The right place seemed to be Nationals Park, against baseball's worst team, with a two-run lead, plenty of rest and a nicked-up bullpen. After Brett Myers brilliantly bridged another stunningly solid start from Pedro Martinez, Lidge came on to face the eighth and ninth hitters of a team that already has 91 losses.
But even before Wil Nieves laced a single over Chase Utley's head, Ryan Madson was on the bullpen mound to resume the warmups he began the inning before, when Myers was on the mound. And when Lidge hit Willie Harris with one pitch, threw a wild pitch and subsequently walked Cristian Guzman to load the bases with one out, Madson went full throttle, Manuel ascended the dugout steps gingerly and, well, unwavering officially became wavering, with a season-pivotal wave of the manager's hand.
"When I say he's my closer, I don't tell lies and I don't like to go back on nothing,'' Manuel said after lifting Lidge in favor of Madson. "But the team and the game is bigger than my heart, and it's bigger than anything else, if you want to know the truth. Winning the game is what it's all about - that's baseball and that's why I manage and that's what comes first.''
Manuel walked slowly to the mound and took the ball from Lidge, who only hours before had asserted that he did not fret running out of chances because of "what Charlie has said to me."
"Charlie's got my back and I appreciate that," he said. "And of course it makes it easier for me."
Nothing is easy from here on. Madson struck out Ryan Zimmerman on three pitches, then retired Adam Dunn on a grounder after throwing two more strikes.
"He's got big talent," Manuel said of Madson, adding that with a fastball that tops 95 mph and that changeup in the 70s, "he can definitely be a closer."
