Phillies Nation

Charlie is more stubborn than my mom. He needs someone to slap him a few times to get his head on straight.

I hate these late game losses just like everyone else, but let’s just try to trust Charlie on this one. It’s a long season, and if Lidge is out there, we need to support him. Let’s not make this another guy we boo out of Philadelphia. Or at least let’s give him til the All Star Break before we start…

The Phillies need more of an agressive manager not a mister nice guy.Get tougher Charlie especially on Lidge and Rollins.

I guess that is why you are the rookie

Michael seems to be in the minority. While most of us are skeptical, we are not calling for Lidge to go or Charlie to retire. By my count there are 4 people out of many that are saying it. I trust Charlie more, we are WFCs.

How about Amaro getting us another bench bat. That’s his job, not Charlie’s.

Chollie will be changing his tune soon enough. Maybe taking Lidge out of the 9th will help the confidence. Plus, they have Madson to take over, they cannot keep losing games this way. Not only is it rough on Lidge, but on the rest of the team too. It can have a snowball affect.

How about sending Lidge and Cholly down to Reading for ten days?. That way Cholly could continue to manage with his heart and Lidge could blow some saves that won’t hurt the big team. Forget last year for a moment – if Lidge had been pitching the way he is now last year, would there even be a discussion about using Madson as the closer. If Cholly was managing the way he is now last year, would he still be the manager??? What about the starters that are coming on strong of late? How deflating it must be to know that the manager will be using Lidge in the 9th because he doesn’t want to destroy his confidence. Cholly, if today’s game is on the line with Ethier at the plate, please use your brain and not your heart – don’t pitch to him! Send
em both to Reading!

i like lidge but imagine if ryan madson was our closer..with the way he’s been pitching, that would be awesome!

I am a man of reason: I agree, and I said this before, I have no problem “resting” Lidge for two weeks – DL or not and making Madson the closer while Lidge regrips. I am just NOT ready to give up on hi in the least. I still think he can do it.

OH and I don’t come crying anywhere, I have proven that when I am wrong (and I am sometimes), I admit it, eat crow and move on.

I totally agree with AZ Mike. He is right on his assessments.

Hey listen guys. I know its tough and it hurts so bad. First we dont know how Madson will react in the 9th inning. He did get his butt kicked a few weeks ago. Lidge did wonders for us last year. He has run into bad luck. We need to back him. Hey there were guys we had no buisness winning this year so it evens out at the end of the year. Lets relax. The good news is we have had the lead in the 9th the last 6 games. Lets let him do his job. Its so easy to say get him out. Just like the kicker that misses his field goal. Come on guys give him support. We will be fine.

Charlie Manuel really needs to open his damn eyes!

Gentle Readers. I can only think of one equivalent in another pro sport to the closer in baseball and that would be the kicker in football. In crunch time, and with reasonable field position, the kicker is expected to kick that field goal to put your team ahead by nine or to come from behind to put your team in a lead. Its pressure. If David Akers missed field goal after field goal to contrubuted in largest part to Eagles losses the, Andy Reid would pull his ass so fast it would make your head spin. The closer, like the kicker, is a “what have you done for me lately” position and rightly so. Your performance is narrow, highly specialized, and compressed into very short periods of time in crucial situations. You cannot “work things out” when you are in a position where wins and losses are DIRECTLY and IMMEDIATELY based on YOUR preformance. No way. Lidge needs to go to the 7th or 8th to “work things out”. Thank you for last year Brad. I hope he pulls it together soon. We need him. But if and when Charlie pulls him, I bet down in his heart of hearts, Lidge won’t blame him one bit.

The Dipsy

I’m not. I’m in the “Get Results” camp.

The Dipsy

where do we go from here: personally I wanna see Lidge on the mound in the 9th tonight closing out a close game. Call me crazy, and I know many will, but I’m not going to forget who Brad Lidge is. He has been, and still will be a dominant closer. for many many more years.

I used the kicker analogy dispsey. you stole mine. booooo…get them lidge. make everyone a loser on here..you da man

Charlies keeps thinking that tomorrow Lidge will turn the corner….well if we are fortunate enough to even make the playoffs…there is no more tomorrow. Imagine how different things would have been if Lidge had blown just one save vs the Dodgers or even the Rays. You can’t send Lidge to the minors, you just can’t. Can you swap him and Madson. Yes, should Charlie do that? Probably. It would have been one thing for Lidge to give up a homer vs Manny or Either, or even Blake…but Furcal? The guy had one homer all friggin year, and it was against a lefty. Sorry, no excuse for that.

I am in the relax a bit camp, yes Lidge has been bad, I don’t get the 4-5 mph thing, did he pitch in the high 90′s last year, His fastball is 93-94 yesterday according to FOX. He is not locating it very well when he needs to. IMO the DL for two weeks works, dosn’t hurt his confidence, and throw him back out there after a few rehab starts. Pay a doctor to tell him he needs to rehab for his knee sake.
Saying that I agree with Charlie, keep throwing him out there. If you demote him to the 8th he will never come back.
If he is still blowing saves up to the All Star break then start worrying and move on. But closer are a psyco bunch of guys, If he can get two or three saves against a good team he will be back. Like always, some not all, fans have to be patient. I like what I am hearing hear today, mostly positive, with some good criticism, Lidge is not getting traded or move out of the closer role unless it is to the DL. Live with it, and see where it takes us. Patience please people

I haven’t read all of the comments, but I found some really stupid ones at the beginning. First, Pat Gallen, moving Lidge out of the closer’s role to the 7th or 8th inning won’t help him at all if he isn’t going to get people out. The only thing that’s going to change is that he’d blow the lead they have in the 7th or 8th instead of the 9th and Madson would never leave the pen. One thing that gets lost on people about Lidge is he’s having a really hard time putting people away. A lot of his problems have happened with two strikes and two outs. Hitters aren’t chasing his slider and forcing him to throw his fastball and they crush it. He needs to come up with another pitch maybe try throwing his cutter that he keeps working on.
And for the idiot calling for a more intense manager see Bowa,Larry. He was as intense as any manager in baseball and made twice as many dumb moves as Manuel has and his players hated him. If you like winning 86 games a year again, then by all means get rid of Charlie.

anybody who calls to get rid of chollie needs to have his phillies fan card revoked, be banned from the ballpark, and have his head examined.

Agree Ryan. When we start winning streak again, will you guys still be calling for Charlie & Lidge’s head? RELAX.We still have 3 and half months of baseball left to play. We can split this series. Have a little faith in our guys, they had a rough two days. Some of you are acting like they prefer to lose, and Lidge prefers to blow saves. Maybe a 15- day stint on the DL would be best for Lidge, but he’s no second rate closer, and should not be demoted because of a rough outing.

I can’t take it anymore. Yes, Lidge deserves our support, and I will always be the last to boo him. But this is about WINNING GAMES, not showcasing pitches. I don’t care if he has good stuff – that stuff isn’t getting anybody out these days. I do not say that Lidge will never be successful again. His only chance at picking up the pieces will come if he steps back from the role for a while and gives Madson or Romero a chance. I sound like a broken record, but will say it until it is acknowledged: Manuel will support Lidge more by taking him out of ninth inning obligation. Otherwise, Lidge will get some saves here and there, but blow games that could make the difference between a momentous return to the playoffs and an early trip to the offseason. Madson has better stuff, a lower ERA, a lower average against him, fewer hits, fewer walks (I think), better command – it ought to be a no-brainer. Manuel has been a warm gentleman to his players and stuck through some scathing criticism, but this decision of his is just no good. I just hope that it does not get to the point where he has to change closers because keeping leads is no longer important.

I have supported Lidge through his funk and will continue to do so. But there comes a time when he should be on a very short leash and that time is now. Another blown save in the next few games and they should sit him for a stretch.

I think he has run into some bad luck this year as well as pitching bad. Furcal’s home run just glanced off Werth’s glove. The night before was Feliz’ error. ARoid’s home run just cleared the fence in right. Last year he would give up runs but only when the team was ahead. His defense bailed him out a couple of times.

I expect him to correct his problems soon enough. Time will tell. In the mean time, keep a close eye on him and keep him on a short leash.

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