It’s easy to forget Brad Lidge was not a hot commodity when the Phillies acquired him on November 7, 2007. At the time, he was remembered more for the ninth inning he blew in Game 5 of the 2005 NLCS than he was for his dominant stretch from 2003-05.
After giving up that home run to Albert Pujols, Lidge had a combined ERA of 4.37 over the next two seasons, blowing 14 saves in that span. In acquiring him, it felt to many fans like Philadelphia was paying for past performance; Lidge was damaged goods; his best days were behind him.
In acquiring Lidge from Houston, the Phillies sent future All-Star and Gold Glover Michael Bourn to the Houston Astros, along with prospect Mike Costanzo and reliever Geoff Geary, with Eric Bruntlett coming to Philadelphia as part of the package.
Looking back on that deal, purely from a production perspective, it’s easy to say the Astros came out on top. Bourn alone produced 12 WAR for the Astros over the next four seasons, while Lidge and Bruntlett combined for just 0.6 WAR for the Phillies.
If you know a single Phillies fan, player, or executive who would take that deal back, though, I would love to meet them.
Lidge reinvented himself in Philadelphia; he started his tenure with 17 consecutive outings without allowing an earned run. By the All-Star break, his ERA was 1.13, and he hadn’t blown a save.
The one blemish on his line that year would come at Yankee Stadium in the All-Star Game, when Lidge blew his only save of the year. At the time, the winning team at MLB’s Midsummer Classic got home-field advantage in the World Series. So, in a fun twist of fate, Lidge blowing that one game allowed the Phillies to clinch the World Series at home.
Brad Lidge was a nightmare to watch for Phillies fans, but he always got the job done
As summer dragged on, the epithets rolled in. “The Bridge to Lidge” became the nickname for the Phillies bullpen, a unit that boasted five shutdown relievers by season’s end: J.C. Romero, Ryan Madson, Chad Durbin, and Clay Condrey.
“Life on a Lidge” is more forgotten 18 years down the line. Although he never blew a save, it felt like Lidge gave fans a minor heart attack every night, loading the bases or putting the winning run in scoring position. His defense bailed him out on more than one occasion.
No ninth inning better captured that mantra than the one on the penultimate day of the regular season. The Phillies had erased a 3.5-game deficit to catch the New York Mets atop the NL East, and Lidge entered the game in the ninth inning against the Washington Nationals to protect a two-run lead.
The Nationals loaded the bases with one out, then drove home a run with one out, before a hard ground ball up the middle was snared by a diving Jimmy Rollins, who flipped to Chase Utley for one out, then on to Ryan Howard for the double play to end the game.
Lidge’s perfect season continued into the postseason and the World Series, where he finally erased the demons of 2005. Today, he’s remembered not for the games he blew, but for the World Series he won.
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