To The Rescue - Wednesday, May 21, 2008
361 Views :: 0 Comments :: :: Michael Bradley

   It's not easy for me to say I'm wr-wr-wr-wr, well, not correct. It happens so infrequently that I'm out of practice. But after savaging the Phillies bullpen throughout much of the off-season, I figured it was time to show some class and maturity and apologize.

   When it comes to the Phillies bullpen, I was wrong.

   Thank goodness for that. Without the outstanding work of Brad Lidge, J.C. Romero, Chad Durbin, Rudy Seanez and Tom Gordon, the Phillies would be in last place. That's a fact. This team's starting pitching is so shaky -- other than Cole Hamels -- and its hitting is so unreliable that a rotten bullpen would be the final reason for a trip to the cellar.

   Tuesday's one-run offensive "explosion" showed what happens when the long ball isn't flying for this team. The two players who carried the team through April -- Chase Utley and Pat Burrell -- have cooled considerably. Shane Victorino is hitting a robust .244, and Ryan Howard has a .183 average and 68 strikeouts. Keep this pace up, and he'll have 234 by season's end.

   With all of that trouble at the plate, and a starting staff that contains one reliable member these days, it's great to have a quintet of strong, durable arms. Though I was wrong about this group, don't parade around as if you knew it would be dominant, either. Gordon's arm looked finished last year. Durbin was a $900,000 off-season bargain who was thought to be a long man or emergency starter, not an innings-eater capable of making us forget the nightmare of J.D. "The Real Deal" Durbin, who is related to Chad in name only and not baseball ability.

  Seanez is a scrap-heap pickup who makes GM Pat Gillick look good. He may strike out in the off-season, but Gillick is great once the games start for real. Getting Seanez added depth. Romero, meanwhile, was a no-brainer. He was great last year and made most fans smile when he re-signed.

   The big surprise is Lidge. When the Phillies signed him, many (including me) focused on his recovering knee and the psychological fallout from the dinger he gave up to Albert Pujols in the '05 post-season. He was demoted twice from the closer's role last year. And he pushed Brett Myers from the job he loved back into the rotation. But, so far, so great. Lidge has 11 saves and looks practically unhittable. It's a good thing, too. While the rest of the Phillies stumble around, he and his bullpen mates are getting it done.

   And proving me wrong.

   Was that so hard?