Phillies 2009 Washington, DC Finale: Blanton vs. Hernandez

It's almost the middle of September and the Phillies have a six game lead in the National League East. You'd think Phillies fans would be sitting back, comfortably waiting for the postseason to roll around. Yeaaaah, not exactly. This most recent iteration of Brad Lidge's blow ups has left the pressing question of who will shut down games for this team when it matters most? It's too early to tell that for sure and it seems like it's almost too early to tell who will shut down a game this evening if the situation calls for it. Even Charlie doesn't seem to have a firm grasp on what he thinks he should do.

Todd Zolecki has Charlie Manuel's reasoning of how he intends to use Lidge going forward. When the Phils are up comfortably (or down) but not early (but maybe late?). Who knows what will transpire.

One thing appears to be positive and that's Lidge's attitude on being willing to do whatever the team needs.

"It's real simple," Lidge said. "Just get me work to get me where I need to be. That's about it. I told him, 'Listen, whatever you need to do, I'll be ready to take the ball at any time.' I told him it doesn't need to be a save situation.' Obviously, I'm ready to throw in those. But if we're up by six runs, down by six runs, I feel like I'm very close to where I need to be, but it wouldn't hurt to get a couple more outings. We're on the same page with everything and we had a good talk."

So the Phillies will play their final game down in DC this evening surrounded by plenty of the Phils faithful. They haven't seen the last of the Nats though who will make a trip to the Bank the middle of next week.

I know I've said it repeatedly but it warrants another mention. With Cliff Lee struggling in his most recent starts and Cole Hamels having a rocky go of it, Joe Blanton has been a rock in this rotation. I expect nothing less against this Nationals team tonight who thankfully will roll out good ole Livan Hernandez to the mound.

First pitch scheduled for 7:05.

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We polled our Twitter followers earlier to see what kind of facts and witticisms they could come up with about tonight's riveting match up. Here are a few responses.

Hoyasaxa points out an interesting J. Werth fact:

15 of Jayson Werth's 33 HRs are "Just Enoughs." He leads the NL in fence-scrapers by 2. Not complaining...

And may he keep on scrapping.

raschatz is excited about the Phillies pitching foe. But not tooo excited:

Big Joe B v. Livan "I'm not as young as you think" Hernandez. Advantage decidedly to Phillies, but we know how that goes.

mmccl267 loves him some left fielder, but his thoughts are incomplete.

Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuu

Receckah loves the DC support.

Let's hope our boys keep remembering how to score runs at CBP South tonight!

Aw, look. jhadleyconrad, a Cardinals fan, feels bad for our Lidge troubles. Yeah, just wait 'til October then we'll see how bad you feel.

#cards fans so sorry to hear about Lidge and #Phillies closer troubles. #secretphillyfanadmirer

Mr. f*uckthemets wanted Wheels to get involved.

I have a feeling @THE_REAL_WHEELS is gonna get in on this. He loves facts and witticisms.

IMPennSt wonders whether sweeping the Nats is worthy of bragging.

Is of still considered a success to sweep the Nats?

And finally, L3N asks the question we've all been kicking around.

If there's a save situation tonight when the lights come on, will the lights be out on Lidge?

Only time will tell.