Lidge To DL

Well, well, well. Sometimes, I make myself happy when I get something so freaking spot on. This is what I wrote on Saturday night...

What is going on with Brad Lidge? He blew his second save in as many days today (though, to be fair, his blown save last night was Pedro Feliz's fault), and now has a whopping six blown saves on the season. The Phillies still have a 32-22 record and lead the NL East, so it hasn't cost them horribly, but it's getting really close to the point where Charlie Manuel is going to have to remove him from the closer role, at least for a mental break. (This could be a situation where the team just puts Lidge on the DL for a while, so that he officially doesn't lose the closer role, but, rather, is "injured" and unvailable.) Ryan Madson, who is dominating, simply has to be owned in NL-only formats and even in some mixed league formats, too.

And guess what? The Phillies just placed Lidge on the DL today, with continuing pain in his right knee. There's no doubt that Lidge will be given another chance to come back and close out games, but if he continues to blow saves, and if Ryan Madson is slamming the door shut when he is filling in for Lidge, the team basically has a built-in excuse to keep Lidge on the shelf. There's always a chance that Madson could end up as the Phillies' closer going forward, and he should do a fine job when he is in there filling in for Lidge. He should be owned in all leagues right now, at the absolute least for the next 15 days.