Brad Lidge Deserves Another Chance, But Not in 2009

The air went out of the balloon Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, and it's not because of the Pirates' walk-off home run. PNC Park, rarely even half full, consisted of just as many Phillies fans as there were for the Pirates. Being one of those numerous Philadelphians, it was a rough night. Surprisingly, Pirate fans are some of the grumpiest people I've ever met (this coming from the grumpiest group of all). I won't go into specifics, but the single row of Pittsburgh fans behind the Phillies' dugout wasn't the greatest bunch of fans. But that's beside the point. Largely responsible for the disappointment laid upon Phillies fans was Brad Lidge. This is nothing new. We've all gone over the difference between the Lidge of '08 and the Lidge of '09. The fact that he is an ineffective closer, to say the least, has been covered. The argument against replacing him is that fans want to give him a chance, due to the success he had in 2008. The problem? This ...