Phillies Nation

Ugh 1:30 and I’m too fired up to sleep. Thanks Phils not named Moyer.

This one really hurts….. hopefully this lose doesn’t linger. Maybe it’s a good thing tomorrow is a day game and the dodger killer may also return to the lineup (Victornio)

I understand Charlie doesn’t want to hit Rollins down in the order (7 or 8) but I don’t get why he never ever hits him 2 when Victorino is rolling…..try it once please!!!

That one was definitely on Lidge. He cannot control that fastball!!!

He needs to go down to AAA to get his head on straight.

without the space

poor Phillies :(

Seriously Bob if you think tonight’s loss is Lidge’s fault you don’t watch nearly enough baseball. Sure, he made it closer than he had to but he got the game ending grounder and Pedro couldn’t make it happen. This is a team loss, as Tim said. There is no way around it. Dobbs should have knocked in an extra run, among others. Jimmy is also a major problem tonight. I also can barely sleep with that loss, and its a tough loss to end a winning streak but, hey, Moyer was awesome and if he keeps pitching like this we will be a tremendous team for the rest of the year. Let’s go get em tomorrow.

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????????????????

None of this is Lidge, well, very little. If we want to assess blame on him – ok – he should have buried three pitches in the dirt to get Ethier to swing and miss. He never would have been in it had Feliz made the play. In addition, the 1 for 14 RISP was the culprit. Lidge was put in a bad spot. Now, he needs to realize it was not his fault and ignore the blown save and loss. It is over and tomorrow is a new day for him. In addition, The Dodgers do this a lot. Broxton is 6-0, so that is 6 games they won in the 9th inning. While I blame all the Phillies not on the pitching staff, this Dodgers team is too good to strand 11 people score 3 runs. Let’s face it, if you let the Dodgers have opportunity, they’ll win.

I do agree about J-Roll. His defense is too valuable to bench him, but bat him 8th actually. I am a firm believer that your worst hitter should be 8th, not 9th as most managers bat their pitcher. The 9th place is almost a secondary leadoff type hitter – hence why the AL 9th place hitters are generally contact hitters and the 7th and 8th place hitters are your defensive guys. Here is my lineup if I were Charlie:

Victorino – CF
Utley – 2B
Ibanez – LF
Howard – RF
Feliz – 3B
Ruiz – C
Pitcher
Rollins – SS
Mayberry – RF (platooned with Werth – send down Taschner for a bit by default)

I know it is screwy, but the 7th and 8th hitters are the weakest.

You guys are all forgetting that Lidge is paid to come into spots like this–1 run lead in a tight game–and PERFORM. Forget the fact that the Phils squandered a billion runners on base. That is definitely a huge part of why they SHOUDN’T HAVE won. However, that is not the reason that they lost.

Remember–Lidge came in with a 1 run lead. Not a huge lead, but his job description is as the CLOSER. Someone to come into a close (1-3 run) game and finish the job.

The Feliz error–definitely a huge part of the loss. Remember though, Lidge put HIMSELF in a bad position with the other two guys on base with two outs. He threw a meatball to Ethier in a crucial situation and he crushed it.

If you want to give Feliz half of the blame here, I’ll buy that. However, there is a reason Lidge has FIVE blown saves this season–he is not locating his fastball. That was clearly evident tonight.

MP – well said with a good name… We will win some we shuold have lost here and there, and that is baseball for you. Good analysis my friend.

Yes!MP, MPs are awesome!

But seriously, anyone getting on Lidge: I was there the night he blew the first save after last year and everyone NEEDS to remember this: anyone can blow a save, but nobody can do what Brad Lidge did last year.

MP….K-Rod 15 for 15 thus far…he IS on his way

Pedro Feliz is on the team for defense. He already has two games this year that he single handedly lost with his crappy defense.

Every player has a bad day defensively, Feliz is still money at third.

I have been thinking about this Jimmy Rollins thing and I think he needs to be dealt with for not hitting. I agree with Mike above and I say move him down in the lineup. I also say maybe he should be put on the bench a few games and maybe he’ll start hitting (I know this is not an option…). If I remember right, the last time Charlie moved him down in the lineup, he started showing us why he belongs up top. It’s not punishment, it’s strategy.

Everyone has come around, except Jimmy and he needs to wipe that smile off his face while he is hanging out in the dugout.

SendThemDown: Are you crazy? Feliz is a gem on third base and you want him sent down for bobbling one play? Sorry, but we would not have needed the play if the Phillies (as a whole) would have brought in more of the 26 LOB

I get the they left all these runners on base last night, and Peter Happy made a big error, as well as Bruntlet, not an error but should have been an out. But if you watch this game, with the exception of Rolins(who hit one line drive Pierre ran down) Most of the outs with RISP where hit hard and not bad at bats, just at people, sometimes that happens. It is one loss, and it really does not matter how you lose, win as a team lose as a team. We are what 7 wins in last 10 games, can we not jump off bridges because the Phillies lose a game. Just come back tonight and win on for JB, and Peter Happy, and Bruntlett,(who by the way had 3? hits last night. Move on and win today.

Shag, I can’t completely agree with your statement that it doesn’t matter how you lose the game. Some losses are more disheartening than others, and for those of us that remember the ’64 crash and burn, it was the guy stealing home in a 0-0 game, the Phils went on to lose that game 1-0, and then the next 10 games to lose the division and playoff spot. I’m not saying last night’s game was anything like that or of that magnitude, but I just don’t agree that all losses are the same.

Yeah sure, we left men on base and Rollins was particularly bad and Pedro had a chance to end the game if he doesn’t commit the error but if Lidge doesn’t give up a hit a walk and another hit after getting the first two out, the game is over. Lidge needs to start all over again and get things straight. He should be send down to Clearwater at this point. It might help his confidence if he can get anyone out.

Pass some of what ever you are smoking over here Georgie, This team won a WFS, and what in the past 3 years has this team done to make you believe that they would let a bad loss get into their heads like that. That ’64 team never won anything before, and Yea I heard Vince Scully talk about that thursday night also. But come on these guys have proven more than once they don’t let Sh t like that bother them, Lidge blew a big save against the Yankees, came back let them tie the game the next time out, then turned around and saved his next four games. Get off there back, it is one loss, they mostly hit the ball hard with RISP, even Rollins had one good out, Raul was robbed of an rbi, Ryan hit a shot that got run down, two other sharp line drives early on in the game. It wasn’t like they were striking out, popping up, or hitting lazy ground balls. It is one game on the road if you win today it will all be forgotten. Remember the Mets loss on one earned run. Did that effect this team, that was a bigger loss than this one.
finally I can exhale thanks for the hit Georgie

Shag, impressive that you can say all that and hold your breath at the same time. Oh, and you’re welcome-lol.

How can Lidge not get sent down???? He has 5 blown saves! In 27 appearances! His ERA is 7.20! His WHIP is 1.87! This means he is getting about 2 guys on base every time he comes out and letting about 1 run score each innning! How is that acceptable???? To put it in perspective, he let 2 earned guys on base last night and let 2 earned runs score! So I guess he was right on his average, right?

Five blown saves is about right for a whole season. At this rate though, Lidge is projected for 15! MP, you need to get off Lidge’s jockey shorts because he is playing terrible. Yeah, the whole team minus Moyer played terrible last night, but they still put Lidge in a winning situation.

Lidge was hurt up to and during the period of successive blown saves, pitchers can’t just turn it on and off when health’s an issue and it takes time for a relievers body to catch up with his aggressiveness. You can’t just believe you can send guys down willy nilly just because Myers was demoted last year.

If anything Lidge should have gone to the DL earlier in the year and we’re going to pay for it at times. Can’t just turn into a pack of wolves on this guy every time he blows a save. Where’s the criticism of him not going to the DL to rehab his knee? or Charlie pitching him 4 days straight last week?

If your looking at stats then take things into perspective: Last 7 days including the blown save; 3.2IP, 3 saves, 1.09 WHIP

Bob – if you take that logic, we need to send down Jimmy to hit then, as well as Jayson Werth for not producing. Lidge statistically blew the save, but he did not blow the save.

Grrrumpy Miner – K-Rod is doing fine but the Mets have not had a huge need for him for the same reasons we had in LA – offense.

Lastly, this is ONE game. if you remmeber last year we blew 4 games in LA (not including NLCS of course). We already did better. We just have to go back and steal one as we have done 15 times this year and give Bradley a few Ws to even out his loss column. REMEMBER BROXTON HAS 6 WINS! This LA team is too good of a team to not get runners home. If he has 6 wins that means they won 6 games in the 9th inning (at least). Don’t blame Lidge – unless he reacts to this one. If he reacts to this one, then we have to deal with it – otherwise, let him alone.

I am going to seek permission to start my own Lidge defense website LOL

NJ – Little Guy and myself have been two of the biggest supporters throughout. I even stuck the #54 by my name so I would eat crow if Bradley let medown now LOL.

Seriously, I agree with your assessment.

Good lord, sorry I’m not an ingrate like you. I get that Brad has blown 5, but I’m not gonna send a first rate closer to AAA because of a bad game. I said nothing about Werth. But no one can pin last night on Lidge alone.

And Miner, K-Rod will blow a save eventually. You don’t actually think he’ll go the whole season without one?