Brewers @ Phils 2008 NLDS Game 1 Threat

by **Camp Holdout** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 08:59:11

swishnicholson wrote:
ek wrote:Neyer

Is Brad Lidge still as invincible as he looked for most of the season?

I'm not a scout either, but his slider looked pretty good to me, and they certainly weren't hitting him hard today, and his ERA indicates they haven't been doing very much of that other times as well.

What could be happening is that hitters, after a season of waving at his slider, have realized A. they can't hit it and B. it rarely ends up as a strike. So they're just letting it go. Of course, this depends on them actually looking for it and recognizing it, which probably means just that they've recognized some patterns of him using it better than they had previously. His fastball still seems effective and there may just be a need for him to mix his pitches in new ways.

i agree with that.

to me it was simple. the brewers all had the same plan: spit on the slider. that was pretty much it. his 3-2 pitch to cameron was really a fat hanging slider, but cameron gave up on it the moment it came out of brad's hand. i think the same thing probably would have happened to braun, but of course its risky as hell to throw a spinner like that. if the next time he comes out they still arent chasing it, throw it for a strike early in the count and then work on fastballs away. im not worried about brad at all. i do think the brewers had a good game plan against him, but i think brad is good enough to counter.

by **seke2** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 08:59:54

Marion wrote:Technically he threw out the second ceremonial "first" pitch. Injured Officer Bowes threw out the first. After Mitch did his part, he took off his jersey and gave it to the officer, who looked very happy and put the jersey on.

I was actually a little choked up watching Officer Bowes. That was an amazing moment. The Phillies know how to do some stuff really well, and the whole pregame/celebratory events/etc. type stuff is something they seem to get right every time.

by **philliesphhan** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 13:18:12

Barry Jive wrote:
ek wrote:a lot of his sliders today were straight into the dirt. they never had any portion of the plate. he threw a couple of hangers, mostly to Cameron. he did throw a couple sliders that were similar to earlier in the season though

to be fair, it seemed as though whenever he did throw a slider straight into the dirt, it was at the call of Carlos Ruiz. he called for a bunch of sliders followed by a glove tapping the dirt, one of which resulted in the ball getting away from Cooch and allowing the runners to move up. i can't blame Ruiz directly for the failure of these pitches, but it seemed as though he was being very formulaic with the location of his sliders.

Smoltz made a comment, a couple pitches before Lidge struck out Fielder, that if he had lowered his slider "a hair" he would have gotten him. Instead, on the pitch in question, Fielder wasted it for a foul ball. He ended up getting him anyway, but it seemed like Ruiz was thinking along the same lines and just extended that sentiment a mite too far.

Speaking of Smoltz, I was amazed by his ability to not be incredibly annoying. He actually made some decent analysis during the game and wasn't just spitting up cliches and talking about the ballpark.

by **Slowhand** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 13:26:37

Yeah, I thought Smoltz was actually pretty good. I didn't even know that was him until they put the camera on the booth.

by **JFLNYC** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 14:01:15

He had no choice but to refrain from calling CBP a "bandbox" as the 3-1 game unfolded.

by **BuddyGroom** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 14:06:47

Slowhand wrote:Yeah, I thought Smoltz was actually pretty good. I didn't even know that was him until they put the camera on the booth.

I was left with the impression that Smoltz was kind of rooting for the Phillies. Thought the crew was good - never would have the PBP guy worked for the Brewers.

by **Mountainphan** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 16:20:52

Quick thought on Lidge...

I'm thinking he had a couple things work against his slider on Wednesday.

1) The rain and weather probably weren't conducive in snapping off good sliders. It was obvious he didn't feel comfortable throwing that pitch, even once.

2) I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't a little too pumped up since this was his first playoff game as a Phillie (which I believe is a different experience than being an Astro).

I'm willing to wager that unless the weather stinks in upcoming games, his slider will be much better, which ought to mean that he'll be better.

by **lethal** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 16:23:00

I wasn't too impressed with Brian Anderson. I guess David Aldridge is their Philly connection or something. He wrote for the Inquirer for a little bit after his ESPN gig, right?

by **Barry Jive** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 16:24:34

still does, he writes an NBA column though. he's about as Philadelphian as Stephen A. Smith was.

Smoltz was actually very good, I thought. Especially considering who ESPN usually utilizes as its color analysts.

by **Bill McNeal** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 16:32:38

is there video of the Randall Simon bit out there. I was telling my dad about and it needs video to accompany the story

by **stevemc** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 16:45:24

Bill McNeal wrote:is there video of the Randall Simon bit out there. I was telling my dad about and it needs video to accompany the story

I didn't see the discussion on this since I was at the game. Could someone give a quick synopsis on the board's overall reaction? I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was shocked the Phils put that out on the field.

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Brewers @ Phils 2008 NLDS Game 1 Threat