MAKE IT 4 AHEAD!

COLE HAMELS! BRAD LIDGE! LOL HEYWARD!

ROYS IN THE HOOD ON THE MOUND FOR THE NEXT 2 GAMES! PLEASE EXCUSE ME WHILE I CLEAN UP THE MESS IN MY PANTS!

Some Things Never Change

On a day with Cliff Lee to the Mets trade rumors and Chase Utley and Placido Polanco got sent to the DL and Greg Dobbs and Brian Bocock were called up, all is well that ends well.

Brian Schneider and Wilson Valdez each hit a 3 run HR for the Phillies in the early going of tonight's game at Cincinnati only to see that lead slowly chipped away at. By the 9th inning, it was 6-3 Phillies with Brad Lidge on the mound trying to get the save. One 3-run HR later, the game was tied and Brad Lidge had blown yet another save. With a little bit of help on a ground ball the very next pitch, the Phillies got out of the inning tied.

And it is at that point, the magic began happening. Enter Arthur Rhodes, a Cincinnati Reds pitcher who had not allowed a run in over 30 innings. Howard gets on base. Werth gets on base. Ibanez doubles Howard home. Francisco singles home Werth. Valdez squeezes home Ibanez. 9-6 Phillies. J.C. Romero pitched the 10th and got the save that Brad Lidge blew. But the night was not a complete loss for Lidge, he is the winning pitcher in this game! (hey, folks, this is why wins and losses for a pitcher are the single most pointless stat in sports).

Anyway, moving on to the Phillies biggest rival, the New York Mets. The team that started out so happy at the thought they might be trading for Cliff Lee had a valiant comeback to tie the game against the Marlins at 6 in the top of the 9th. Unfortunately for the Mets, the bottom of the 9th happened and Hanley Ramirez hit a walkoff.

The day may have started somber, but when it comes to on the field happenings, some things never change.

Kyle Kendrick Will Be Pitching In The Starting Rotation After All

The Phillies have to be playing some sort of bad April Fools Joke or something. Joe Blanton is not Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee. But there is one thing that he is good for and that is 190 innings per year of consistent and above average pitching. Well so much for that. Joe Blanton is starting the year on the DL and will be out for three to six weeks. Do not despair though as this means victory for Team Kendrick! Grandpa Moyer may be in the line up as well, but Kyle Kendrick is in the starting rotation for the start of the season. From Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki's blog, The Zo Zone.

The Phillies announced this morning that right-hander Joe Blanton has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a mildly strained left oblique muscle.

He is expected to miss anywhere from three to six weeks. The best case scenario is Blanton rejoins the rotation sometime during the Phillies' nine-game road trip April 20-28 through Atlanta, Arizona and San Francisco. In the meantime, Kyle Kendrick joins the rotation. Expect Andrew Carpenter to take Kendrick's place in the bullpen.

Blanton, who has never been on the DL in his career until today, strained the muscle while throwing in the bullpen yesterday. He will not throw again until April 8 at the earliest.

"We'll progress him as tolerated," team physician Michael Ciccotti said.

The biggest issue here is not the fact that Blanton is missing the first 3 to 6 weeks of the season, but rather that an oblique injury is an injur that can be recurring and can hamper a guy throughout the year once he does return to the line up. The season has not even started yet and the injury bug is already starting to bite the Phils pitching staff. In addition to Blanton, both Brad Lidge and J.C. Romero will be starting the season on the DL. Sigh.

Happy Rocktober, Everybody!!!

WOW! What a roller coaster ride of a baseball game! After leading 2-1 for a good part of the game, the Colorado Rockies rallied in the bottom of the 8th inning to take a 2-run lead and at that point, my heart just sunk. For if a Game 5 is forced, we lose Hamels for the start of the potential NLCS series, thus making our Game 1 starter of that series either Happ or Blanton or Pedro and Hamels would not be able to go until much later in the series. Oh, and yeah, if Colorado hangs on, they have all of the momentum coming back to Philly. And with a sinker ball pitcher in Aaron Cook on the mound, a style of pitching that the Phillies have struggled with this year, there is no way we win that game.

But then, the Phillies staged a rally that will be remembered for a long time in Philadelphia and perhaps an even longer time in Denver. With 2 outs and 2 strikes on him, Chase Utley did a masterful job of working the walk to join Shane Victorino on base. Then Howard came up, and faced with a 1-2 count, this happened.



That double evened things up! But wait, the Phillies were not done yet. Jayson Werth was at the plate and then the even more improable happened. Jayson Werth singled to score Ryan Howard from 2nd to give the Phillies a 5-4 lead

Into the bottom of the 9th, instead of relying on their closer, Manual got smart and did what the Rockies did not do and play the match-ups (if the Rockies were playing match-ups, they would have never let Huston Street pitch against Howard)), instead they brought in Scott Eyre to face the lefty-laden line-up of the Rockies that was due up. Only once they got to Tulo, did Brad Lidge come in and despite the fact that there were runners on base, Brad Lidge struck out Troy Tulowitzki to end the inning, game, and NLDS series.



Simply an amazing comeback. It may just be the NLDS and the Phillies may have much higher expectations than surviving a series with the Rockies, but anytime you get a playoff win like that, it is going to excite the city and excite the town and give the Phillies all of the momentum they could ask for heading into the a re-match of the 2008 NLCS in the 2009 NLCS.

The series starts on this Thursday. I will have the full and complete LCS schedule up for you all tomorrow.

For all videos at MLB.com where they are in high quality, including the Werth single that I can't find at the moment, click here.

Random Thoughts About Last Night And The End Of The Regular Season

We all know how the Phillies game ended last night, but I am curious as to your thoughts on this. I'll be honest, when Charlie Manual put in Brad Lidge at the end of the game, I was thinking to myself why on earth was he doing it and what the fuck was going on. But now that it has been a day and the more I think about it, the more I come to feel that that was one of the best things that Charlie Manual has done all year. Brad Lidge is currently at a real low point in his career and he had nothing but confidence to be gained. It was 1-pitch, it was a ground ball, and just like that, it was over. And while at that point, the division was technically over, I can tell you that no one knew that the Marlins had won. The scoreboard, according to Franzke and Anderson, had not indicated that that game was final before the last pitch. Surely only later in the night did the Phillies find out they were division champs before Lidge threw his one pitch. But the bottom line is after having a nightmarish year and going from hero to goat in Philly, if for one night only, Brad Lidge was once again embraced, loved, and cheered, and forget mechanics, whether he is closer or not in the post-season, that may be what Brad Lidge needed to get him back to his 2008 form.

Here's a thought: The Los Angeles Dodgers still have not clinched the NL West title. And here's another thought, Rockies, who play the Dodgers in their last series, win out, the Rockies will be NL West champions, after the Dodgers dominated 1st place in the NL West all year.

The Twins have a pulse, if nothing else. They started the series 2-games behind the Tigers and that is where they have ended up afterward. The downside for them now is that instead of 7 games to work with, they only have 3 and are counting on some help from the Chicago White Sox to beat the Twins as they have to play flawless against the Royals, which includes a Saturday meeting with Zach Greinke.

Rejoice Again, Philadelphia! Ryan Madson Is Going To Be The Interim Closer!

All I'll say is that it's about damn time! Once again, from the Philadelphia Inquirer

Madson is the Phils' new closer. He inherited the job when Brad Lidge gave in to the obvious yesterday: Power pitchers who don't have full use of their push leg are no longer power pitchers. They're batting-practice pitchers.

[....]

Benefiting from improved conditioning and dedication to his craft - not to mention many pep talks from Lidge - Madson went from a solid reliever to a spectacular reliever late last season and in the postseason. His fastball jumped 3 or 4 m.p.h. and hit 97 m.p.h. on occasion. That made his already excellent change-up that much more effective.

In short, Madson showed closer's stuff during his emergence as an eighth-inning shutdown man. He seemed to be lining up to be a very attractive closer possibility on the free-agent market after this season, but he opted instead for the financial security of a three-year, $12 million deal - good money, but not top closer money.

Now we get to see how much Madson left on the table.

Now we get to see if he really has closer's stuff.

Oh, the arm and the stuff are there. There's no question about that. But does Madson have the stomach to close for who knows how long? Can he close in big games against the Mets and the Red Sox (this weekend) and the Blue Jays after that? Can he close in a pennant race? The Phillies hope that question becomes irrelevant. They hope Lidge returns, in top form, by that time. But you never know, especially with a knee that's been operated on twice and continues to swell.

The Phils are fortunate that J.C. Romero is back from his suspension to help fortify the back end of the bullpen with Lidge out and Madson elevated. If Madson fails, Romero could close. He certainly has the stomach to do it.

But for now, the job belongs to Madson. He has earned the opportunity.

Like I said, it's about damn time! With the way that Lidge has been struggling and the way that Madson has just been lights out as an 8th inning set-up man, here's hoping that Madson can win the job permanently in the next 15-days. Madson had a chance to walk away last off-season and sign as a closer with another team, instead he stayed with Philadelphia and settled for a smaller amount of money than he could have gotten elsewhere. And as far as the pressure goes, Madson says that he is ready.

"This year, yeah, more than the previous years, just because in the playoffs and World Series, every inning was big," Madson said before the Phillies opened a three-game series against the New York Mets at Citi Field. "I'm more prepared this year than I have been in the past."

With a searing fastball that frequently reaches 96 m.p.h. and a paralyzing change-up, Madson leaves little doubt that he has a closer's arsenal. He has had three save opportunities this season, blowing one. Overall, though, he has been outstanding. Madson went into last night's game with 12 straight scoreless appearances covering 102/3 innings. He had inherited five runners and allowed none to score. He had not allowed a run since May 16 and had given up only seven in his 29 appearances. Madson was 2-1 with a 2.22 ERA.

"I could have just done my thing in the seventh and eighth innings for the next couple years and been happy with that, but now I have to get it done so [Lidge] doesn't feel the pressure to rush back because we'll need him," Madson said.

Madson said the main difference between being a setup man and a closer is that a closer knows he is definitely going to pitch in certain situations.

"I guess it's nice to know when you'll definitely be coming in for one inning," he said.

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel sounded confident that Madson could do the job.

"He's definitely got the talent and I think he's earned a shot," Manuel said. "If Brad can't go, he's definitely the guy I want to put in there."

And Madson is definitley the guy I want in there, more so than Lidge. Whenever Lidge comes in anymore, I get tense and nervous, but when Madson pitches an inning, I feel relaxed, knowing that any damage done to the Phillies on the scoreboard will be minimal. This is Madson's chance to make it big. Go get 'em kid, the whole city is rooting for you.

Rejoice, Philadelphia! Brad Lidge Has Been Placed On The DL

This may be the best bit of news that the Phillies have gotten all-season long. Brad Lidge has a sprained right knee and has subsequently been placed on the disabled list. Via the AP.

Philadelphia Phillies closer Brad Lidge has gone on the 15-day disabled list because of a sprained right knee.

The move was announced before Tuesday's series opener at the New York Mets and was retroactive to Sunday.

Lidge is 13 for 19 in save attempts this season with an 0-3 record and 7.27 ERA in 28 games. Last year, he was 41 for 41 in save chances as Philadelphia won its second World Series title and first since 1980.

And while I certainly wish the man the best of luck on his recovery, this is the best thing that could have happened to the Phillies in regards to him. Lidge has gone from hero to goat in this city faster than Professor McGonagall could wave her wand and make Draco Malfoy a goat. His performances all season long have been piss poor and the luck that he had last year when people got on base on him has been utterly nonexistent this year. And now is also the time for Ryan "8th Inning Set Up Man" Madson to not come in the 8th inning but rather the 9th inning and close games out from there. The kid just has some lights out stuff and it also works to his advantage that he was a starter a few years back so if the Phillies decide they want to ride Madson for 2 innings, he should have no problem pulling out a 4, 5, or 6 out save, something that IIRC, Lidge only did once in his Philly tenure and that was Game 4 of the NLCS.

The Streak Is Over

"All good things must come to an end." - Tom McCarthy

And alas, for Phillies fans, the best thing they had going for them, just came to an end. With the Phils leading 5-4 in the top of the 9th, Brad Lidge gave up a lead off double. That was followed by 2 groundouts and those groundouts subsequently advanced the runner one base per groundout and that in turn meant the end of Brad Lidge's streak of 47 straight saves. The Padres tied the game as the fans stood up and saluted the end of the streak that defined the Phillies World Series run in 2008.

That was followed up by 2 walks and a subsequent 3-run homer by Kouzmanhoff and it's 8-5 Padres in the top of the ninth with 2 out.

And even after the homerun, the crowd in Philly still salutes Lidge.