Lidge to retire as a Phillie

Sometime during the day on Thursday, Brad Lidge will walk into Citizens Bank Park, and during his visit he will meet former teammates, will sign his 1-day contract, and then announce his retirement as a Phillie.

Lidge, who came in an off-season trade in November 2007, pitched four years in Philadelphia, but the year he will always be remembered in this town, is 2008. It did not get off to a good start back then. In February of that year, Lidge tore the meniscus in his right knee while pitching off the mound in Spring Training. At the end of the month, he had surgery on the knee to repair the torn meniscus, and he was sidelined until the start of the season.

In the first part of the season, Lidge converted 12 save opportunities and only allowed two earned runs. For the rest of the year, Brad was well what his nickname was “Lights Out”. He became the first closer in Phillies history to be perfect in regular season, going 41-for-41 with a 1.95 ERA, and 92 strikeouts in 62 games, including the division clincher against the Washington Nationals, at Citizens Bank Park.

However, the bigger test was going to be the playoffs. Back in 2005, he was one strike away from going to the World Series, at that time as the closer of the Houston Astros, instead Albert Pujols, who was with the St. Louis Cardinals at the time, launched a 3-run home run over the left-center wall in game 5 of the NLCS. The Cardinals won that game, and went on to win the series.

However, this was a different Brad Lidge, a much wiser pitcher than he was a few years back. In the NLDS, against the Milwaukee Brewers, he saved two of the games, and struck out four batters, as the Phillies advanced to face the LA Dodgers in the NLCS.

In the Dodgers series, Lidge pitched in four games, striking out six, and did not allow a run against a tough Dodgers offense. He saved three games, including the pennant clincher when he got Nomar Garciaparra to foul out to Carlos Ruiz, and send the Phillies to the World Series for the first time since 1993.

In the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Lidge only pitched in two of the games, but he did save both games, including game five in Philadelphia, on a raw evening, when he struck out Eric Hinske, and turned the city upside down for the next week.

During the retirement speech, I would imagine lots of questions will be asked to Brad, in regards to 2008. His memories of the season, his teammates, the parade, which I can still think about how incredible that sunny Friday was.

After tomorrow, Brad will go back to Colorado, where he resides with his family, and will be back in this town for the 2008 reunion when the Phillies will have a weekend to honor the team, and maybe he will be back if he becomes a member of the Phillies Wall of Fame.

In this baseball town, the Phillies fans have their heroes–Whitey, Michael Jack, Lefty, Charlie Hustle, Dutch, Krukker and the Wild Thing to name a few. Well, after Thursday you can add another one to the list–Lights Out.