Lidge said he does not think the soreness will keep him from being ready for the April 1 season opener against Houston. The pitcher conceded, however, that the problem has affected him for a couple of weeks.
"To be honest, I felt great coming down here, but somewhere in my first outing or two I just felt a little tightness in my shoulder, and I tried to throw through it a couple times," Lidge said. "Obviously it was hard to have great control and improve on arm strength when you're trying to fight through it a little bit, so we just decided [to shut down]. It's not really a major deal. It's biceps tendinitis. We'll let it calm down for a couple days, play catch for a couple days and get back in there soon."
Lidge last pitched Friday against the Baltimore Orioles and allowed two runs on three hits. He has surrendered runs in four of five games this spring. After his outing against the Orioles, he said there was no reason to worry about his 9.00 ERA or a lack of velocity. A National League scout said Monday that Lidge's best fastball has been clocked at 88 m.p.h. this spring.
"That's really just a result of trying to go out there and not really feeling very comfortable throwing, because there is some shoulder stiffness," Lidge said. "There are a lot of things that are very difficult to do when you're not feeling great, and there is no reason to try and do that at this point in spring training."
Lidge is so convinced that he'll be ready for opening day that he said if this were the regular season he would be able to pitch through the soreness.
"We're completely expecting to be ready when the season rolls around," Lidge said. "It's normal spring-training stuff. I'll still get plenty more outings for me to be ready and comfortable before the season starts."
