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Batters beware: Lidge regaining dominating form

Demoted closer confident he'll be back in that role

Jack Etkin, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 9, 2007 at midnight

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CINCINNATI - The turnaround began April 23 in the eighth inning of a blowout loss at Philadelphia. As a closer, Brad Lidge would be used in such a situation only if he needed work.

But it had been two weeks since Lidge lost his role as the Houston Astros' closer.

After Lidge blew a save on Opening Day and struggled in his next outing, Astros manager Phil Garner, his team stumbling to a 1-5 start, demoted Lidge and made Dan Wheeler the closer.

"Without getting too much into it, the reality is I've been able to throw a lot more and more consistently since that's happened," Lidge said. "And that has been one of the elements that's gotten me back on track. So while it's been frustrating to get yanked out of that role, I feel like now I'm throwing as good as I have, so I hope to get that role back."

Lidge wasn't throwing that well when he took the mound in Philadelphia with the Astros trailing 11-4. He had a 10.13 ERA in eight games and gave up a bounding ball through the infield and a bloop, ground-rule double to the first two Phillies batters.

"It seemed like it was going to be one of those outings again and he struck out the next three batters," catcher Brad Ausmus recalled.

Aaron Rowand, Rod Barajas and Jayson Werth went down swinging. Lidge finished the inning with 17 pitches, 14 for strikes. That was the start of an ongoing eight-game run of nine innings during which Lidge has allowed one run and two walks, struck out 14 and, better still, savored a mound flashback.

"Right now, when I throw, I feel totally in control and totally focused," said Lidge, who went to Cherry Creek High School and lives in the Denver area. "And I'll be honest - before, I was worried too much about what pitches were doing. I was worried about if it's the right thing to throw at certain times.

"Now I don't feel that way. I feel like I have when I've thrown the best in my career. So it was a small thing, but I can certainly point to that game and say that was a turning point."

On Opening Day, Lidge gave up a tying home run in the ninth to Pittsburgh's Xavier Nady and the Astros lost 4-2 in 10 innings.

It hardly was what the Astros wanted to see from Lidge, coming off a 2006 season in which he went 32-for-38 in save situations and struck out 104 in 75 innings but finished with a 5.28 ERA.

Six days after facing the Pirates, Lidge again took the mound. He allowed three hits and five runs (two earned) with two walks in two-thirds of an inning against St. Louis.

Back to basics

Lidge excessively relied on a cut fastball, which he began throwing during the winter and a pitch he couldn't command consistently.

"Simple fact that I added another pitch in retrospect means that I probably didn't have enough confidence in my bread and butter, my fastball, slider," Lidge said.

During spring training, Lidge said, he was getting right- and left-handed hitters out with his cutter. He believed he had enhanced his repertoire but didn't realize his four-seam fastball and slider were becoming less effective because of the cutter.

He has shelved that pitch, although Ausmus believes it can be useful for Lidge.

The bottom line is Lidge is relying on his fastball and slider, mixing in an occasional sinking fastball, a pitch he began using toward the end of last season and one that helped him cure some mechanical woes.

"He has begun to start attacking the hitters again rather than try to get them out," Ausmus said. "It's really just being aggressive, being confident, coming right at you, 'Here's my best stuff, you can't hit it.' He's relearning that, I think."

In 2004 and 2005, Lidge combined to go 71-for-79 in save situations with a 2.07 ERA, 260 strikeouts and 115 hits allowed in 165 1/3 innings.

As Lidge slipped from that peak, there was criticism he rarely threw inside, allowing hitters to get comfortable and look for pitches on the outer part of the plate.

"In 2004 and 2005, when I had my best seasons, we hardly ever threw in," Lidge said. "It's not that all of a sudden we need to throw in a lot more now; that's not what we used to do. It's that I need to have command. I was missing over the plate with fastballs, and no one was swinging at my slider because I wasn't establishing that as a strike."

'People have helped me'

Asked whether consultations with a sports psychologist might have helped him regain his focus and think positively, Lidge said, "I won't get into specifics on it, but I will just say there are people who have definitely helped me. And it really has nothing to do with anything in the past. It has to do with my approach on the mound. There's been tidbits of advice and different things that have helped me turn it around, but most important they helped me feel in control and not think negatively of things."

Lidge, 30, can't be a free agent until after 2008. He's making $5.35 million, a large sum for a midmarket team with an Opening Day payroll of almost $88 million to be paying a reliever who isn't closing. That leads to speculation if the Astros fall out of the National League Central race and Lidge's market value is restored as he continues to rebound, he will be traded.

Such matters are beyond his control. But whether it's with the Astros or another club, Lidge envisions himself on the mound in the ninth and closing again.

"Right now, I know I absolutely can," Lidge said. "I think the switch has been flipped. I'm in a different mind-set. I'm in a very confident place right now. And I think that it will happen. My stuff's there and I'm doing what I've done in the past. So for me not to get back there - that's not even an option. I will be closing again at some point."