myerstownherald.com

By ERIC FISHER
Paging Gene Garber! Paging Gene Garber! Please report to the Phillies bullpen.
If Garber, the sidearm-tossing farmer from Elizabethtown is too busy preparing for the fall harvest or fulfilling his duties as chairman of the Lancaster County Agricultural Preservation Board, we’ll check on Ron Reed’s availability.
Is Steve Bedrosian available? Al Holland? I know Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams would love to put his MLB Network microphone down for one final playoff experience.
The Phillies may be cruising to the playoffs – they could clinch the National League East crown this weekend – but their bullpen is in shambles.
The biggest problem is closer Brad Lidge. Lidge was Mr. Perfect in 2008, converting every save opportunity as the Phillies marched to a World Series title. This year, however, Lidge has been anything but automatic. Entering the Milwaukee series, Lidge was 0-8 with 11 blown saves and a 7.48 ERA.
To say that Lidge is having a confidence problem is akin to saying that O.J. Simpson has an image problem. Lidge professes that he’s still confident and manager Charlie Manuel is keeping the faith (barely), but when Lidge enters a game, everyone else is searching for the towel that grandstanding pitcher Curt Schilling put over his head during the 1993 playoffs when Williams starting putting men on base.
Manuel has taken great pains to rebuild Lidge’s confidence. He rarely puts him in a one-run game. Manuel’s reluctance to put Lidge in a one-run game was reinforced Wednesday when Lidge blew a one-run lead in a 7-6 loss to Florida. The perfect save situation for Lidge is preserving a three-run lead in the ninth inning against the hapless Washington Nationals.
Any save by Lidge is considered a success, even though many of these “successes” involve Lidge giving up a run or two. At this point, that’s an improvement.
It seems ludicrous to enter the postseason with Lidge as the closer. But what are Manuel’s other options?
The best option would be Ryan Madson. The ninth inning, however, hasn’t been Madson’s best companion. He excels in his eighth-inning role, but has had difficulty in the ninth. If you move Madson into the closer’s role, you risk ruining the eighth inning as well as the ninth.
There were suggestions that Brett Myers would be a possible option. After all, Myers worked as the closer in 2007. Like fine wine, memories of Myers’ performance as a closer seem to grow finer with age. The truth is Myers was a decent closer. Given a choice, you certainly would prefer not to have Myers closing out playoff games.
The Myers option may be a moot point. After returning quickly from hip surgery earlier this season, Myers suffered a strain of his right latissimus dorsi muscle below his right shoulder. He is scheduled to throw bullpen sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. He may not be able to pitch in the playoffs, let alone be the closer.
J.C. Romero, who missed the first 50 games due to a banned substance allegedly contained in a supplement he took, is hoping to return to action soon after missing most of the season with a strained left forearm. Scott Eyre, the other left-hander in the bullpen (aside from Jamie Moyer), has bone chips in his elbow and has received a cortisone shot. Eyre hasn’t pitched since Sept. 7.
Not having a left-hander in the bullpen could be a problem in the playoffs. One other candidate to fill that void is J.A. Happ. Then again, Happ missed two starts with an oblique injury, then had to leave his “return” start after three innings.
Happ, of course, may be the No. 4 starter in the rotation if Pedro Martinez doesn’t sufficiently recover from the stiff neck that caused him to leave his last start after three innings.
Who else is in the bullpen? Clay Condrey recently returned from the injured list. Chan Ho Park is recovering from a hamstring injury. It seems unlikely that Park will pitch again before the playoffs.
The good news is that Chad Durbin is healthy. The bad news is that his ERA (4.81) is not.
Perhaps this column is a little too gloomy. The Phillies still have the best lineup in the National League, if not all of baseball. The middle of their lineup, with Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez all having hit more than 30 home runs, is fearsome.
In the playoffs, though, runs are sometimes difficult to generate. Teams don’t get to fatten up on No. 5 pitchers. Sometimes they don’t even get to face the No. 4 pitcher.
Pitching is at a premium during the postseason. That’s why the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee. With Lee, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton and probably Martinez as their top four, the Phillies have a formidable playoff rotation.
The rotation may be the answer to many of the Phillies’ bullpen woes. If the starters pitch deep into games, there will be less work for the relievers.
If that doesn’t work, someone may have to drive out to Elizabethtown and drag Gene Garber off his farm.