Phillies cannot close a game!

An article worth reading that I found on philly.com

NO CLOSER.

Funny how that can mean two things.

Not so funny that it may apply to the Phillies hours before the trade deadline.

As the bubbles surrounding the Cliff Lee trade fizzle out, we are left with this sobering realization: The Phillies are no closer to fixing this season’s most glaring hole than they were when the trade with the Indians was announced on Wednesday.

They have no closer.

Brad Lidge has blown a half-dozen saves and has come close to blowing at least a half-dozen more, including Tuesday night’s fiasco. He’s never had this high of an earned run average this late, not close, and is showing no signs of recovery, of renewed confidence, of figuring anything out. Ryan Madson is wearing out covering for Lidge and for J.C. Romero, as his short stint as closer has hinted.

Of course, there is still Pedro Martinez down on the farm. And maybe Brett Myers can help by late August. But 2 days after your team was awarded the National League pennant by the collective national media, the uncertainty of the Phillies’ back end – where championships over the last 2 decades are won and lost – is really nothing to party about.

Sorry if I seem a killjoy. I just don’t see the Phillies winning another World Series as long as Lidge is doing his Mitch Williams imitation. And if you look at Lidge’s history, there is nothing to suggest he will right himself until next season, when that right knee gets the rest and treatment it deserves.

I know, I know. He has said repeatedly that there’s nothing wrong. Right, and Chase Utley said his hip was fine at this time last year. Truth is, Lidge’s knee may even be OK. What’s not are the faulty mechanics developed from favoring it, or an arm that may be a little worn from last season’s workload.

Lidge had a wonderful season in 2005, when the Astros improbably reached the World Series. The following season his earned run average spiked by almost three runs, and he surrendered twice as many home runs, 10, as he had the previous season.

That was a career high but, entering last night’s game in San Francisco, he’d already coughed up nine in 42 appearances this season. And Lidge has surrendered at least a run in 19 of those appearances. As Todd Farino of thecloserreport.com pointed out, it’s more than the combined run-surrendering appearances of Mariano Rivera, Brian Funtes and Joe Nathan.

Some of Lidge’s stats this season are harrowing, even when compared to his worst seasons. His walks are up, his strikeouts way down, his hits per nine innings way, way up, too. Not into stats? Ask yourself then, when is the last time you have seen him locate his fastball? For more than a pitch here, a pitch there? It sails up on righties, away from lefties, puts him in hitter-friendly counts and allows them to lay off the slider, even when it’s working. Those counts also lead to those recurring home runs, each of which seems to travel about 700 feet.

It’s hard to walk away from a guy who was your real postseason MVP in 2008, was so perfect. But it’s 2009. You’ve traded away some nice-looking players to get Lee, increased your payroll obligation to try and repeat. But it’s like a guy who buys a luxury car then passes on the warranty.

Maybe you get away with it.

Maybe you don’t.

Sexy as a Roy Halladay trade would have been and as stabilizing as Lee is likely to be for the starting rotation, acquiring a guy like Baltimore closer George Sherrill, as the Dodgers did, might have been the best move – and least costly in terms of talent – that general manager Ruben Amaro could have made.

Yeah, you would have been betting heavy that Pedro Martinez would be an effective starter. Which leads to this: Isn’t Martinez a better answer for the end of games than the start? He was effective in the role during the World Baseball Classic. He doesn’t walk guys, he’s smart, and you would get every last mile-an-hour left on his fastball. Given his team-first proclamations, Martinez might even embrace the role, especially if he senses he could play the role of postseason savior.

That sure seems to be motivating Myers, as well.

So maybe the answers will present themselves. Who knows, maybe a switch will click for Lidge and make this all moot in a month or so. But for a team with so many answers, it seems odd that today, the last day of July, the end game is its big uncertainty.