Uh Oh! If you were concerned about the Phillies bullpen when set up man down Ryan Madson went on the 60 day DL with a broken toe, you’ve got to be concerned now that Brad Lidge says his right elbow isn’t feeling right.
“It’s fine,” he said Matt Gelb of Philly.com. “I just had a little stiffness, and we wanted to be cautionary.”
Stiffness and cautionary aren’t words that go with fine.¬† They surely aren’t words you want hear from Lidge nowadays.
Remember that Lidge is the guy who last year kept his physical problems to himself while blowing save after save.  I guess this is an improvement.
Gelb says Lidge had a catch with Chad Durbin last night and didn’t have anything good to say afterwards.
“It didn’t really feel like I wanted it to,” he said to Gelb.
The Phils have to be cautious but at the same time, they’ve got to find out whether he’s going to be there for them or not.
Assistant general manager Scott Proefrock admitted that they can’t be aggressive about dealing his recovery.
“It’s something to monitor day-to-day, and see how he feels,” Proefrock said to Gelb. “Remember, he’s only made four appearances since he’s been back. None of this is ever going to be a straight-line progression.”
Lidge continues to be the optimist about his arm, the surgery , the stiffness and his recovery.
“It’s really nothing that is alarming unless for some reason it doesn’t get better for a couple of days,” Lidge said. “If it just stays there, then that would be something we’d have to look at. Right now it seems very straightforward to what it is.”
It’s a shame he’s having these problems because he looked good in his last outing.
With this information we are going to supply blindfolds to all Phillies fans for the last two innings of games the rest of the year.¬† If you refuse to use the blindfold and have to watch the bullpen blow games, it’s nobody’s fault but yourself.
Do you think Lidge is going to be there for us this season?
Absolutely not,
I have stated since Febuary that this Phillie Bullpen was the wink link and would cost this team a
chance for the World Series in 2010 (and this was when the bullpen was healthy)
After 6 weeks of the season and 20% of games being played, to simply count on a strong return from pitchers with injuries/off-season surgeries like Lidge,Romero and now Madson is just plain foolish and wishful thinking if Phillies believe that Durbin,Baes,Contreras,Herdon & Bastardo are going to be able to hold the fort down over the course of the season..
They need to make some moves and get a quality RHP and LHP for this bullpen now who have some closer experience before they blow this opportunity of the 2010 Season
Romero is steroids/perfomancing enhancing whatever it was and has not been the same since his suspension (which is not uncommon for many players who stop taking that stuff)
Lidge has been very inconsistent since 2008 and coming off 2 surgeries in off-season so to expect him to be “the Guy” as a closer is again wishful thinking…
Madson gets upset for blowing another game in the 9th Inninsh and breaks his big toe after kicking a chair in the locker room aftger getting pulled and now will miss 2 months..(do we want to count on a player who can”t handle his emotions when things get tough, I don’t) ..Madson should donate 2 months of his Salary to local charities if he had any balls and was mature enough to make up for his stupid/childish behavior of injuring himself in the first place….
I guess I will never be a GM material for I probably expect too much from players who are making millions of $$$$, but this current bullpen is down-right ineffective and very inconsistent which will keep the Phillies from winning a World Series or even getting there in 2010
Why pay $25 a year to Howard and pay big contracts with great players like Hallady,Utley,Rollins,Ibanez,Polanco, and hopefully Werth if you don’t have a quality,reliable bullpen to close out games. (it makes no sense)
Current Bullpen = no World Series in 2010