Lid put on Lidge

It didn't take Wayne, my father and Van Pelt to my Stu Scott, too long to realize that game 5 of the 2005 NLCS was the beginning of the end for Brad Lidge.

I can recall a time when Brad Lidge was a nearly untouchable fireballer. His ERA in 2005 was 2.80 with 42 saves, and in '04 it was 1.90 with 157 K. That was back when Jeff Suppan (who?) beat the Rocket, and the Cards won game 7

In 2005, when his team finally pushed past the Cardinals, Wayne pointed out the sorrowful irony. For Brad Lidge, things would always get harder than when he LOST in 2004. Although he was heading to the Series, he would never be the same.

His team would go on to be expectedly dominated by the White Sox. In 2006 he had his ERA explode to 5.28, and In his 2 games in '07, Brad Lidge earned an ERA of 16.20 and his way out of a job. As I watched Bradley give up 5 runs to the Redbirds in 2/3 of an inning, I knew it was done. He was quickly removed from the game, and I imagine he learned that night that close he would no longer.

It really does go back to that night Albert Pujols ripped the World Series from the Astros, even if only for that night. He crouched on the mound and watched the ball go, ruined. It was Andy Pettite that gave it away. We all read his lips when he said "Oh my gosh," and watched the Pujols show, but he wasn't watching a baseball fly over the train tracks.

He was watching a man's soul leave his body.