Of COURSE you couldn't make this easy, Giants!

We all thought it, didn't we? When Halladay was taken out for Ross Gload and he lined into a double play, everyone watching the game thought "This is the turning point... 1 run game... Halladay is out... the middle relief can be exposed... this is going to be the night!"

And when Lidge came in... admit it you thought "Oh man... he can blow it can't he?"

So now they have to go to Philadelphia and win 1 game... Let's hope there best chance didn't slip away today.

Torture indeed.

The Phillies could be a runaway train

On July 21, the Phillies lost to the Cardinals and were in the midst of a 4 game losing streak... and were just 2 games over .500.



They looked dead and I wondered if there was an Invasion of the Body Snatchers scenario happening in Philly.



They've played 40 games since then...and have gone 28-12... a .692 percentage.



Today they played and fell behind 7-3 late today... all the while the Braves had Tim Hudson pitching against the hapless Mets.



And Holy Greg Luzinski, they won, the Braves lost... and the 2 time Defending National League Champion (and 3 time defending Division Champ) are only 2 games back in the loss column to Atlanta... and THREE games behind the Cincinnati Reds for home field advantage throughout the post season.



And guess what? Brad Lidge is actually saving games (when he isn't balking in runs) and the team is hitting. And oh yeah Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt are an awesome 1-2-3 punch.



The Padres are falling apart, the Reds can only beat bad teams, the Braves are beatable and the Giants can't make the big run.



Is it just me, or are the Phillies positioning them to rampage through the National League?



Oh man, people are going to HATE the East Coast bias of this post season... but they are just playing like a better team now.



I guess the Phillies are out of their pods.

Brad Lidge found a new way to blow a save

I've seen many blown saves in my day.
And many of them have been by Brad Lidge... but tonight's was a doozy, even by his breath taking standards.

The Phillies can beat the Padres and gain a game on the Giants and pick up a game on Atlanta. Oswalt was on fire... so naturally the ball was handed to Lidge.

And the inning went as expected... lead off single, runners moved up...

Then came the back to back whammies.
With 2 outs and a 1 run lead in the bottom of the 9th and an 0-2 count he HIT Ryan Ludwick to load the bases.

That's awful. But I saw Calvin Schraldi hit Brian Downing with an 0-2 pitch with the bases loaded and a 1 run lead in the bottom of the 9th to tie a PLAYOFF game in 1986.

So Brad Lidge would have to raise his game to impress me with a blown save tonight.

Ohh he was up to the task.
With the bases loaded, a 1 run lead, 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and an 0-2 count to Chase Headley... HE BALKS IN THE TYING RUN!

I've never seen that in a game between two playoff contenders.

Literally saying "We're going to win the game... eh, let's keep playing."

So with a day game after a night game, the Phillies have to go deep into their pen in an extra innings game and the wonderful pitching duel between Roy Oswalt and Mat Latos is in the garbage.

All because Brad Lidge BALKED in the tying run.




Oh man... Brad Lidge's deal with Satan is getting worse and worse.