Was Brad Lidge really that good?

by arfuze300 on Nov 17, 2008 3:11 AM EST Comment 10 comments

I was just looking at Brad Lidge's numbers from this year, and man, I have to say it seems like a modern miracle that he managed to convert every single one of his save opportunities.

Obviously converting 100% of saves is very impressive and Lidge deserves to be commended for it. But out of the top 20 saves leaders in MLB, only 2 of them walked more hitters than Lidge and he was tied for 11th in WHIP (50 hits, 35 walks in 69.1 innings).

His WHIP was 1.23. Now, that's a fairly good number if you're a starter, but a closer? I'll compare him to the leading cause of myocardial infarctions in area codes 314 and 636, Izzy. The only times Izzy had WHIPs higher than that as a Cardinal were, you guessed them: 2006 (1.46 WHIP, 10 blown saves in 59 games) and 2008 (1.64 WHIP, 7 blown saves in 42 games).

Now those WHIPs were fairly higher than Lidge's was this year. However, all I'm saying is that if you're consistently allowing 1-2 baserunners per appearance, it seems almost impossible to sustain a perfect save record. Was he really "lights out" or just lucky? The numbers don't lie though so I guess it doesn't matter.

It's a shame that Mariano Rivera's season got lost in the shuffle because of all this. He blew one save out of 40 (the nerve!) but walked only six in 70.2 innings.

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He doesn't allow a lot of runs because he strikes out so many

I remember a game against the Cards. We were down by 1 with bases loaded 1 out and he struck out Stavinoah and Mather to end it.

by vivaelpujols on Nov 17, 2008 4:27 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

that was painful

but neither should have been put in that position, especially stav. lidge ate them both alive with that slider.

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by themanthemyth on Nov 17, 2008 12:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He had a ton of nailbiter saves over the course of the season. Very, very few 1-2-3 9th innings. It IS borderline miraculous that he didn’t bow any Saves. Nonetheless, he got the job done…

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by WholeCamels on Nov 17, 2008 9:48 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

His success with a high walk out rate gives me much hope that Perez can be that dominant.

*Rasmus is to CF as Longoria is to 3B*

by Red Blazer on Nov 17, 2008 1:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

You're missing the key stat

Lidge’s total inherited baserunners: 1

That’s enormous. Enormously hugely huge.

By comparison, Mariano Rivera inherited 20 runners this year and blew only one save. And, to make things even sillier, Rivera’s only blown save came when he allowed two inherited runners to score…more inherited runners than Lidge had to deal with all season.

Saving games isn’t that hard when you invariably have the cushion to allow 1-2 baserunners. Lidge was good, but he benefited enormously from his usage pattern and circumstances.

by mojowo11 on Nov 17, 2008 2:25 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Wow

That’s really telling.

by spants on Nov 17, 2008 8:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Also Wow.

I had no idea. Seems like kyle farnsworth was really the difference.

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by hazel on Nov 18, 2008 9:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The simple answer is

For some reason, I don't enjoy watching Big Mac hit #62, but I fondly remember Ray Lankford blasting the ball out of the park in the same game. He had one sweet swing!!

by miniboscorino on Nov 17, 2008 4:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs