Saturday September 5^th, The Phillies are in Houston playing the Astros and Joe Blanton is poised for his 10^th win of the year with Brad Lidge on the mound. Lidge looks dominant against the first batter he faces, quickly getting him out despite whispers of an aggravating blister on the finger of his pitching hand. Then the wheels come off, he proceeds to load the bases with Astros, including former Phils Chris Coste and Michael Bourne before finally giving a bases loaded single to end the game and grab his 7^th loss of the season and paving the way to a four game sweep.

Fastforward to Tuesday September 8^th, Lidge is now in Washington playing the Nationals. Again after coming out strong he’s loaded the bases. To make matters worse he’s facing a proven home run hitter in Cristian Guzman. Just as it looked that the Phillies were on the precipice of a five game losing streak to two teams with losing records, Ole’ Charlie pulled us back. He brought in Ryan Madson. “Mad Dog” goes on to get two outs with six pitches and garners a save from the claws of defeat.

Despite Manuel’s praise for Lidge after the game, this is a sign that his job is no longer safe. Baseball is a head game, a game of routine, and pitchers are no exception. Manuel disrupted that routine, and dealt a blow to Lidge’s seemingly delicate psyche by pulling him from the game and putting in Madson. He wouldn’t risk a change just to avoid a loss against the Nationals when the NL East is all but sown up unless he was really losing faith in his present closer. Regardless of what Manuel said after the game at that moment he did not trust Lidge, and Lidge must know that. Given Brett Myers’ return and Madson’s strong performance on Tuesday and last night the closer role in Philadelphia looks very much up for grabs.