Confident Lidge has confidence of Manuel, Dubee

What if we told you the Phillies had a guy in their bullpen who has converted 18 of his last 19 save opportunities and has a 0.89 ERA in his last 46 appearances?

Would you want them to use him in the postseason? Would you trust him with the game on the line? Even if you knew his name was Brad Lidge?

The Phillies insist that they trust their former closer, and there is no good reason not to.

With Antonio Bastardo and Mike Stutes struggling as we approach the regular-season finish line, manager Charlie Manuel was asked last week how he'll line up his bullpen in front of closer Ryan Madson during the playoffs. The questioner mentioned Stutes and Bastardo, but omitted Lidge's name.

"I think Lidge has worked his way in there," Manuel said. "I think it would be Stutes, Lidge, Bastardo, and Madson right now."

The follow-up question - what has Lidge shown you? - suggested that Manuel is seeing things that aren't there.

"He has shown me that he can definitely get his slider over against righthanded hitters," Manuel said. "There are types of lefthanded hitters I like him on, but he has shown consistency coming out of the bullpen by throwing sliders for strikes."

Since last August, Lidge has allowed 24 hits and struck out 44 batters in 401/3 innings. His WHIP - walks and hits per inning - is 1.140, which is better than the 1.226 number he posted during his magical 2008 season.

In 2008, when Lidge converted all 48 of his save opportunities and registered the strikeout that triggered a World Series title celebration, the crowd went crazy when the bullpen door in center field opened and No. 54 started toward the mound.

There was little reaction when Lidge entered in the eighth inning of Saturday night's NL East clincher against St. Louis with two on and two out in a one-run game. Lidge calmly threw one pitch and induced an inning-ending grounder to escape the jam created by Stutes.

The fact that Lidge has regained the confidence of his manager and pitching coach, Rich Dubee, means he has accomplished the goal he set out for himself when he began a long, arduous rehab from a strained rotator cuff at the end of spring training.

During his second rehab outing at single-A Lakewood in early July, Lidge said he wanted to reach the point where Manuel knew that he was "still capable of throwing the innings where we have a small lead toward the end of the game."