St. Louis – The same past that haunts Brad Lidge will define him. Those were the words spoken Tuesday by former minor-league teammate and current Rockies infielder Aaron Miles.
Lidge returns to the field today in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, pining for a chance to close out the St. Louis Cardinals. The question asked hundreds of times by Astros fans is: Can he recover?
Miles has no doubt, insisting there is no one better equipped to face and stare down adversity than Lidge.
“He is as solid as a rock, tough as they come,” said Miles, a teammate of Lidge’s while in the Astros’ minor-league system. “Obviously for anyone to go through what he did (Monday) is tough. But I expect him to be in the game (today) and finish it out. That’s just how Brad is.”
Miles’ confidence stems from Lidge’s commitment, one detailed by Astros general manager Tim Purpura on Tuesday. As a first-round draft choice from Notre Dame, Lidge had every reason to quit. For four straight years, the Cherry Creek High School alum got hurt, once breaking his arm after being struck by a line drive in batting practice.
At one point, Purpura reached a crossroads with Lidge, upset that he was working too hard. He reminded him to follow the traditional recovery steps.
“Brad is a battler, a fighter,” Purpura said. “He’s a player who cares a thousand times more about his teammates than he does himself, and because of that I think that gives him the opportunity to flush away what happened and say, ‘Hey I’ve got to do this for the team.”‘
Footnotes
Red Sox assistant GM Josh Byrnes has emerged as a candidate for Arizona’s general manager vacancy. He left the Rockies a few years ago to join Theo Epstein in Boston. … Albert Pujols has six RBIs in this series for the Cardinals. The rest of the team has eight. … Forgotten among Pujols’ heroics is Houston’s best player from last season is missing: Carlos Beltran. He signed for $119 million with the New York Mets. According to Phil Garner, that wasn’t a bad thing. He said, “I applaud our owner for going the extra mile and trying to make that happen, but I think it probably was a blessing in disguise.”
