Congrats Phils 6-5

[Reality]

What are you doing up after 2am? 

Was Manuel on crack?  Letting Lidge pitch the 9th.  Lidge got bailed out bigtime by Giambi and the final batter Tulowizki hacking at the second pitch after Lidge fell behind 1-0.  Lidge was cracking up big time.  I know the walk to Helton was intentional.  Or was it.  Did Lidge mean to throw the one strike?

I'm not even a Philly and Lidge was nerve wracking.  I think you guys dodged a bullit big time.

[RickyPryor]

What are you doing up after 2am? 

Was Manuel on crack?  Letting Lidge pitch the 9th.  Lidge got bailed out bigtime by Giambi and the final batter Tulowizki hacking at the second pitch after Lidge fell behind 1-0.  Lidge was cracking up big time.  I know the walk to Helton was intentional.  Or was it.  Did Lidge mean to throw the one strike?

I'm not even a Philly and Lidge was nerve wracking.  I think you guys dodged a bullit big time.

Yeah, he had difficulty keeping the ball down.  And his slider wasn't...ya know...sliding.

But - and I know I'm in the minority here - if we win the Series, it'll have been because we closed games out.  Charlie needs Brad to be successful, and he's going to have to be; period.  He HAD to go to him last night.

[jemagee]

He used Madson in the high leverage situation he should have so lidge was really the only one available (is myers still hurt?)

It worked out - the snow allows Lee to start game 4 - And Pedro is still available if needed

[rickortreat]

It's easy to criticize Manuel for the way he used his bullpen, but the only way to really judge it is by the outcome.  Lidge did get the win for the team, didn't he? Their batters could not do enough to get to him or manufacture a run, but the Phillies DID manufacture the run they needed in the top of the ninth.

Give credit where it's due. Rollins, who has not been having a great offensive series, got on base. Victorino moved him over and Chase, who has been phenomenal, got him home with a sacrifice. How dumb was Colorado to pitch to Howard, they really should have walked him, but since they got a pop-out it turned out all right.

To me the game revealed how good both teams are, and how close they are. I think so far it looks like the Phillies are just a little bit better. Slightly better hitting, fielding and pitching. They need one more to close out this series and face the Dodgers. Important for Manuel to work it out so that they can start that series with strong pitching.

Really, I thought Manuel pulled Happ too early and did the same with Blanton. He's a bit more nervous with his pitchers than he should be, but the Phillies had to win that game and he did what he thought was best. Maybe it's luck rather than smart management, but whatever it is, it's got the Phillies to where they are now, defending World Series Champions.

[Derek Bodner]

He used Madson in the high leverage situation he should have so lidge was really the only one available (is myers still hurt?)

Agreed.  use your best reliever in the most crucial situation.  media pundits place that on the 9th by default, but with a man on first and 3rd and none out with a 1 run lead in the 7th, that was the most crucial spot.  If Madson doesn't work his way out of the 7th inning jam effectively, the Rockies don't even bat in the bottom of the 9th and you lost the game without your best reliever even pitching.

Brett Myers isn't hurt (he was actually warming up at one point last night), just ineffective.

[jemagee]

Well lidge has been pretty ineffective as well this year.

[Reality]

Was Lidge scary again in the clincher?  Did Turkowizzer (sp) help Lidge out again?

[jemagee]

Was Lidge scary again in the clincher?  Did Turkowizzer (sp) help Lidge out again?

I didn't see it - but I thought it was interesting that Manuel treated the 9th more strategically - he didn't just bring in the closer to start the 9th cause that's what you do - he went with eyre and brought lidge in fro the 1 out save with the better match up - i only saw the last pitch that tulo swung at - and it was low - but the radio replay i heard driving home from my exam talked about lidge using his slider the whole time...if he has control of his slider back - that could be good.

They pointed out on ESPN a couple times that the rockies had biemel (sp?) in the bullpen who had good numbers against utley howard (i haven't checked them to be sure)...i wonder if this post season maybe is the impetus for releasing the dogma of 'the closer pitches the 9th' - many games might have had different outcomes if managers had gone 'matchups' instead of straight closer.

[rickortreat]

The Rockies were stupid to pitch to Howard with the tying runs on base. The leading RBI man for the whole season and you give him a chance at the plate with a base open? That's just dumb.

Then again the whole Phillies lineup is a major gauntlet for any Pitcher, no easy outs anywhere except for the 9th spot.

[jemagee]

Then again the whole Phillies lineup is a major gauntlet for any Pitcher, no easy outs anywhere except for the 9th spot.

the 7th spot is a pretty easy out these days

Jimmy Rollins in general has a piss poor plate approach all year and an OBP below 300 for a lead off hitter is sad.

The mistake was dogmatically sticking to the 'closer' bs

You're suggesting that he should have walked the bases loaded to face Jayson Werth?  That's even more questionable than leaving Street in to face Utley and Howard.

The mistake occured when Utley batted, he just compounded it with Howard...walking him would have been worse