It was fun while it lasted.
Lidge opened the postseason with five straight scoreless appearances. He put together that kind of streak just once during the regular season, when he saved five in a row from May 26-June 1. Of course, he finished the regular season 0-8 with 11 blown saves and a 7.21 ERA.
It looked like Lidge might be on his way to another flawless inning Sunday in a tie game against the Yankees, as he retired Hideki Matsui on a popout and struck out Derek Jeter to begin the top of the ninth. A Johnny Damon single and then one of the oddest double steals you'll ever see followed. With Mark Teixeira up and the shift employed, Damon swiped second and kept on going, reaching third easily since third baseman Pedro Feliz had been covering second.
Damon's presence on third as the go-ahead run appeared to make Lidge nervous about using his slider. He went on to hit Teixeira and then give up a go-ahead double on a fastball to Alex Rodriguez that caught too much of the plate. Jorge Posada followed with a hard two-run single to the gap, and Lidge only got out of the inning because one of the game's worst baserunners chose to continue on to second and was thrown out by 20 feet. Mariano Rivera finished from there, and the Yankees won 7-4.
It was another well played game until the ninth. CC Sabathia was fine on three days' rest, surrendering three runs in 6 2/3 innings. Joe Blanton overcame a poor first to keep the Phillies in it by allowing four runs over six innings. Chase Utley homered off Sabathia, and Pedro Feliz tied the game in the eighth with a solo shot off Joba Chamberlain. The Yankees got their runs without hitting a homer. It helped that they really bunched together their hits. All seven runs and eight of their nine hits came in three innings (the first, fifth and ninth).
That the Phillies have gotten so little from the first, fourth and sixth spots in their order has made it very difficult for them to sustain rallies. Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez are all struggling mightily right now. Ibanez was particularly awful tonight. His first at-bat, a strikeout against Sabathia with two on and two out in the first, was the worst that any hitter had all night, and he ended up 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
The Phillies now face a big uphill climb to come back in the World Series. They're the definite favorites in Game 5, with Cliff Lee pitching at home against A.J. Burnett on short rest. Still, even if they prevail then, taking two in a row in Yankee Stadium, without having Lee to fall back on, will be extremely difficult.
I said it ever since I heard that Lee was not starting game 4. Loss for the Phils. Now they're in a hole 3-1 with their only bright spot being Cliff Lee. They can't rely on Lidge because he's pissing his pants because Damon is on third base. Youre a big league pitcher with a big leage catcher behind the plate and you cant throw your "best" pitch because a runners on third? Going back to vintage form, huh Brad?
You can either blame Lidge, or give Arod his due, Arod is the greatest
player of this era.
Lidge cracked a little under the pressure put on by Damon, but everyone on the Phillies failed to make adjustments to Damon's improvisation at the plate and on the base paths.
Anyone who has watched the Yankees this year knows that even with 2 out and nobody on, a rally is still possible. They have been alert and opportunistic all season and it showed today. They don't make as many little mistakes as Utley did when he failed to make a put out at second in the 5th inning which led to a 2 run inning. They also cover up for the errors of their teammates and manager. Girardi made a mistake by leaving Sabathia to pitch to Utley in the 7th inning after Rollins/Victorino had hit the ball hard for outs and Utley already had a RBI double in the game. Marte would've been a stronger matchup, as he did end up getting Howard out. Joba also made a bad pitch to Feliz (and Posada mismanaged the pitch sequence), but the team picked them both up.
So, how do yawl figure a self-admitted steroids laden cheater like A-Rod is "the greatest player of this era"? Sorry, but I've other genuine role models of integrity that my children can look up to, and not some sleazy cheater.
Fun to watch the Philies and Yanks to go head to head. I'm sure those who bought the Series tickets got their moneys worth. Philies is a great team but they just seemed to crack under pressure, and Utley's mistakes in the earlier part of the game which did not count as error will cost the Philies dearly. I am not crazy about the Yankees but don't like Philies after how Cliff Lee behaved in game one like a little league player who only works for himeself and not for the team. I hope Cliff Lee cracks under pressure in game 5.
I'm pretty sure you'd probably deny it here, however I strongly doubt you'd be tremendously upset if your children did anything in their power to make $500 million dollars, and create a historical legacy that lasts for a century. Just a hunch.
Mr. Betz...
First of all, A-Rod didn't sign up to be your or your children's role model. Second of all, I certainly hope that you and you children have much better role models to follow than sports figures, whose lives rise and fall on performance. When people live and die via their performance, let me tell you - THEY ARE BOUND TO CHEAT. Third, this is America, where just about EVERYTHING is performance based, and just about everyone cheats. Come on, be honest and realistic, particularly for the sake of your children. You would teach them more if you address the causes of cheating, and how best to position oneself to avoid the necessity of it.
Last, but not least, I would like to see YOU, or anyone, turn out the same performance and A-Rod, or any other professional athlete, even while taking performance enhancing drugs! I am NOT a fan of A-Rod at all, however, you cannot take away his OBVIOUS TALENT. Whether or not he is THE BEST is certainly debatable, but it is CERTAIN he is a magnificent player, with or without drugs!
Did I hear "Yankees Suck" from the Philly fans in the background as I was watching the game on t.v.? Those Philly fans are great sports fans! Who "sucks" now?
I'm not a big fan of either team, but give A-rod a break. Yes, he cheated and he admitted his mistake. So did Pettite and Giambi. The guys who deserve derision are David Ortiz, Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez, Roger Clemens and others who got caught, but to this day are in denial. If you want to teach your children something, teach them people make mistakes and to earn forgiveness you have to admit the mistake and work hard. A-Rod has done that.
Can someone get a hold of Rollins and ask him if Phillies in 5 is still gonna happen? He's not picking up his cell.
Did you read the article this morning from Mike Celizec about Philly and its fans? It was spot on and confirmed what I have been seeing the past two games. Being poor role models does not just mean taking steroids. Thank you, Mike. If A-rod struck out, instead of doubling in the winning run, would you still have posted your whine? Thank goodness Philly has such better role models of integrity for children to admire, like Mike Vick. Of course, anyone who uses 'yawl' in a sentence should not be taken seriously, anyway.
The biggest mistake of the Series (umpiring included) happens tonight. Starting A.J. Burnett on three days rest is a BIG mistake. Being down 3 to 1, it is hard to say that it sets up the series in the Phillies favor, but it sure comes close.
Can everyone just stop about the steroids? When A-Rod and the rest of them were doing steroids, steroids were NOT banned from baseball. Who wouldn't take them to be better if they were allowed? Call for the head of the Commissioner for turning a blind eye. People act like they were cheating and they weren't. They were doing what would make them better players. Just stop about the steroids - you still need great hand eye coordination to hit the ball and steroids aren't going to make you catch the ball. Get a grip. And A-Rod may not be the best, but the fear he puts into a team when he comes up to bat has to say something.
Yes, and Saturday night the Great Pumpkin really did rise up from the pumpkin patch to bring candy and joy to children everywhere, Jimmy Rollins predicted the Phillies would now win in nine games, Ryan Howard discovered he really bats right-handed, and you state it is hard to say, being down 3-1, the series is set up in the Phillies favor. I respect your optimism, but your logic leaves a lot to be desired.
Great game. But Lidge not being able to throw a down and dirty slider low is why they lost. Damons double steal was huge guys, setting up Arod for that fastball inside which he crushed. Blame Lidge as most of you will, but he was just beaten by a better hitter taking advantage of the circumstances. I hate the Yankees and all they stand for, but they are really good and should clinch tonight.
Arod is so great he has two hits in the series. Fortunately for him and the Yanks, they drove in important runs. Lidge's decision not to throw the pitch that no one was even touching was disastrous. The place not to throw a 92 mph fastball to arod is out over the plate. Once he stopped throwing the slider he was a one pitch pony, without enough velocity to challenge anyone. Clap clap for arod. The best player for the Yanks is Jeter. The most important hit of the 9th was by Damon, followed by his steal(s). Lidge was able to throw the slider, but the catcher, pitcher and manager chose to lose instead.
I disagree. The Yankees are going to be loose tonight up 3-1 and are good enough hitters that they will make adjustments against Lee tonight after facing him in Game 1. Also, if the Yanks lose tonight, they have Pettite for Game 6 and CC for Game 7 if necessary. Lee, on the other hand, will be unavailable. The post season is replete with great outings on three days rest and no reason why Lee cannot do it. If they had pitched him last night, then they would have him for Game 7. So, Lee wins tonight, and the Yankees go home with a 2 game lead, the Phils best pitcher done for the series, and themselves pitching Pettite and Sabathia. I like our chances
Your logic is much better than his, however, the lead would be 1 game if the Phillies win tonight. I am sure it was an oversight.
if i want my kids to have a role model of integrity, ill pick nelson mandella...not a ball player.
PEDRO & Gary Ray Betz
actually, burnett is money on three days rest. cuts down on his excessive movement on the fastball.
its the right move.
HE IS 4-0, AND HE SAID HE CAN DO IT, WHAT IS THE PROBLEM ?
to me the story of this series and of the last 14 post seasons (except last year) is that we will never see another pitcher like mariano rivera in our lifetime. he is the difference between these two teams...period. he can give up hits and, very rarely, a walk BUT, the wheels rarely totally come-off as they did with lidge last night (and every OTHER closer in the playoffs this year).
i actually think it ends tonight.
JIMMY BUTTER ROLL IS BUSY MAKING VACATION PLANS, JETER WAS GIVING HIM IDEAS DURING HIS BRIEF STAY AT SECOND BASE LAST NIGHT.
If the series should go to game 7, how can we have any confidence in Hamels? He should not have verbalized how he can't wait for this season to be over as it was "mentally draining". Losing last night was awful; to think Lidge was 1 strike away from retiring the side and let it get away is pretty painful. It might turn out that Jimmy Rollins named the wrong team in 5 games.
Gary Ray Betz..................instead of sports figures or any other public figures, why don't you try doing something with your life and make YOURSELF your kids role model.........then you do not have to worry what other folks do.
Jelly Roll said the Phillies would take it in 5 games. Will game 5 be when Jelly Roll starts to play or is he just going to continue to run his mouth with a plastic bat? Perhaps Charlie Manuel will put someone in at short who can actually hit.
The elephant in the room is the poor performance by the Phillie Manager. Yes, the hitters are slumping, and Lidge didn't pitch particularly well, but the Manager put the shift on!
C'mon, Charlie, show some faith in the basics of The Great Game! Teixeira might hit it between normally positioned fielders, and he might hit a home run. But, if the ball stays in play, your guys will at least have someone to throw to!
Johnny Damon didn't take advantage of Brad Lidge - he stole those bases off Charlie Manuel! Everything else failed in a cascade from there.
And, please, give up on Matt Stairs! He's been a good (not great) hitter, but his time is over. Second out in NY when you needed three runs, and first out last night when you needed three runs. He isn't going to hit a three-run homer with nobody on base!
Surely there's a bench player left who has a better chance of getting a hit. All you needed was a hit to start things off. Matt Stairs wasn't - and isn't going to deliver. Heck, he has to hit a double just to have time to waddle to first base, and then you'll have to sub for him anyway!
Players play and managers manage. And players often play on through bad plays. But the Phillies are being managed out of any chance!
Lidge, on advice from Rollins, felt generous last night and thus allowed NY to scratch out a couple of hits. All it does is add to the drama when Philly comes back to win it all. PHILLIES IN SEVEN!!! MARK MY WORDS!!!
John, are you serious?? I wouldn't like anything more but can we win in game 7 with the shaky Hamels? Do you know something the rest of us don't know or is this blind faith? Or are you playing devil's advocate?
Funny to see the Phillies bashing A-rod for using steriods in the past, considering their own teams history with steriods... anyone hear remember Lenny Dykstra? I guess the Phillies stole the pennant in 1993, right? The Phillies lost this series when the classless Jimmy Rollins shot off his big mouth. In my 35 yrs as a Yankee fan, I have NEVER seen a Yankee show disrepect for their opponent the way Rollins did. Jeter is not only out classing Rollins on the field, but off the field as well.
Lidge is still snake bit. Who will he play for next year, as certainly the Phillthys will not give him any more chances. It is all in his head, he should be better than this.
Shely
Come on John, I dont even know you but I do know that you have are smarter than this comment(I hope)!! The Phillies have a great chance to win tonight with Lee on the mound but after that they are done!! From the begining of the series I picked the Yankees in six! I hope they prove me wrong and do it in 5!!! The Yankees "will" win MARK MY WORDS!!!!
Actually Micheil, there are many things that I would be VERY unhappy about my children doing, no matter how much money they could make or what kind of "legend" or "dynasty" or whatever you want to call it, they could start. That's not what life is about, that's not why we are here. That being said, and by the way I am not a Yankee fan, we all need to give the steroids thing a rest. It happened, and it happened with a lot more players than we will ever know. A lot of them will probably get away with it and their names will never come up. In plain fact, A-Rod won the game for the Yankees last night, and whether I like the man or not (which happens to be "not"), the truth is that champions win when it counts. We Red Sox fans know this, and I haven't seen any of us whining because we didn't make the World Series. We were outplayed, pure and simple. Just like the Phillies last night. It counts tonight. Let's see who wins.
Lee will dominate tonight, Pedro will get the best of Pettite in game six and Hammels will finally pull it together in game seven! Never lose faith Bree, NEVER!!! PHILLIES IN SEVEN!!! MARK MY WORDS!!!
Don't worry, Feelies fans. Kevin Gregg is sitting by his phone, waiting for the call, munching on one of those horsemeat and velveeta heroes just to nudge his karma along. You just need to pull a Mike Andrews maneuver with Lidge....
John, when will you learn? You are quite funny though. First it was the Angels who were going to come back on the Yankees and now it's the Phillies who are going to win 3 straight when they've looked just dreadful the last 3 games?
If there is one thing about THIS Yankees team is that when they smell blood in the water the other team is dead. Go ask the Red Sox, Tampa, the Twins, and the Angels.
The Phillies are a great team and I love their players, but some years you can just tell when a team is going to win it all (like the Phillies last year and the Red Sox in 2004). This series is toast even if it goes to a game 6.
And we've been "marking your words" John. So far you've been wrong every time. Stop being lame and try enjoying the games. This series has some of the best players in MLB: great pitchers, great hitters, compelling closers, and each game has had great twists and turns. Why don't the fans of whoever loses the game the night before start having some grace and stop calling the other players who beat them "monsters of the universe." You can say something bad about every MLB player, but you'd be a whole lot happier if you learned to watch the game as a MLB fan. I think seeing Chase Utley and Jason Worth and Derek Jetter and Johnny Damon and Mariano Rivera and Cliff Lee and A-Rod has been incredible. It's too bad so many of you have no joy in watching the games no matter what happens. The Yankees lost the 2001 World Series, but that World Series was one of the best.
Try enjoying the game, huh, John? Mark my words. You might not post a dumb post tomorrow if you learned to like baseball a little!
And do you enjoy the games when your team loses TAIex? That's what I thought. As for the Angels they're not my team I just wanted them to beat the Yankees (in six) but like Nostradamus I missed that one. However with the Phillies it will happen!!! PHILLIES IN SEVEN!!! MARK MY WORDS!!!
And for the record I have never bad mouthed any of the Yankee players. PHILLIES IN SEVEN!!! MARK MY WORDS!!!
Did you actually pull my blog because it wasn't about baseball, or because it wasn't about sniveling?
This may not be as important as Brad Lidge's pitching future, but it is definitely more preposterous:
msnbc has announced that neither the curve nor the slider actually curve -- it is an illusion instead! This from Dr. Nancy (eyes/doctor -- get it?/) during her noon hour show, as a "spin" subject, and from some poorly unidentifiable "scientific" group.
She's one of the contacts which are not made available on line on this site. This is not "science"', and it seems unlikely that anyone who knows baseball will presumably be laughing it off. And laughing and laughing...
Or maybe it's not so funny, a good doctor losing her crediblity so suddenly like that, live on air.
I would stop beating up Gary Ray Betz considering most of you who are commenting idolize these guys as it is or you would not even be defending a guy who not only cheated but broke the law. You are all incorrect by thinking children do not look up to professional athletes. If you do, you must have not played sports. What kid who plays baseball says, "I want to be like my dad who played varsity baseball in high school"? He does not, he says "I want to be A-Rod or Jimmy Rollins or Pudge Rodruiguez". So to think that no matter what, as adults, we would like for our kids and want them to idolize, that they do not want to idolize over paid athletes that do drugs and cheat is the fault of the parents, I would disagree. I am sure that my father would have wanted nothing more than for me to idolize him or real heros like doctors, firefighter, cops, etc. but instead I wanted to be Pete Rose. That is what kids do. So, despite what you think or say, athletes are role models. The fact that A-Rod cheated makes him a poor role model at best and the fact that he did not even acknowledge his drug use tells me that he is a coward as well off the field. Unfortunately kids idolize the player and not the man, but in this case the man is what has made the player what he is, a cheater. He is no different than Bonds in that regard. Jeter is the true MVP of that team and in my opinion, the best player, lead, a role model in MLB. Jeter does a lot with kids, camps, etc. He is what a professional athlete should be.
I am a passionate Phils fan, but I have to give the Yankees their due and say they are the better team. Better pitching overall (Cliff Lee can't throw every night), better closer (duh), better clutch hitting. Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez have been great all year, but look below average during this series. Don't particularly like A-Rod, but Jeter may be classiest act in baseball. And I think NY fans realize they are spoiled with #42 coming out of the pen - the rest of baseball will welcome his retirement.
If Lee doesn't pitch exactly the same as game 1 then tonight it will be done. Yankees have got to be relaxed, their playing with house money. Sure they want to win tonight. But three chances for 1W, well that will make for a comfortable team.
Just remember Jeter owned Lee in game one. Lee is great but Jeter is HOF material, and even better in the playoffs.
Mariano will get his MVP award tonight!
"WHAT IS THE PROBLEM ?" - Your inability to find the "Caps Lock" key, for starters....
The Giants suck. That's who sucks now. Ahahahahahahha!!