11 Blown Saves and Counting....

Brad Lidge, also known as The Human Incendiary Device, got lit up like a Christmas tree last night, not only blowing his 11th save of the season, but also losing the game to the pesky Florida Marlins in the bottom of the 9th. Lidge came in with a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the 9th, promptly gave up a lead-off double, and ultimately gave up 3 more hits to blow the game. The Phils lost 7-6, wasting another decent but not overpowering effort by Cole Hamels and homers by Ryan Howard (his 42nd) and Raul Ibanez (his 33rd, tying his career high), as well as two RBI's by Hamels. Lidge is now 0-8, with a gruesome 7.48 ERA. And yet Charlie Manuel continues to trot this guy out there.

When the lead-off hitter hit his double and then advanced to third on a fly ball by the next hitter, I had an immediate sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, knowing that the the tying run was on third base with only one out, and because I just have no confidence at all in Lidge. Unfortunately, my fears were rapidly proved well-taken.

"Him and Madson, that's what we've got in the back end of the bullpen right now," explained Charlie. "He's struggling. At the same time, it's hard for us to close a game out. It's tough. It's kind of what we've got. I mean, I've got confidence in him. I keep running him out there. Hopefully he does the job. I pull like hell for him every time he goes out there, believe me."

I understand pulling like hell for him, but I don't understand the confidence. Lidge has demonstrated that he's not worthy of that confidence now. "It's frustrating," admitted Lidge. "I'm disappointed. They hit the ball tonight and did a good job. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a chance to get something started again." I hope not. We can't afford it.

A little of Charlie Manuel's frustration crept through last night, which is no surprise. "The bottom line is, when you're winning going into the ninth, you have to win the game," he declared. "The big thing is we're not closing the game out. When you're leading going into the eighth and ninth, you're supposed to win a high percentage of those. I don't know exactly what the percentage is, but it's...damn high." The problem is that with Brett Myers, Chan Ho Park, and J. C. Romero all out injured, Manuel has few options available other than Madson and Lidge. Madson has not set the world on fire as a closer, either, so there really aren't many moves available to the manager. Perhaps it's time to give Sergio Escalona a shot, because he can't do any worse.

Manuel is, of course, absolutely correct about that. The problem is that with the 2009 version of Brad Lidge, it's not going to happen. The bottom line is that a team with no effective closer has almost no chance of succeeding in the post-season where pitching makes all the difference. I hate to admit that, but it's the truth.

As the regular season winds down with performances like last night's, I hold out little hope for the prospects of repeating as World Series champions.

And the Magic Number is Now 6....

The Phils beat the Atlanta Braves 4-2 yesterday in a rain-delayed game. A nearly two-hour rain delay cost Cliff Lee another win, as the rains came halfway through the fifth inning, and Lee was unable to return after the lengthy rain delay. Lee pitched four solid innings, giving up one run on five hits. Instead, Tyler Walker, who pitched two innings, got the win. In the process, the Phillies snapped Braves' rookie Tommy Hanson's scoreless inning streak at 19. They tagged Hanson for seven hits and four earned runs.

Lee didn't want to come out of the game, even after the delay. "I let them know I wanted to go back out there, but I'm not going to sit there and argue with them over it," he said. "I wanted to go out and they know I wanted to go out. They were saying it's not really worth the risk. We still won the game, so it doesn't really matter."

The bullpen did an excellent job. "We got some good work out of our bullpen," declared Charlie Manuel. "We got some good work our first night in here, and we got some good work today." Brad "Light 'Em Up" Lidge got his 31st save, but it was yet another shaky and unpredictable performance by him. Lidge gave up a walk to Brooks Conrad, who then advanced to second base as a result of Lidge's not watching him. Conrad then scored on Brian McCann's single. Lidge then retired the side by striking out Nate McLouth to notch the save, but by giving up the run to Conrad, his ERA puffed up to a really hideous 7.24, which is, by far, the highest ERA of any major league closer. It's not even close.

Shane Victorino was ejected in the second inning after arguing being called out while trying to steal second base. Although he only played two innings, at least it wasn't as a result of still being under the weather from a stomach virus that caused him to miss the two previous games. Carlos Ruiz, who sprained his wrist last week, missed another game, with Paul Bako doing the catching.

We also learned why Brett Myers hasn't appeared in a game in over a week. "He's got some soreness in the back of his shoulder," declared Ruben Amaro, Jr., the team's general manager. "We've been kind of protecting him. I guess he sustained it about eight or 10 days ago....He's scheduled to see (team physician) Mike Ciccotti on Tuesday to see of there is anything really serious about it. [The training staff] is saying it's a possible strain." Let's hope that it's not anything serious, as the Phillies will need a healthy and effective Myers int he post season.

The Marlins lost, meaning that the magic number is now 6. The Phils are off tomorrow, and then have a three game set against the Fish. If they sweep the series, it's over. Let's hope that the Phillies will be celebrating in Miami this week.

Defense? What Defense?

With the combination of the death of defensive coordinator/guiding light Jim Johnson, and the departure of Brian Dawkins, the unquestioned leader of the defense, I have had serious concerns about the viability of the Eagles' defense all season. Once middle linebacker Stewart Bradley went down with a blown ACL early in training camp, the depth of my concern only grew. The defense played beyond my wildest expectations last week against the Carolina Panthers, and deceived me about how good the defense really is. Today, Sean McDermott's defense showed its true colors, and believe me, it wasn't pretty. Not pretty at all.

Today, the defense ran into the superb Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints, and Brees ate them for lunch. The Birds lost really, really ugly today, 48-22. In many ways, they were their own worst enemies--they fumbled the second half kick0ff on their own 20 yard line, and New Orleans immediately took the ball in and scored. Kevin Kolb also had an interception returned 95 yards for a touchdown in the closing moments of the game. The defense was just atrocious. It allowed Brees to go 25/34 for 311 yards and 3 touchdowns, and gave up a total of 421 yards of offense. The defensive line got almost no pressure on Brees. He was sacked a couple of times, and knocked down a couple of times, but it wasn't enough to rattle a cool customer like Drew Brees. For a team that lives and dies by its defense, those numbers just are not acceptable.

"We're the team that we had last week," said safety Quintin Mikell. "This week, it's almost a game where you gotta watch the film, learn from it and move on. That's just not what we do around here. We were playing on our heels. We weren't playing aggressive. You can't do that against a good team. And they're a good team. They came out and they made a lot of good plays. But I feel like we're a good team too. We just didn't play our best game tonight." That's for absolutely certain. If that was their best game, it's going to be an ugly season.

Kevin Kolb did better than I might have hoped. He went 31/51 for 391 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. One of those touchdowns was a 71-yarder to DeSean Jackson in the first quarter, that happened when the Saints blew a coverage and Jackson found a seam and got free. The Eagles also made good use of the Wildcat formation during the first half, gaining some decent yardage with it, but as soon as the Saints got a lead, Marty Morninhweg stopped calling it and stuck with a conventional offensive set. Kolb showed some maturity in the wake of the loss. "There really are a lot of things I can learn from and do better at," he said after the game. "It's a shame." About his three interceptions, he said, "The last one is Hail Mary, the other two, they were bad throws. I left them inside. You can't do that on those routes. That's on the first page of the quarterback book. It upsets me that I made errors. To be fair, Kolb probably played well enough to earn another start next week if Donovan McNabb is not ready to go. The offense wasn't great--coughing up four big turnovers--but it wasn't terrible, either. I'm not particularly worried about the ability of the Birds to put points on the board, even though Brian Westbrook appears to have injured his ankle. In spite of it all, they will score plenty of points this season.

Andy Reid was very blunt in his assessment of the game. "An absolutely horrendous performance," he correctly stated. "We made too many mistakes. That's my responsibility. Wasn't right today, and phase of it...The first half, we had way too many penalties. We were lucky enough to keep it close. We came out in the second half and turnovers, penalties, and everything else. That's my responsibility. It's my football team. It's my job to make sure they play better than that." Let's hope he does so, and quickly.

I am very, very worried about the defense, or lack thereof. If they don't find a way to play more like they did in the season opener, when they had a slew of turnovers, it's going to be a VERY long and unpleasant season for the Eagles, and it's upon the shoulders of the coaching staff to turn this around and get the defense straightened out before next week's game, or it could be another long and unpleasant day again next Sunday.

The Dominating Cole Hamels is Back

Cole Hamels pitched 8 dominating innings last night, giving up only four hits, one run, and one walk while striking out 10 and delivering an RBI single. The Phils won, 4-2, improving their record to 85-60. They now have a 7.5 game lead and their magic number is 10. They've won 8 of their last 10 games and seem to be on a roll. They are on a pace to finish with 95 regular season wins, which would exceed last year's World Series championship season mark by 3 (last year's team finished the regular season at 92-70). "That's why people come to see us play. We're an exciting team to watch," observed Jayson Werth of the team's 35th consecutive sellout last night. "We can play different styles at any point."

The starting pitching, in particular, has been absolutely superb for the past several weeks. He's 3-1 with a 1.43 ERA in his last 5 starts. Hamels has reduced his ERA from 4.78 to 4.07 as a result of three straight excellent outings, and appears destined to end the season with an ERA below 4.0 after hovering at or above 5.0 for most of the season. Hamels has gotten hot at just the right moment, as the team makes its stretch run for the playoffs and World Series.

The team seems to understand where things stand. "You have to enjoy it," said Hamels. "It's being out there. Knowing what's at stake. I bear down better." Indeed he has, and at just the right time of the season for it to really count.

Brad Lidge got his 30th save of the season by pitching the 9th inning. Lidge gave up a run after a triple that actually skipped off the glove of a diving Jayson Werth, playing centerfield after Shane Victorino left the game due to gastrointestinal distress. Other than that fluke hit, Lidge had strong stuff and seemed to be in command of it, which is a hopeful sign as the Phils head for the regular season finish line with 17 games left to play. "The last couple of outings have been real constructive," said Lidge. "I can definitely use a few more outings."

We can only hope that Lidge's turn-around is for real. He and Ryan Madson have combined for 16 blown saves this year, and it doesn't appear that Brett Myers is ready to close. "Watching him the three or four times we've run him out there, he's not quite ready," said manager Charlie Manuel of Myers. "He still has some problems at times...it's kind of like he's back in spring training. He's not 100 percent. He has soreness, which is kind of normal because he missed so much time. Right now, he's not ready to be turned loose." Although Manuel wouldn't rule out using Myers as a closer in the postseason, it's clear that he's not counting on him being available or ready. And so the Phillies will either sink or swim with Lidge.

Time will tell. The Phils now have 17 games in 17 days to close the regular season, with a series against the banged-up Atlanta Braves beginning tonight.

The Magic Number is 11.....

The Phils came within one out of doing something that they haven't done in 40 years last night...Tyler Walker gave up a run in the top of the 9th inning, keeping the Phils from posting three straight shutouts for the first time since 1969. Instead, they won 6-1, behind 6 gritty innings by Joe Blanton, who ran his record to 10-7.

The Phils scored their first run on a double steal by Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. Utley stole home and Howard second. As an added benefit of his weight loss, the big fella has 7 steals this year; he had 2 in his career before this year. Utley also stole second base later in the game, giving him 21 for the season. Jayson Werth's breakout year continues, as he hit a grand slam in the 7th inning for his 34th homer of the season. He now has 88 RBI's and should finish with at least 90 for the season.

There's no glory in beating the incredibly woeful Nationals, who now have 95 losses for the season and seem a sure bet to lose at least 105 games this year. However, championship teams have to do well against the second division teams, and the Phils have feasted on the Nationals this year. They have one more to go against the Nats tonight. The Phillies are now 24 games over .500, tying their highest winning percentage of the season to date.

And the good news is that Clay Condrey was activated from the disabled list after a lengthy stay, and J. A. Happ will make his first start since September 2 on Friday night. The starting pitching has been spectacular for the last week. Greg Dobbs, the excellent pinch hitter and utility man, also returned from a lengthy stay on the disabled list yesterday, too. Things are really beginning to look up for the prospects for the postseason.

The bad news is that Chan Ho Park, who has been excellent since going to the bullpen, suffered a badly pulled hamstring last night when he felt something pop. He will be out indefinitely, and may very well miss the postseason as a result. He's been effective, and will be missed.

Goodbye and Good Riddance to Shawn Andrews

Once upon a time, Shawn Andrews was an All Pro offensive lineman. A first round draft choice of the Eagles, Andrews turned out to be a real head case. It began last year, when Andrews missed a big chunk of the season battling depression and then having back surgery. When he did return to the team, Andy Reid shifted him from his natural position, guard, to right tackle, and he proved to be the linchpin of an improved offensive line. However, Andrews is flighty and mercurial, and he seems to be far more interested in becoming a hip hop artist than in playing football, more hipster than offensive force to be reckoned with. Andrews has posted several bizarre videos on YouTube, including an especially strange one called Get Your Michael Phelps On".

This summer, he claimed to be having back problems, and tweaked his back running wind sprints at training camp. Although he was medically cleared to play, Andrews claimed he was in too much pain to take the field, and that proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Yesterday, the Eagles placed Andrews on injured reserve for the season, meaning that his career with the Birds is probably over. "Despite receiving medical clearance from back specialist Dr. Robert Watkins late in the summer, Andrews was unable to overcome back pain to get on the field in the days leading up to the opening game of the regular season in Carolina," said a team statement. Read between the lines: Andrews was unwilling to play hurt. In a game where playing hurt is the norm--remember that Donovan McNabb once played an entire game on a broken leg--Andrews doesn't have the heart or the character to do so. A professional football team has no place for someone without the heart and commitment to do what it takes to win.

The fact is that the Eagles have a lot of trouble with the offensive line. With Andrews and Todd Herremans out, the offensive line is the team's biggest question mark. That the Eagles have washed their hands of Andrews under these circumstances plainly says that Andy Reid has had enough of Andrews and that he doesn't view him as worth tying up a roster spot. As columnist John Smallwood put it, "This is the Eagles throwing their hands in the air. This is Reid acknowledging he misread Andrews' commitment to the Eagles. It's cauterizing a wound before the body bleeds out. It's the right move. A football team cannot thrive with players like Shawn Andrews around. The bond in a locker room comes from each player believing that each of his teammates is willing to sacrifice for the whole."

Clearly, Shawn Andrews was not willing to make that sacrifice, and clearly, Andy Reid decided it was time to remove a cancer from the locker room, much as he did with Terrell Owens. Good riddance.

Jeff Garcia Redux

With Donovan McNabb down with a broken rib, the Eagles surprised me yesterday and signed their former back-up quarterback, Jeff Garcia, who was cut by the Oakland Raiders last week. During his last stint with the Eagles, Garcia had a great run, leading the team into the playoffs after McNabb went down with a blown ACL. Garcia did a great job, and then left the team to seek greener pastures and a starting position, because he was not going to be the starter in Philadelphia once McNabb returned. He spent several years as the starting quarterback for the woeful Raiders, and was cut at the end of training camp this year. It looked like the end of the road for the 39-year-old Garcia. And then McNabb had a rib broken on a cheap shot after the play ended, and an opportunity for Garcia to resurrect his career arrived.

With Michael Vick not eligible to play this week, and the unproven and unimpressive Kevin Kolb scheduled to start this week, the team needed a back-up quarterback. The Eagles tried to re-sign A. J. Feeley, whom they cut last week, but Feeley had already signed with the Carolina Panthers and was not available. Given the terrible quarterback situation in Charlotte, I certainly can't blame Feeley for seeking out and getting the best deal he could, and I wish him well. He's always been a good guy and a capable back-up, and I hope he finds success with the Panthers.

So, with Feeley unavailable, the Eagles snapped up Garcia. The signing prompted a positive response from McNabb. "Adding Jeff Garcia to the roster is a great idea," wrote McNabb in a statement posted on his blog last night. "He knows our offense and how we do things around here. He's a great teammate, and I look forward to working with him again."

Andy Reid said, "Jeff's going to come on board with us for who knows how long here. We're lucky that Jeff was available. Someone who knows the offense, has been very, very successful in the offense, and can come in and also be a positive influence for Kevin Kolb and everyone else int he locker room. It's a unique situation because Michael [Vick] is suspended for a week and Donovan's banged up. So we don't know how long Donovan's going to be and at the same time we need a second quarterback in there if needed this weekend."

Garcia was his usual classy self. "I am excited to come back to the organization, not excited to come back due to Donovan's injury," he stated. "But I am looking forward to contributing any way I can, whether it's for a week or two weeks or the entire season." The truth is that I would really prefer to see Garcia as the starter this week than Kevin Kolb, because I have this sneaking suspicion that Kolb is never going to get any better than what he is now, which not very good at all. I hope I'm wrong about that, but Garcia at least is a proven commodity and a proven winner. Kolb is untested and unknown, and I have little faith in him.