As autumn came, the playoffs drew closer and closer and Brad Lidge's struggles continued, you wondered just how long it would go on. You didn't think that it would go into the playoffs, either he'd figure himself out or he'd be removed from the closer's role by the time October rolled around.
As it turns out, both happened, he lost his closer's job, but gradually re-earned the trust of Charlie Manuel and many of us. He regained his control and kept batters off base more consistently.
And so there we were tonight, the Phillies having come back against the Yankees after trailing for the entire game, a tie game in the 9th. Lidge came to the mound and got two quick outs. But as we saw so many times in April, May, June... all the way through September, Lidge couldn't seal the deal. A single from Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira hit-by-pitch, and then the dagger, a double by the centaurian Alex Rodriguez. Jorge Posada would add two insurance runs with a single of his own.
There will be a lot of talk about the defensive infield shift that allowed Johnny Damon to get to third base after stealing second base, but really, there were enough hard hit balls by the Yankees that Damon would have scored from any base. Forget the shift, it's a red-herring.
Down 3 games to 1, the Phillies are really in a hole. In the past, Jayson Werth called the Phillies a "team of necessity". Now, every game is necessary.
