Phillies fans, you have a well rounded team…loaded with players that have good power, good speed and good defense.  Your starting pitching rotation is one that fans of most other teams dream of. 

But you’d better be sure that your beloved Phillies build a substantial lead before they make it into the 9th inning.  Especially as long as Charlie Manuel continues to go with Brad Lidge as his closer.

Tonight in muggy Miami, the Florida Marlins overcame a one-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-6. 

Lidge converted all of his save attempts in 2008.

Upon starting the ninth inning, Lidge gave up a leadoff double to first baseman Ross Gload that was absolutely smoked down the first base line past Ryan Howard – who, by the way, was closely guarding the line to prevent an extra base hit.  That’s how hard this ball was scorched.

Lidge then retired outfielder Chris Coghlan on a line out to right field that was also roped.  This advanced to third base.  Marlins catcher John Baker came up to the plate in a pinch-hitting role, and worked the count full before getting struck out looking on a very bad called third strike.

Hanley Ramirez (batting .350 for the season, and .377 this year with RISP), who Lidge definitely didn’t want any part of, was walked.

Runners were on the corners for Jorge Cantu.  Cantu got a great look at Lidge’s pitches from the previous batters, and nailed a hanging slider into left-center field for an RBI single – tying the game at 6.  The next batter, pinch-hitter Brett Carroll lined a single to center which allowed Ramirez to score and claim the victory for the Marlins.

Brad Lidge is now 0-8 on the season with a 7.48 ERA – and an unbelievable total of 11 blown saves.  He has single-handedly led to the demise of the Philadelphia bullpen, which leads the majors in home runs yielded after the 8th inning and games lost after leading going into the ninth inning.

Note to Phillies fan:  The previous sentence does not sound like the description of a team that is going to win the World Series.

Charlie, you are deflating your team by allowing Lidge to go out there.  It’s taking him all of 10 minutes to go and demolish what your team had built up for 3 hours.