Brad Lidge may be as close as Colorado gets to a pennant race this season. The 28-year-old Houston Astros pitcher is one of the most dominating closers in the game, with 37 saves in 40 chances entering the weekend. With his team in the thick of the National League wild-card chase, the former Cherry Creek High School star took the time, in a couple of telephone conversations, to let us into the cauldron that is the stretch run.
Anthony Cotton: Do you remember what you were doing 10 years ago?
Brad Lidge: Ten years ago, ’95, I was playing summer baseball for Cherry Creek.
AC: The year you won the state championship?
BL: Coming off the state championship that spring, running around with the team and getting ready for Notre Dame that fall.
AC: Was this the year of your 10-year class reunion?
BL: It was. Unfortunately, I did not make it back. I think we were on the road somewhere, so I would have had a hard time getting back, but I would have liked to have been there.
AC: How could a big-time, major-league baseball player not go to his 10-year high school reunion?
BL: I’ll tell you what, it was tough. It’s either let my teammates down now or catch up with the guys when I come back home this winter. And, we’re in a pennant race, so you gotta do what you gotta do.
AC: Can you describe what that’s like?
BL: When September rolls around, the intensity of every game is pretty much at its highest level. Each game is kind of do-or-die, so when you get out there, there’s no room for error. It becomes this thing where you have to get locked in every single day. The fans are a lot more into it. It’s a lot more excitement and a lot more adrenaline.
AC: How often do you guys talk baseball?
BL: We talk baseball so much during the year, and it becomes so intense down the stretch that we actually try to find ways not to talk about it. We’re doing fantasy football or whatever to take our minds off baseball because as soon as we get to the clubhouse, it’s all baseball. We’re paying attention to everything that’s going on and focusing on the hitters out in the bullpen.
AC: And I’m guessing there’s a little scoreboard-watching?
BL: You definitely glance over. We’re sitting in the bullpen for however many innings – there’s no doubt we know what’s going on with the rest of the National League. You don’t want to pay too much attention to how other teams are doing when you know that if you take care of your own business you’re going to be there, but we’re always aware.
AC: Looking at the schedule, it would seem to favor you guys, but I guess you’d say you can’t assume that.
BL: And the reason you can’t is because we’re playing the Brewers for three right now; they always play us tough. We’re playing the Cubs for seven; they always play us tough. We have St. Louis for two and Pittsburgh for four. I guess it seems a little lighter than the National League East teams, but at the same time, you can’t take anyone for granted this time of year. The only thing to our advantage is they have to play each other a lot, and we don’t have to play any teams that are hunting for something.
AC: Speaking of the NL East, you won a game against Philly recently by scoring three runs in the ninth. As a closer, do you feel sorry for (Phillies closer) Billy Wagner when something like that happens?
BL: I don’t feel sorry for him because we needed to win the game, and you do what you’ve got to do to win. However, Billy’s one of my role models in this game. He’s one of my good friends in this game, and at the end of the season I want him to do as well as anybody in the game as a closer. I always want him to do well – just not against us.
Editor’s note: After a pause for batting practice, Lidge returns to the telephone.
AC: So batting practice, is it something you take seriously? Is it a pain?
BL: For a bullpen pitcher, it’s a pain. But we get our work in. We play catch, do some running, some sprints, but basically you stand there and talk baseball and field balls when they’re hit in your direction.
AC: We were talking about closers previously. It’s such a specialized job with so much pressure. Do you find yourself talking to other closers because they’re the players you can relate to?
BL: There’s a little bit of that. I think the longer you’re around, you just know more people in other bullpens, so you trade secrets and watch how guys grip baseballs and stuff like that. I just try to learn from everybody. I’m still young in this game. I had a chance to learn a lot from Billy Wagner. I just try to take information from all the veterans that I meet.
AC: What was the last thing you learned?
BL: Probably watching Billy Wagner’s everyday routine. That is, stretching beginning in the sixth inning. I never really … when I started, I would stretch before I played, but in the bullpen, I never … It kind of seems normal, but I’m talking about not just stretching to stretch, but stretching for flexibility and becoming as physically ready as possible every day to pitch in a game.
AC: We ran a story recently about the noticeable decrease in home runs this year.
BL: OK.
AC: Were you aware of it, and what do you think would account for it?
BL: I guess I wasn’t. I guess I heard a while ago that it was on pace to be a little bit less than prior years. It obviously could be a lot of things. Is it possible that because of steroid testing that less people are hitting home runs because there aren’t as many on steroids? Yeah, I guess that’s possible, but it could be a combination of things. Home runs don’t consistently go up or stay the same every year. Sometimes, there are years when they go down. It might just be one of those years. I don’t know what the answer is.
AC: Do you think Major League Baseball needs a great postseason this year to make up for the steroid controversy?
BL: I don’t think so. I think baseball’s doing awesome right now. This postseason is going to be great anyway, just because of the quality of the teams that will be in it. I think the parity is fantastic, and we’re giving an awesome product to the fans. The steroids are definitely a black-eye issue, but I think things will work themselves out. They’re starting to work themselves out because they’re starting to weed out the people who are on them. We’re getting the game as pure as possible again, and I think fans respect that we’re getting the people who are using them out into the public. Baseball doesn’t need an incredible postseason, but I think it will be that way anyway.
AC: People here think of you and Roy Halladay. Why is it Colorado produces pitchers as opposed to hitters?
BL: It’s interesting, but I’ve never known the answer to that. My theory is that the pitchers learn to pitch in altitude. In high school, I threw a curveball. I throw a slider now, but I remember trying to get it to do what it did and that’s all I knew. But when I got to college, consistently throwing it with more humidity and less altitude, it was a lot easier to get a bigger break and I think I just had more confidence at that point because throwing it the same way, it was a much better pitch. It could be that, or maybe there’s just something in the water.
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
