Comments on: Another Blown Save From Lidge

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:55:35 +0000

Lidge’s blown saves are just as much Manuel’s fault as his own. Manuel keeps giving him the ball and Lidge keeps blowing it. How long must a manger stick with a guy who is clearly failing to prove his loyalty? How about Lidge prove his loyalty by not being awful at finishing games anymore.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:54:11 +0000

From watching the games and looking at his numbers my take on Lidge is the following:

The biggest issue for Lidge in my opinion is that hitters are not swinging at his slider out of the zone. Hitters and managers realized that he throws so many pitches out of the zone that they are being more patient. His O-Swing % and K rate are the lowest of his career and his walk rate the highest of his career.

The run value of his slider is absolutely awful. His fastball has never been a great pitch but the value of it was based off the effectiveness of his slider. The slider isn’t working so he’s throwing more fastballs and getting absolutely killed. Giving up a run in 29 of 63 appearances as a closer is pretty pathetic. If hitters continue to lay off the slider, I’m pretty sure Lidge’s time as an effective closer is done.

By: Paul Wilson

Paul Wilson — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:17:13 +0000

Extended spring training, recovering from an injury in the preseason… Lidge was following the classic Clemens/Pettite pattern of HGH cycling

By: Ezra

Ezra — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:14:33 +0000

Lidge looks more like Billy Koch than Troy Percival. Even if his pitch quality regresses to the mean, his edge is gone. Finis.

By: Joe R

Joe R — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:33:10 +0000

I have a tough time fully buying into the theory that a pitcher w/ Lidge’s service time can forget what works for him, especially since his sliders are down from 2008 (but to be fair, up from 2005). No offense.

By: B

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:05:35 +0000

Well conceptually, the whole idea of regression to the mean is going forward (so every game in the future starting with the very next game), on average, he should perform at the level his peripherals suggest he would perform at without any good or bad luck involved. Basically there’s no real reason to think what happened in the past, if it’s simply a product of bad luck, will have any effect on what happens in the future.

By: CaR

CaR — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:55:23 +0000

Waaaay too many sliders. Falling in love with a pitch and listening when someone tells you that your 95mph fb is your second best pitch. FB command solves nearly all pitchers problems and breaking pitches are successful mainly when worked off the fb.

By: Richie Abernathy

Richie Abernathy — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:06:21 +0000

I don’t think so.

By: The A Team

The A Team — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:59:53 +0000

A lot has been made of his velocity issues this year, BP did an article on it suggesting his problem is pitching like a guy with a 96 mph heater when it’s clocking in at 92 this year. Since slightly after the AS break his heater has been pumping at about 94 rather consistently which is perfectly in line with last years velocity readings. The explanation for his early season velocity drop? How about his knee?

I agree with the other conclusion of the article, he needs to focus on improving his command over the offseason. When he absolutely dominated early in ’08 (as opposed to the 2nd half where he skated by looking like Mitch Williams) he credited it to his extended ST from injury helping him improve his command. He hit his spots and set up batters brilliantly.

By: The A Team

The A Team — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:55:17 +0000

Off topic, do you know a guy named Frank Johnson?