(no subject)

[ayrdaomei]

Lidge loses closer's job for Astros.

One week into the season, the Houston Astros have a new closer. Brad Lidge was demoted Monday in favor of Dan Wheeler, a move made one day after Lidge gave up five runs in two-third of an inning against the St. Louis Cardinals.

You guys :( I just want to put him in my pocket.

(Yeah, I have all the sympathy in the world when the guy who's struggling isn't on any of my teams.)

They're gonna try to trade him, right? I mean, how can they not try to trade him at this point? Granted, there's the question of who will want him, but. Yeah. Poor guy.

Comments

[cack-handed.livejournal.com]

yeah, say we trade him. and then we'd just have watch him dominate somewhere else. just because that's the luck of the astros. (haha, "who will want him"!)

honestly, i just can't feel very bad for him. yesterday's game was pretty pathetic. sigh.

[ayrdaomei.livejournal.com]

I can understand that, because at the end of the day, you're an Astros fan, you're not just in it to support this one guy as he fails to figure his shit out. It's a lot easier for me to be all awww about it. Last year, I thought Astros fans were being really harsh, but it's been a year and he's still got problems, and there's really only so much loyalty and patience I expect a team to show a guy.

[cack-handed.livejournal.com]

glad you can understand, but well, when you put it that way, it makes me feel guilty that i have so much faith/loyalty/patience with chad qualls (among others), who has probably blown it more than he's saved it, and so little in lidge. i just...brad is a genuinely great person, off the field. top notch guy. i feel bad being so harsh on him (and i have been, long before i probably should have). but we all have those guys (on our team or not, lol) that can never do wrong and some that definitely can and do and it's magnified by a thousand. guess that's it then. *shrug* ha okay i'll let this thing lie now...

[ayrdaomei.livejournal.com]

but we all have those guys (on our team or not, lol) that can never do wrong and some that definitely can and do and it's magnified by a thousand. guess that's it then.

Yeah, A-Rod would definitely attest to that. Fandom's a fickle, funny thing.

[caruso.livejournal.com]

At this point a change in scenery might be the only cure.

[ayrdaomei.livejournal.com]

I would think so too. I don't know what else he can do to get right. He gets into a save situation and everyone in his homepark is waiting for him to blow it. I didn't watch the Cards-Astros game yesterday, but I can just imagine the chorus of boos. Even [Bad username or site: kmousie / @ livejournal.com] said horrible things about him last year, and could you find a bigger Astros player apologist anywhere?

[caruso.livejournal.com]

haha I was about to go "OH NO YOU DIDN'T!" then I remembered you defriended her. Ha. anyway ya srsly. Lidge needs to get out of Houston like last trade deadline.

[cack-handed.livejournal.com]

(pretty sure he walked off to boos) :(

[soupypictures.livejournal.com]

Okay. See.

The news was broken to me while I was icing in the training room, watching the ESPN scroller. No one was in there with me and I said, "oh my God, they actually did it."

But. I didn't even think about the trading thing because...WHO WOULD WANT HIM? I don't think they'll trade him. Let him get in work as a middle reliever and if he gets that cut fastball going maybe he'll be lights-out again.

I can't hold a grudge against Lidge and I have no idea why. The worst part of this thing for me is Qualls as the set-up man. Wheeler's gonna get, like, minimal SVO's because of that implosion waiting around to happen in the 8th.

[ayrdaomei.livejournal.com]

Man, as bad as a guy gets, there's always someone that thinks they can get him right again. I keep thinking of guys like Russ Ortiz, Sidney Ponson, Jorge Julio... Who knows. I'm torn. I know he wants to play for the Astros, and as much as it must hurt to have a fanbase with no faith in you whatsoever, I bet he doesn't want to leave. But I am hard pressed to see him righting the ship while in a 'stros uniform, if he hasn't by now. But here's to hoping middle relief gives him the time and work he needs to do that.

I can't hold a grudge against Lidge and I have no idea why.

Aw. You have a softspot for headcases? Lidge, Barry... ;)

Nothing to do but wait and see, I guess. Sounds like Qualls should be on my sad bastard list? I haven't been paying him any mind.

[soupypictures.livejournal.com]

I'm not supposed to talk crap about Qualls anymore. But, I think my problem with him is every time I say "oh shit, Qualls is gonna mess up" he does. I like guys to prove me wrong in those instances.

Headcases are my specialty.

[mokulen.livejournal.com]

Qualls makes me nervous, too. Wheels started off slow last year, but then slowly got his act together. Qualls never quite did that.

I'm optimistic that someone in AAA (like Paul Estrada) can help the ballclub
should someone in the bullpen falter. BUt if two of them falter ...?! :O

[ladyinred87.livejournal.com]

Braves lost Hampton too, this season. Again :(

[ayrdaomei.livejournal.com]

Dude, has he had a full season healthy since he signed his huge contract years ago? It seems like every year it's something else. Got the worst kind of luck, that guy.

[lovingthecubs.livejournal.com]

I was wondering why he didn't come out in the ninth inning today. Sadness. :[

[mokulen.livejournal.com]

Someone will definitely want him - Astros just won't get as much as they would have had they traded him before the season started.

[owllover711.livejournal.com]

:-( Poor Lidge. It's all Pujols' fault, the bastard.

I hope Lidge loses his temper someday and drills him. *refuses to be civilized*

[aurealis.livejournal.com]

This may sound silly, but this is really making me wonder if Albert's blast truly screwed him up psychologically. People laughed about it last year, but underneath it most thought that it was just Lidge having a bad season, like everyone does. But it has gotten to the point where you really start thinking if it isn't just mechanics, like it has been speculated, but that he truly has lost it.

The 2005 World Series is like a blur to me now, but if I recall it correctly, he didn't pitch at all in it, right? Even if there were not any save opportunities, he should have been brought in to get some work and to reclaim his dominance. I wonder if he didn't because he was still shaken.

[ayrdaomei.livejournal.com]

I definitely don't think it's just mechanics; I've laughed about him being a headcase, but I also meant it. I would have hoped that some distance from the affair, and the support he's gotten from teammates not named Clemens would have helped him get over it, but not so much.

I seem to recall him giving up a homer to Podsednik in Game 2 or 3, actually. It was a big deal cause Pods hadn't hit a homer all year? That's the only appearance I remember, though that might be because I only remember when he screws up, and it cost them the game.

[aurealis.livejournal.com]

I looked it up and, yeah, he made three appearances, lost twice. I had no recollection of that, but then, I didn't watch any of the games past the fifth inning. :-P

Mental blocks as huge as his seems to be are very difficult to overcome. I hope for the sake of his career that he does. He's sort of reminding me of Billy Koch. I thought he was showing signs of fraying before, but the moment he imploded in game five of the 2002 ALDS, I got the feeling that his career was coming to an end. I think it did a couple of years later.