots in there and see what he can do."

I remain vehemently opposed to the whole idea of Michael Vick even being a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, but nobody asked my opinion before he was signed. And so he will occupy a roster spot. If he's going to take up a roster spot, let's hope that he (a) makes some positive contributions to the team's success and (b) keeps his nose clean and doesn't do anything stupid along the way. If he does both, perhaps I might gain some respect for him.

Burying the Muts

After another absolutely stellar performance by Cliff Lee today, the Muts are now 57-68 and 16.5 games out of first place. Their lineup today featured the team's homer leader, Fernando Tatis, who has 6 homers this year. Cliff Lee raised his record with the Phils to 5-0, and dropped his National League ERA to a miniscule .68 after giving up only 2 unearned runs in 7 strong innings today. The Phils are now 72-50 and 7 games ahead of the second place Braves.

Best of all, Brad Lidge seems to have righted himself. He's now gone four straight outings without giving up an earned run, and has shaved half a run off his still-bloated ERA. If that's true, it couldn't have happened at a better time.

Ryan Howard blasted 2 homers today, including a three-run shot to the opposite field in the first inning. He now has 34 homers and 104 RBIS, and the big fella is on a real tear. He became only the second Phillies player ever to have four straight seasons of at least 30 homers and 100 RBI's; only Hall of Famer Chuck Klein had accomplished that feat before Howard topped the 100 RBI plateau today. Again, Howard's hot streak couldn't have happened at a better time.

Raul Ibanez had an RBI double today, and hopefully, that will be the beginning of the end of his protracted slump. If all goes according to script, the Phils will finish the season with four players with 30 or more homers (Howard, Ibanez, Werth, and Utley) and three with 100 or more RBI's (Howard, Uteley and Ibanez). Only a handful of teams have ever had four players with 30 or more big flies, so that would be a real plus for the Phils.

Now, it's off to Pittsburgh for a three-game set with a very bad Pirates team. The Phils can put some more distance between them and the rest of the division at the expense of the rebuilding Buccos.

A Wild and Wacky Win

First things first: any win over the New York Muts is a good win. Let's begin with that as the overarching premise. The Phillies beat the Muts 9-7 today, meaning that they are now 21 games over .500 and now enjoy a 6.5 game lead over Atlanta. The Muts, who were bragging about being the team to beat in spring training, are 10 games under .500 and are now 15.5 games out of first place.

Pedro Martinez went to 2-0, beating his old team. Martinez went six innings, giving up four runs, including an inside-the-park home run. Once again, the Phillies lit up Oliver Perez like a Christmas tree, including homers by Jayson Werth, who continues to be on a tear and how has 29 homers, and catcher Carlos Ruiz, who has hit homers in back-t0-back games.

The game also featured a typically nail-biting save by Brad Lidge, who gave up a run. This time, though, it was not Lidge's fault--the Phils made 2 errors behind him in the bottom of the 9th. Ryan Howard made a three-base error on the lead-off hitter, and then nearly completely useless Eric Bruntlett then kicked a ground ball that brought in a run. The next hitter, Daniel Murphy, got an infield single, and it looked like Lidge was going to blow another save.

And then the useless Eric Bruntlett--playing because Charlie Manuel gave Chase Utley a rare day off--did something VERY useful--he turned what was 15th unassisted triple play in the history of major league baseball, and only the second one to end a game. With Angel Pagan on second base and Murphy on first, Jeff Francouer hit a scorching line drive to Bruntlett, who snagged the liner, stepped on second base to double Pagan, and then chased down and tagged Murphy out for an unassisted triple play (second baseman Mickey Morandini was the only other Phil to do so, in 1992) to end the game. A frustrated Francouer slammed his helmet and bat to the ground at the plate. The photo is of Bruntlett tagging out Murphy to end the game.

"Frenchy hit it on the screws," Murphy said. "It happened so fast there was nothing I could do."

"What a bizarre ending. I don't know what happened there. The game's over, so I'm happy with that," Lidge said. "That was pretty exciting. That's definitely not the way you draw it up."

"Even with the runners going I did not expect him to be there. The only place he could catch the ball was where he was," Francouer said. "To end the way it did was a little disheartening."

And with that, Brad Lidge earned his 25th save and didn't give up an earned run for the third straight appearance. Perhaps he's finally starting to find some consistency. If so, it couldn't happen at a better time.

Bruntlett remains almost completely useless, although he did get 3 hits today, raising his awe-inspiring batting average all the way to .154. However, he does deserve kudos for turning the unassisted triple play to end the game. Good for you, Eric Bruntlett. You still have no place on a major league roster, but at least today, you earned your paycheck.

It's a Good Thing It Was Just a Preseason Game....

It's an awfully good thing that tonight's game between the Eagles and the Indianapolis Colts was just a preseason game, and didn't count for anything, because the Birds looked positively awful tonight. For one thing, not one of the starting offensive lineman played a snap tonight. Four of the five are injured. We're now two games into the preseason schedule, and the starting offensive line has yet to play together under game conditions. I am extremely concerned that they will start the season that way, which would not be good.

For another, fullback Leonard Weaver left the game with an injured knee in the first half, and I have no idea how serious that injury might be. The Eagles are really counting on Weaver, so his injury is a significant concern.

The defense looked a little shoddy in the first half. A blown coverage in the defensive secondary led to a 74 yard touchdown pass by Peyton Manning, and the Colts marched right down the field and scored on their first possession, meaning that the Eagles were down 14-0 before they knew what happened to them.

The offense fumbled on its first possession, but McNabb did engineer a nice touchdown drive that led to a 28-yard touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson, who split a seam in the Colts' zone for a nice scoring play. That, at least, was most promising.

All things considered, it wasn't an impressive performance by the Eagles against a very good Colts team. There are plenty of reasons to be concerned.

John Gonzalez of the Inquirer made a very interesting point in his column in today's paper. He points out that Charlie Manuel is keenly aware of the questioning of why he continues to stand by Brad Lidge as his closer after Lidge's inconsistency this year, but that Chollie really has no alternative but to use Lidge. Lidge has a major league-leading eight blown saves this year, only six away from the major league record. The bottom line is that, with Brett Myers still on the disabled list and J.C. Romero out, there really are no other options available. Since Ryan Madsen was even worse than Lidge as closer, Manuel really has nobody else to turn to.

He's very much aware that unless Lidge turns it around, or the Phillies find another closer (such as Billy Wagner), the Phillies will be in serious, serious trouble come October. Charlie's heard the questions coming from the likes of me. "I'm trying to find out what those options are," said Chollie. "I get a lot of help--suggestions." That's probably true--there are plenty of armchair quarterbacks like me out there.

So, the Phillies either need to get busy trying to find someone like Billy Wagner to take over the role of the closer, or they just need to suck it up and hope that Lidge gets his act together and becomes effective for the first time this season. Hey, a guy can hope, right?

Brilliant. Just Brilliant.

Just when I had written Jamie Moyer off, he was magnificent tonight. Pedro Martinez started and pitched three good innings before a long rain delay came along. Rather than try to send Martinez out there after that long rain delay, Charlie Manuel instead sent Jamie Moyer to the mound, and Moyer was brilliant tonight Just brilliant.

He threw six shutout innings, giving up just two hits and no walks. He had four strikeouts, and had the Arizona Diamondbacks in his back pocket. Moyer got his 11th win, and was just brilliant tonight, once again proving that someone who knows the art of pitching can win in the major leagues with an 80 MPH fastball that probably wouldn't break a pane of glass.

I have to tip my cap to Jamie Moyer tonight. The consummate professional, he was ready when called upon, and he performed magnificently when he got his chance. Nice work, Jamie. Thank you for a clutch performance when the team really needed you to step up.