When Pujols Broke Lidge | Baseball Bits

this episode of baseball bits is brought to you by the athletic home to the best baseball coverage available head over to the athletic comm slash foolish baseball for a free 30-day trial as well as 50% off your annual subscription fee it was the 2005 NLCS Game five ninth-inning Cardinals and Astros Houston was one out away from reaching the World Series but representing the go-ahead run was Albert Pujols the most feared hitter in the National League he stepped to the batter's box to face Brad Lidge who was appropriately the most dominant closer in the National League I would like to say it was the best closer in Major League Baseball but you know there was this guy in New York so anyways in 2004 and 2005 Lidge posted two amazing campaigns for the Astros earning siyoung and MVP votes he was at the absolute top of his game but when the Machine took him deep on this at-bat he finally met his maker his confidence was shattered and his promising career went into a death spiral this is the story of when pool halls broke Lidge but this is also the story of how lid fixed himself upon his promotion to the big leagues Albert Pujols immediately established himself as a superstar he was the machine in his first frankie valli which is what I call a player's first four seasons he hit the second most homers accrued the second-most Wins Above Replacement and had the third highest o-p-s among hitters in their first four campaigns but what he didn't have in his first four seasons was an MVP award see the emergence of Pujols had directly coincided with the four years when Barry Bonds was eating a balanced breakfast every morning I think he even played 2004 without a bat that's how good he was as such Pujols fell short of the ludicrous numbers that Bond's put up every season but in 2005 Bonds missed almost the entire year with a knee injury so pools effectively took over his role and never looked back his 2005 numbers weren't really any better or worse than what he was already putting up but with bonds m.i.a pools became the de facto MVP and most feared hitter in the National League Brad Lidge experienced a similarly quick ascension he burst onto the scene in 2003 when he finished fifth and brookie of the Year voting 2004 and 2005 he put his devastating fastball slider combo into work and became a strikeout machine while Poole's was known for avoiding strikeouts like the plague Lidge was striking out 14 batters per nine innings before every elite reliever was doing so his 2004 campaign had at the time the third highest caper 9 in baseball history for pinchers with at least 50 innings and among pitchers with at least 100 innings between 2004 and 2005 he dominated his peers in terms of both strikeouts per 9 innings and fielding independent pitching the run prevention was certainly there as well as its 207 er a in - Oh a er a plus on that stretch put him firmly in elite territory and like pool halls he had taken his crown as the league's best after the throne was abdicated due to injury this time it was Eric Gagne who underwent elbow surgery in June 2005 Lidge had also managed to make a name for himself in the postseason in 2004 the year before Pujols broke Lidge the Astros and Cardinals also faced off in the NLCS st. Louis came out on top after a classic seven-game series but Lidge was unstoppable striking out 14 and 8 scoreless innings in their 2005 rematch Liz was clutch as well he saved each of Houston's first three victories in games 2 3 & 4 of the series so we stood on the mound in game five with a 2-run cushion it looked like he would end the series right then and there but Albert Pujols had other plans to start the ninth Brad Lidge did Brad Lidge thinks he gets a swinging strikeout from John Rodriguez and another swinging strikeout from John Mabry with the bases empty and a solid cushion he's in the best shape possible for the top of the Cardinals lineup leading off was David Eckstein now I'm a stats guy but you can throw out all the stats here because David Eckstein was actually the guy who the Cardinals devil magic flowed through in the mid-2000s for those of you who watched the 2019 season you'll know that the Cardinals devil magic was flowing through Tommy Edmund of all people but I digress on the one two pitch just one strike away from the World Series David Eckstein sneaks a ground ball through the infield for a single because you know devil magic lynch falls behind in the count and walks Jim Edmonds bringing the most feared hitter in the league up to the plate as the go-ahead run Albert Pujols stepped into the box and swung at strike one then this happened [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Lidge royally Boches his slider and leaves it hanging for pool holes a costly mistake not only does he hit it for a home run but it's a demoralizing towering blast one that was gone from the moment it left the bet brad lidge's body language says it all when you're dealing you have your catcher the infield and outfield cheering you on but when you fail that pitcher's mound suddenly becomes the loneliest place on the planet that homerun was deposited into the mesosphere which is actually above the stratosphere I had to google it but yeah mesosphere this is a signature playoff moment but without proper context it's somewhat misleading why is that the Houston Astros won this series yeah all this did from a win-loss perspective was delay the Astros from winning in front of their home crowd they went to st. Louis two days later and grabbed game six clinching a spot in the World Series the sins of the Homer had been effectively erased yet there was still a rain cloud above Brad Lidge his head a rain cloud that would follow him into the World Series against the Chicago White Sox after losing Game one the Cardinals desperately needed game 2 to tie the series back up Lidge entered the ninth in a tie game hoping to send it to extras then this happened [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] he pitched a clean game three but the Astros ended up losing a 14 inning epic this was a weird series each game was incredibly close but the White Sox always seemed to come out on top and that's exactly what happened in Game four Freddy Garcia and Brandon backe each pitched seven clean innings and the ball was handed to Lidge in a scoreless game in the eighth after allowing a Willie Harris single the White Sox played a little small ball with a pathetic bunt and a Carl Everett productive out Lidge was one batter away from escaping the jam but Jermaine Dye singled up the middle driving in the game's only run Lidge had once again come up short in the playoffs Pujols had officially broken him the white sox closed it out in the ninth and won the World Series yeah despite what the media may tell you the White Sox did win the World Series in 2005 around that time NASA began tracking the ball pool holes hit off lids as it executed a successful orbit of the planet Mars it wasn't all on Lidge Roy Oswalt and Roger Clemens were a big part of the Astro success but they were exhausted by the time they reached the World Series perhaps all Lidge needed was a full offseason of rest before he could return to dominance if only it were that simple Brad Lidge pitched in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic which was actually the first international baseball tournament played in 144 P as evidenced by this extremely low quality video the trouble with the WBC is that it could throw off an otherwise routine spring training schedule and that may have just happened with Brad Lidge still in the post pool holes funk C in 2006 for the first time in his big-league career Brad Lidge did poorly for starters that slider he hung two balls became a reoccurring issue if you just examined the three outcomes his strikeout rate fell his walks went up and most damaging of all his home run rate doubled too many hangers that July Jose DeJesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle described glitches struggles as tragic stating that it was difficult to witness such a model professional getting booed in his own ballpark in September he lost his closer job to teammate Dan wheeler at the end of his disastrous season late finished with an ER a above 5 converted only 84 percent of his save opportunities a far cry from 91 percent a year prior and the Astros missed the playoffs it was a giant step back for the man who was formerly the best closer in the National League not the best closer in Major League Baseball though you know cuz there's that guy in New York yeah yeah to make matters worse that offseason at the deep-space probe Cassini observed the pool holes homerun ball near the rings of Saturn yeah he really got hold of that thing on Opening Day 2007 Lidge blew his save against the Pirates he relinquished the closing role two-wheeler again in an interview with Phil Williams of Sabre Lidge stated that this was a blessing in disguise as it gave him the opportunity to rework the broken slider that pool holes took deep as such he didn't get regular safe situations until after the all-star break and then he went on a hot streak [Music] at the end of July Brad Lidge had a season er a of 2.44 but he struggled the rest of the way with an ara over five for the last two months of the season still rich had shown flashes of his old self he wasn't a hundred percent back but he was getting there the Astros however were not good as their win total continued to fall precipitously from their 2005 pennant winning squad they made the decision to deal Brad Lidge to the Phillies in exchange for a package of players that included Michael Bourn who had a fine career with the Astros but the Phillies had just found their missing piece it was time for Brad Lidge to redeem himself with his slider retooled Brad Lidge absolutely took off in 2008 reeling off 17 scoreless appearances of at least one inning to start the season which is currently the fifth longest streak of all time after struggling with the long ball he only gave up two homers all season as he went on this hot streak the Albert Pujols ball became the first man-made object to exit the Milky Way galaxy he was absolutely unbelievable in safe situations as he saved 41 games without blowing a single one which stands as the fourth best perfect season in that regard in the end it was a season that rivaled his finest efforts in Houston as Lidge received both sigh Young and MVP votes for the Phillies but there were still playoff demons to be exorcised which saved Game one of the NLDS after an ultimately harmless run as he struck out Corey Hart with two runners on to escape the jam he followed that up with a game to save as well and in Game four he stood on the mound and ended the series just as they should have in Houston Lidge is NLCS foes were not the Cardinals but the Los Angeles Dodgers and he continued his expert work grabbing saves in games one two and Lidge entered Game five with a chance to shut the door on the Dodgers season and he did just that it was the second consecutive series that ended with Brad Lidge on the mound he was no longer alone in Game one of the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays the Phillies call on Lidge in the tensest of situations was just a one-run lead he was given the range to close out the game against the spooky part of Tampa's lineup the first batter up was Carlos Pena who would go on to finish top 10 in MVP voting yet Lidge handled him with three quick pitches went away next up was the young stud Evan Longoria who also received MVP votes that year Lidge dispatched him with another swinging strikeout that left Carl Crawford who was at that point the most accomplished player at franchise history he popped out as the Phillies grabbed Game one Lynch wouldn't return to the mound until Game five with a chance to close out this series in 2005 he had his chance to close out the Cardinals and blew it but had stood on the mountain in both the division series and championship series in 2008 after a stunning regular season this was his chance to complete his incredible comeback in the top of the ninth with two outs and the tying run in scoring position stop me if this sounds familiar Eric Hinske stepped into the box as the go-ahead run then this happened [Applause] [Music] brad lidge's career was defined by two images the shellshock expression after pools took him deep and the elation of having completely redeemed himself in Philadelphia in the 1970s the television program Wide World of Sports entered the phrase the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat into our cultural lexicon in brad lidge's case they got the order wrong the baseball gods decided that he needed to experience the agony of defeat in order to make the thrill of victory that much sweeter it's a cruel way to view things but sometimes it's the only way to grow so to those of you watching at home who may feel a little beat down by the world who may be looking at this stock photo of a mirror I have faith that your breakthrough will come I really mean it [Music] this episode of baseball bits was brought to you by the athletic the athletic provides its readers with the best baseball coverage and storytelling available they employ a world-class team of writers that provide coverage on all your favorite organizations at the local level as well as at the league level and it's not just baseball either as the athletic covers the big four sports leagues domestic and international soccer college football hoops and even more on top of this the website and app are completely at free so no more annoying pop-ups you can use my link at the athletic comm to 50% off your yearly subscription as well as a 30-day free trial once again thank you to the athletic for sponsoring this episode of baseball pits [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Foolish Baseball

Views: 635,132

Rating: 4.9350762 out of 5

Keywords: brad lidge, albert pujols, albert pujols vs brad lidge, pujols lidge, 2005 nlcs, 2005 nlcs game 5, 2005 world series, white sox 2005, white sox 2005 world series, scott posdenik, scott posednik walk off, lidge phillies, 2008 phillies, mlb, foolish baseball, baseball bits, pujols lidge home run distance, baseball, pujols home run off lidge, albert pujols 2005 nlcs, brad lidge 2005 nlcs, brad lidge world series, brad lidge world series save, brad lidge 2008

Id: V0rIco_X6kw

Length: 14min 0sec (840 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/SirLaxer]

14 minutes discussing one of my least favorite Houston sports memories?

https://i.imgur.com/foSB3LJ.jpg

[u/nadpuncher]

As a Cardinals fan, this is one of those baseball moments that I'll never forget. It's probably my favorite Pujols moment. The baseball gods were too kind when they blessed us with this man.

[u/FernandoAyanami]

c'mon man, the week was just starting to turn around for us.

[u/supertruck97]

I do believe this link will stay blue.

[u/thefarkinator]

I'm so glad someone talked about Brad Lidge's redemption arc, so many people forget about it, truly one of the sweeter stories in baseball.

I still want to vomit every time I watch the Pujols HR though

[u/DrJetThruster]

I was 10 when this happened, and I was the biggest little Astros fan. This event then turned me into the most irrational hater of anything Pujols.

[u/[deleted]]

Probably the biggest moment I can remember in a series loss for the Cardinals.

[u/general_peabo]

Astros won that series and Lidge pitched a near perfect season for the Phillies right after this.

[u/[deleted]]

“Eric Hinske stepped into the box”

Aight imma head out