TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...
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As for the Myers/Hamels main event, Ken Rosenthau claimed to be 5 feet away, heard the whole thing, and indeed it was just the two busting on each other. I'm buying into that. Hamels will start Game 7 but on a very short leash.
A lot of talk up here about how the Yankees own Pedro, and how they "got to him" in Game 2.
Let's look at his Game 2 start:
6IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 8K, 2HR, 2.08 ERA.
Compare to CC in Games 1 & 4:
7IP/6.2IP, 4H/7 H, 2R/3 R, 2ER/3ER, 3BB/3 BB, 6K/6K, 2HR/1 HR, 1.52ERA/1.98 ERA
Pedro's numbers in Game 2 were nearly identical to CC's in Game 4, not that far off his numbers in Game 1. Granted, this will be his 2nd start against them, and there's going to be an adjustment, but someone as experienced and crafty as Pedro should make adjustments as well. Petitte will show up, I expect the two to go at it for at least six innings.
If Charlie gives the ball to Lidge with less than two outs again in this series, I may show up with an automatic weapon. Expect a ninth innings combo of Eyre, Meyers, Durbin or Lidge. Madson is possibly the best 8th inning man in the game, but does not have the mental stuff of a closer. 6th-7th innings belong to Park and Durbin. I have faith in all of them but Lidge. I would say the entire roster feels that way.
I have to say I am no fan of hip hop music. Maybe I am just too old.
But, I also have to say NeeKo and Jay Z's lyrics are like day and night.
1,000,000 times better, NeeKo's version, and nobody would have to "sanitize" it for a national audience.
We have a piece lauding NeeKo's lyrics - I enjoyed very much the historical and landmark references in addition to some of Philly's sports heros. He got in all four teams, too.
I understand Neeko's song is quite popular in Philly, which proves you don't have to rap about garbage to get some attention.
Good luck to NeeKo.