Comments on: Gameday: Pirates (38-47) At Phillies (45-38)

By: j reed

j reed — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:46:47 +0000

Brian of CO – in answer to your question regarding Lidge’s mechanics…Let me get back to you on that….When I am watching him I am I am looking more at his arm, how he holds the ball and his glove more so than his lower body. I case you are wondering about the glove issue….when the Cards dave duncan got his hands on Kyle Loshe after us, he noticed that Loshe was tipping pitches by opening his glove for certain pitches and closing them for others. Once they resolved it, the Cards got themselves a pretty good pitcher. I thought that Dubee being so highly touted should have caught this. I mean that’s a big tell and given Loshe’s talent, for Dubee to have missed it says alot to me. So that’s why I go to pitch tipping with Lidge. As to his velocity which a knee problem would certainly affect, there is also the rotoray cuff injury to consider in that though years old could be contributing to premature decline in arm speed. Hard to say, since he was clocked one night @ 95 and tonight at 92….to me a third pitch solve these issues. A third pitch gives batters about a 33% chance of guessing right instead of a 50% chance unless he tips that to. Even if he not tipping but simply throwing with less deception it will give batters another type of rotation to contend with which i think would be harder than simply it is or it isn’t the slider. Now i definitely abdicate simplicity in pitching (i think this is the hurdle non-american asian pitcher face when they first arrive in MLB…they throw alot more off speed, trick pitches) but when age and injury being to limit you, if that is indeed the case, you have to play smarter and you achieve that best when you make it harder for the oppostion to predict your move. Unfortunantly, as closer experimenting with a new pitch can be too costly so even if a new pitch was the answer, it probably wouldn’t happen until the off season. Hamels however as a starter can master that curveball and has to…with just a fastball and change hitters can work up his pitch counts up by fouling pitches ad nauseum or if his fastball isn’t locating batters will sit back on that change-up which since it’s his out pitch, has to be up in the zone if he wants a callled strike and that’s unlikely cause it gonna be crushed or be blooped into the outfield for a basehit.

By: Pirates » Current News Trends

Pirates » Current News Trends — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:30:32 +0000

[...] Gameday: Pirates (38-47) At Phillies (45-38) | Phillies Nation [...]

By: Sean P.

Sean P. — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:22:55 +0000

Yea, definatly better than Bako. But i guess thats why i’m not upper level management material.

By: Brian of CO

Brian of CO — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:14:39 +0000

True statement Sean P. I also am wondering why we lets Coste go and kept Bako. Its not like Coste is great or anything, but I think hes better than Bako.

By: mikemike

mikemike — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:11:00 +0000

The mets took a shot with franceour. They gave up church big deal he has no upside, Lidge is scaring me everytime he pitches well almost everytime. coste gone and we keep bako, that makes no sense.

By: Sean P.

Sean P. — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:10:40 +0000

I agree with you, and agree that Madson is not the answer in the closer’s spot.

I’m just frustrated with Lidge’s preformance especially after last year. I don’t expect him to be perfect. But he went from perfect to the opposite end of the spectrum.

By: Brian of CO

Brian of CO — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:00:56 +0000

Sean P I agree, however to say “as bad as Madson was he is still head and shoulders above Lidge” and in the same post point out that Madson is 50% on save ops and things like that I think is missing the point. I do agree that the runs given up are alarming, but I am not so alarmed about the 1 run in the ties game he went in for. To me that wasnt entirely him. The bunt was going foul, ok pick it up, get the guy out and keep the guy on 2nd, by letting him go to third, a bloop single scored him, had the guy been held at 2nd like usually would happen, I dont think he would have scored. He is CLEARLY not like he was last season, but to me Madson does FAR better as a set up man. I think Madson’s ERA as a closer is closer to 5, his ERA as a set up man is lower if I remember correctly.

By: Sean P.

Sean P. — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:55:18 +0000

Since lidge has come off the DL on June 26 he has given up 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings against PIttsburgh, Cinci, and the Blue Jays. Seems alarming to me. He is 5/5 in save opportunities, however, i have a hard time getting past all those runs for a guy who pitches 1 inning at a time or less.

Being a closer, I think his ERA should be way below 7 even if it has dropped from 10 to 7.

I’m just saying i don’t think were going to see a turn around from Lidge this season, but i hope he does and well have to see where he is a month or two from now.

By: Griffin

Griffin — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:44:19 +0000

Grrrumpy Miner, you’re a good Mets fan so I don’t mean to hit you while your down, but Jeff Francoeur is a terrible hitter. The Mets got worse today. Expect a lot more of articles like these:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-4-45/Mets-and-Braves-swap-RFs.html

By: Brian of CO

Brian of CO — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:38:31 +0000

Sean P, look at those stats again for a sec. Madson is 50% on save opportunties and Lidge is still close to 75%. What is Lidges count since return from injury. He has a loss from a NON save opportunity (I am not convinced that was all him seeing how the bunt led the man on 1st all the way to 3rd on a poor defensive play. What is lidges ERA since returning. As I recall his ERA was over 10 before the DL. Isnt Lidge 5 for 5 on actual save opportunities since his return?