While everyone is all lathered up about the season Chase Utley is putting together (and rightly so), closer Brad Lidge is quietly putting together a fantastic season.
Better yet, Lidge is well on his way to having the best season by a closer in franchise history. With 17 saves in as many chances, Lidge is on pace to nail down 42 games this season, though he could threaten the club record of 45 set by Jose Mesa in 2002.
More important than saves, Lidge has allowed just three runs in 28 innings (28 games) for a 0.96 ERA with 35 strikeouts. Using his fastball to set up a slider that is nearly unhittable, Lidge should be headed to the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium with Utley next month. Better yet, he appears to be the perfect anchor to the team's top-rated bullpen.
Interestingly, the years spent pitching in the cozy ballpark in Houston (whatever corporate monolith tagged its name on it this week) has served Lidge well. That's because in the broom closet known as Citizens Bank Park, Lidge has allowed just two earned runs in 14 games.
But the big question is how much longer Lidge will The Man in the Phillies' bullpen. Acquired in the deal that sent Geoff Geary and Michael Bourn to Houston, Lidge earns $6.35 million in salary this season and could be set for a big payday heading into a winter of free agency. Just 31-years old with a few not-so serious injuries behind him, including knee surgery that caused him to miss some of spring training as well as the first week of the regular season, Lidge is coming into his athletic prime.
But whether or not he will serve those prime years with the Phillies remains to be seen.
Lidge's agent Rex Gary told Comcast SportsNet on Wednesday afternoon that he would not comment on whether or not he and the Phillies have held discussions for a long-term deal for Lidge.
However, Gary told CSN that "Brad really enjoys it here. He and his wife Lindsay really like Philadelphia and Brad really enjoys his teammates."
So there's that.
Now if the Phillies can just figure out a remedy for Brett Myers, acquire another starter for the stretch run and nail down a contract with Lidge for the next two or three years, that would be something.