Starting Five: Phillies' Lidge Falls Off Ledge Again

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Phillies' weakest link is Brad Lidge.

Repeating as World Series champs is going to be near impossible without an effective closer. And Lidge, perfect last year in converting save opportunities, is a mess.

Asked to hold a one-run lead last night against the Pirates, Lidge gave up a single, a wild pitch, a single and Andrew McCutchen's walk-off homer.

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Lidge had maintained through many bad outings that his pitches felt good, but tonight was different. "I didn't have anything on the ball tonight," he said.

Lidge has a 0-6 record, a 7.33 ERA and has blown three of his past seven save chances -- nine of 34 this season.

"He's our closer," [manager Charlie] Manuel said. "I've said it all over the place. That's the guy who we've got."

Lidge has surrendered 11 homers in just 46 2/3 innings, which would rank as the worst rate ever for a closer. (Rick Aguilera is the only pitcher to record 20 saves and allow more than 2.00 homers per nine innings; he did so for the 2000 Cubs and it was the last year of his career.)

From the Trainer's Room ...
For the ninth time in his career -- but the first time this year -- Nick Johnson is on the disabled list. Johnson, hitting .308 with a .962 OPS since being traded from Washington to Florida, has not played since Aug. 16 because of sore right hamstring.

Numbers Game ...
The Rockies have gained 13 1/2 games on the Dodgers in 83 days, climbing within two games of the NL West leaders with Tuesday's 10-inning, 5-4 victory. On the morning of June 4, L.A. was 37-18 and Colorado was 20-32 and in last place. Since then, the Dodgers have gone 37-34 while the Rockies have gone 52-22 to get 18 games over .500 for the first time in team history. Three weeks ago, Los Angeles had the largest lead of any first-place team; now the NL West is the tightest division.

In Their Own Words ...
"I don't know why, but I thought [Luke] Hochevar had 15 and no walks [on June 25, but it was actually 13]. So I couldn't figure out what was going on. I was wondering, 'Why are they cheering so much?' It didn't really make sense to me. I thought Hoch had 15. Obviously, I was wrong." -- Zack Greinke on the ovation he got from the Kansas City crowd when he got his 15th strikeout Tuesday night, breaking Mark Gubicza's team record

Advance Scouting ...
Tim Wakefield is scheduled to come off the disabled list tonight to start for the Red Sox against the White Sox (7:10 PM ET). Wakefield was 11-3 before going on the DL with back problems, and while his 4.31 ERA wasn't great, Boston sorely missed him in the rotation as it saw John Smoltz and Brad Penny struggle. Big question: Who catches the knuckleballs? Jason Varitek has worked with Wakefield once since 2005, but can Victor Martinez handle the floaters any better?