Brad Lidge

Romero, Ryan Madson, and Brad Lidge.

This group has excellent balance. Durbin found a home for himself in Philly's pen last season, which is odd considering the hitter-friendly dimensions of Citizens Bank park. Eyre is a fearless, reliable lefty to go along with a more explosive lefty in Romero. Madson is a top-notch setup guy with a nasty overhand hook, and of course Lidge is a premier closer.

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e season.  He was surely a major reason the Phils overtook the Mets for the division lead, but Brad Lidge’s 41-for-41 achievement in save opportunities was really the difference between October baseball and sitting at home watching the postseason.

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e the Mets would leave Philadelphia last night with their collective tail between their legs.  Brad Lidge, who still hasn't blown a save all season, was warming up in the Phillies' pen, and the New York offense had only mustered two runs and 12 hits in the previous 16.2 innings, going back to the fifth inning of Tuesday's game.  But Carlos Delgado, who had homered in the sixth to cut Philly's lead to 3-2, sliced a liner over the left field fence to tie the game at three and spark the Mets's offense.  Carlos Beltran followed with an infield hit, and stole second.  With first base open,

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A balloons to a whopping 9.82 over 11 innings pitched.

    Even Mariano Rivera and Brad Lidge, the only closers in the majors who have yet to blow a save, have pitched far worse in non-save situations than in save chances this season.  Combined they have 50 saves and have only allowed four earned runs in 51.1 innings (0.70 ERA) in save chances this year, compared to 13 earned runs in only 39 non-save innings (3.00 ERA).  Jon Rauch and Brian Fuentes, two pitchers who have spent significant time both in set-up and closer roles over the last few seasons, have similar splits in performance.  When Rauch was closing for the Nationals, he had a 1.61 ERA in save situations and a 4.15 ERA in non-save situations.  Fuentes, who assumed the closer role in late April and has since saved 17 games in 19 chances for Colorado, has a 2.45 ERA in save chances and a 4.62 mark in non-save situations since he was named the closer.  The all-time leader in saves, Trevor Hoffman has been having a sub-par season so far, but his numbers are still much more respectable in save situations than otherwise.  He has saved 22 games in 25 chances with a 4.03 ERA in those 25 games, as opposed to a 5.40 ERA in 10 innings of other circumstances.

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In the process, Clint Hurdle had Phillies closer Brad Lidge warming up six different times before he finally came in and gave up the game on Michael Young’s sacrifice fly.

The NL used 11 pitchers and the AL 12, meaning that if the game had continued much longer, Selig might still have had to face the tough set of choices outlined above. As it was, the game taxed pitchers like Brandon Webb (who had pitched seven innings and 108 pitches two days before), George Sherrill (the Orioles’ closer, who pitched two and a third innings), and Scott Kazmir (who had also pitched on Sunday, logging six innings and 104 pitches). Webb and Kazmir weren’t supposed to appear at all, with Tampa manager Joe Maddon specifically requesting that Kaz rest his arm, and we have yet to see what the effects might be on them, or guys like Carlos Marmol, who threw an inning in spite of recent struggles and a strong need for rest.

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ching in season if they expect to redeem their collapse of last year.

Philadelphia Phillies

Can Brad Lidge nail down the closer’s role?

The first thing is getting Lidge healthy. He had offseason surgery on his knee but looks to be back in the bullpen early in April. His struggles since giving up that monstrous home run to Albert Pujols in the playoffs has been well documented and he even lost his job as the closer with the Astros last season. He did regain the role in June and went on to rack up all 19 of the saves he had last season after the All-Star break. With Lidge in the closers role, the Phillies bullpen stacks up fairly well led by Tom Gordon in the setup role. Gordon is an excellent second option to close games however that greatly affects the bullpen depth unless Philadelphia wants to return Brett Myers to closer, but that leaves a gaping hole in the starting rotation.

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