Closer Brad Lidge, who has been sidelined for a week with an inflamed right knee, had a successful bullpen session Friday.  Lidge threw 30 pitches, and walked off the mound pain free, meaning he will not be headed to the disabled list.

This is the same knee he had two surgeries on prior to the 2008 season, so it was thought all problems were corrected.  That is until Lidge developed mechanical flaws.

“The amount of pitches I threw didn’t bother me,” Lidge said. “There’s no question that if I kind of revert back to some bad mechanics that I’ll probably aggravate it. That being said, the way I threw today was real encouraging. I’ll be ready to go now. I’ll be able to avoid the DL.  By and large, this isn’t a big mechanical adjustment,” Lidge said. “But if I fall down too much on my back side on any particular pitch, that’s when it pinches. It’s going to tell me right away if I’m not throwing the way I need to be. The good thing about this mechanical adjustment is that pitchers want to be tall on their back side so we can get some good downward angle on the plane. I was lacking that a lot. This is a good adjustment for me.”

Lidge was not available last night (he also wasn’t needed), but will be ready this afternoon, should a ninth inning save situation arise.