Brad Lidge

Brad Lidge was searching. He thought he was supposed to be a baseball player, but it seemed like all he did was have surgery. Stranded in Kissimmee, Fla., relegated to rehabilitation, Lidge needed more. Drafted by the Houston Astros in 1998 after his junior year of college at Notre Dame, Lidge left school before graduating to start his minor-league career. But it hardly began before various ailments stalled it. While recovering from injuries to his pitching arm, Lidge followed his curiosity.

Brad Lidge announced his retirement during spring training and is pursuing a master's degree in archaeology from the University of Leicester in England. "It's a distance [online] program," Lidge said by phone from his home in Boulder, Colo. During the latter stages of his career with the Phillies, Lidge earned a degree in digging for answers when the life leaves your right arm, the same difficult course that two-time Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay is trying to navigate now. "I think the greatest challenge, which is also the most frustrating part, is the length of time it takes to figure out what to do and how to get hitters out when you're not using Plan A anymore," Lidge said Saturday by phone from Boulder.

Charlie Manuel said it many times this summer and fall, no matter how dark and confusing Brad Lidge's season became. The manager believed that Lidge was his most talented reliever and should be the one to close important games. Talk radio callers shrieked, bloggers blustered and columnists complained, but Manuel's belief in Lidge remained solid. And now, after the closer finished two one-run saves in the National League division series, looking meaner and more confident than he had since 2008, the question can be asked: Did Manuel fix Lidge in time for another World Series run?

It took a DVD to convince Brad Lidge that the World Series had actually happened. The experience itself moved so quickly, and with such intensity, that the pitcher could not trust his memories of it. "It happened so fast," Lidge said. "You're very locked in the moment, and the postseason just flew by. I don't know what to equate the experience to. The whole winter was remarkable, trying to reflect on everything. " The period of reflection ends today for Lidge, when the Phillies' closer sees his first game action of 2009 and begins the post-championship, post-perfect-season segment of his career.

Part of the fallout from Washington's first rough stretch this season was what may be the end of Brad Lidge's career. The man who may have done more to win the World Series for the Phillies in 2008 than any other was shown the door by the Nationals on Sunday after blowing two games in two days. Lidge allowed three runs in Washington's 7-2 loss to the New York Yankees on Friday and was the losing pitcher on Saturday, giving up two runs in the 14th inning of a 5-3 defeat. "Brad wasn't performing very well," said general manager Mike Rizzo, with breath-taking understatement.

The morning after Brad Lidge suffered his 10th blown save of the season, last Saturday in Houston, he walked down the left-field line for a pregame stretch with his teammates. In the ballpark where his first career downturn occurred, Lidge had been booed heavily the night before. The fans were needier of him when in close proximity. "Brad, can you sign?" they yelled. "Can we get an autograph?" Lidge smiled and waved. "I have to work right now, but I'll come back," he said, and later honored that promise.

Phillies closer Brad Lidge never let anything get in the way of his friendship with Tampa Bay reliever Dan Wheeler when they spent time together in the Houston Astros' bullpen. Even when Lidge was demoted in favor of his friend, the friendship remained strong. Quirky former Houston manager Phil Garner played musical closers with Lidge and Wheeler during the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Three times, Lidge was demoted as closer because of his performance, and another time because of injury.

1. Cole Hamels       2. Brad Lidge

Brad Lidge pitched the seventh inning and allowed a walk. Lidge is healthy in spring for the first time in years, and pitching coach Rich Dubee says that is as big an advantage as the closer has had in a while. He has allowed two runs in three spring innings. "He was a little erratic at times," Dubee said of Lidge's performance Saturday. "But his arm speed continues to improve, and that's a good sign. Like I've said before, Brad Lidge is on the mound early. This is a real early stage for Brad to be healthy.

And so we have arrived at another Roy Halladay start. At some point, his outings will cease receiving so much scrutiny and the hackneyed expression "it is what it is" will rule the day. Exactly how this developing story is going to end remains to be seen, but history suggests it is not going to end well for the two-time Cy Young Award winner. Oddly, this start Sunday afternoon against the Miami Marlins will be a bit of a defining one for the 35-year-old pitcher who threw a perfect game against the same franchise in 2010.

Brad Lidge announced his retirement during spring training and is pursuing a master's degree in archaeology from the University of Leicester in England. "It's a distance [online] program," Lidge said by phone from his home in Boulder, Colo. During the latter stages of his career with the Phillies, Lidge earned a degree in digging for answers when the life leaves your right arm, the same difficult course that two-time Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay is trying to navigate now. "I think the greatest challenge, which is also the most frustrating part, is the length of time it takes to figure out what to do and how to get hitters out when you're not using Plan A anymore," Lidge said Saturday by phone from Boulder.

THE LAST time the Phillies went to a World Series, they had a pitcher on the staff who was 0-8 with a 7.21 ERA. The year was 2009 and the pitcher was Brad Lidge. A year removed from a perfect season that netted him team MVP honors and the Phillies a World Series championship, Lidge was a liability in the bullpen. But Charlie Manuel and management stuck with the veteran closer. Four years later, Manuel brought up Lidge's name when asked how long he could let Roy Halladay work through his ongoing struggles.

WE ARE just weeks away from a fifth spring training since Brad Lidge dropped to his knees and raised his arms to the heavens, channeling the overriding emotion of most, if not all of the Delaware Valley at that moment. Arms in the air, reflecting both deliverance and exaltation, a release of demons imagined and real - oh, so real. Perfection. In sports. In Philadelphia. The 5 years since, a parade of heartbreak has followed that sun-splashed parade - bad breaks and disappointments have reinforced what a rarefied wind he brought that season.

Part of the fallout from Washington's first rough stretch this season was what may be the end of Brad Lidge's career. The man who may have done more to win the World Series for the Phillies in 2008 than any other was shown the door by the Nationals on Sunday after blowing two games in two days. Lidge allowed three runs in Washington's 7-2 loss to the New York Yankees on Friday and was the losing pitcher on Saturday, giving up two runs in the 14th inning of a 5-3 defeat. "Brad wasn't performing very well," said general manager Mike Rizzo, with breath-taking understatement.

THE WASHINGTON Nationals designated struggling reliever Brad Lidge for assignment Sunday and activated reliever Ryan Mattheus. Lidge signed a $1 million, 1-year contract as a free agent in the offseason to add bullpen depth, but the 35-year-old righthander couldn't find the form that made him a two-time All-Star with Houston and the Phillies. He went 0-1 with two saves and a 9.64 ERA in 11 appearances with the Nationals. Lidge allowed three runs in Washington's 7-2 loss to the Yankees on Friday and was the losing pitcher against New York on Saturday, giving up two runs in the 14th inning of a 5-3 defeat.

NEW YORK - Brad Lidge laughed when told by a reporter that the fans in Philadelphia are already worried about the Phillies after their 1-3 start. Lidge, a hero of the Phillies' 2008 World Series championship team and now a reliever with the Washington Nationals, apparently has more confidence than some of the fans in his former team. Speaking before Tuesday's game at Citi Field against the New York Mets, Lidge conceded that the National League East, which the Phillies have won five consecutive seasons, is more open this year.

VIERA, Fla. - Nothing could ruin Brad Lidge's most vivid and treasured memory of Philadelphia. He will forever have that raw 2008 October night at Citizens Bank Park when he struck out Tampa Bay's Eric Hinske, dropped to his knees, and looked skyward, triggering a wild celebration after the Phillies ended the city's 25-year championship drought. It was the perfect end to Lidge's perfect season. Nothing was close to perfect after that for Lidge, including the separation from the Phillies that took place this offseason.