Lidge, Hamels still failing to find that 2008 magic

PHILADELPHIA -- One night, Cole Hamels can't get out of the fifth inning. The next night, Brad Lidge can't maneuver safely through the ninth.

One night Hamels is giving up a game-tying hit -- to a pitcher! The next night Lidge is allowing Johnny Damon to steal second base and third base -- on the same pitch!

Hamels can't figure out what pitch to throw. Lidge can't figure out what base to cover.

Hamels lost Game 3 of the World Series on Saturday, which put the Phillies in a bind. Lidge lost Game 4 on Sunday, which sent them to the brink.

Hamels and Lidge. Hamels and Lidge.

The Phillies never would have won last year without them. The Phillies have won this year despite them.

Now the Phillies are on the verge of losing the World Series because of them.

It was a weird fifth inning Saturday, with that Andy Pettitte single, but the important point was that the Phillies gave Hamels a three-run lead and he couldn't hold it. It was a weird ninth inning Sunday, with Damon executing a double steal all by himself, but the important point was that the Phillies handed Lidge a ballpark's worth of momentum and he couldn't hold it, either.

Pedro Feliz's eighth-inning home run off Joba Chamberlain had Game 4 looking like a Phillies victory. Lidge's ninth inning turned it into a 7-4 Phillies loss.

A Phillies win in Game 4 could have shifted the entire series, with CC Sabathia done until Game 7 and Cliff Lee set to start Game 5 for the Phils. A Phillies loss in Game 4 only set up the possibility the Yankees can finish off the World Series in Game 5.

Or, if not then, in Game 6 or 7.

"It's like the NCAA tournament now -- win or go home," Phils reliever Chad Durbin said. "And I think we're very aware of it."

The Phillies seem to understand the situation, which is more than you could say about the way they approached the ninth inning Sunday. They were admittedly caught off-guard by Damon's stolen base, so much so that even later they had trouble figuring out exactly what should have happened on the play.

To set it up quickly, Lidge had retired the first two batters of the inning, and looked good doing it. Then Damon had a great nine-pitch at-bat, eventually reaching base on a bloop single to left.

The Phillies went into the defensive shift they use when Mark Teixeira is batting left-handed. Lidge doesn't hold runners well, so it should have been no surprise Damon took off on the first pitch.

The throw went through to third baseman Feliz, who because of the shift was covering second. Damon, seeing that no one was covering third, took off running.

Soon enough, Damon was scoring the tie-breaking run, on Alex Rodriguez's double.

"I thought we had [Damon]," Lidge said. "I didn't realize we didn't have anyone at third base."

Since Lidge was actually supposed to be the one at third base, that quote can rank up there almost with Hamels' "I can't wait for it to end" as the epitaph for the Phillies season.

"I can't wait for it to end."

"I didn't realize we didn't have anyone at third base."

Hamels. And Lidge.

Cole Hamels was on top of the world a year ago. Now he has helped dig a big hole for the Phillies. (US Presswire)

Through six months of regular season, and through two rounds of postseason, the Phillies seemed to work around them.

Sure, Hamels went a mediocre 10-11. Sure, Lidge led the world with 11 blown saves.

As first-base coach Davey Lopes said, way back on the first day of September, "Can we win without them? We have."

Two months later, on the first day of November, it seems to have finally caught up with the Phillies.

Even if they recover to win the next two games, there's no way they can come back with Hamels in a Game 7. Even if they take a late lead in however many games remain, can they really have confidence in Lidge to hold it?

Lidge had been better in the postseason. He and Mariano Rivera were the only two postseason closers without a blown save. Still are, in fact, since Lidge entered a tie game Sunday.

But there was a difference, even before Sunday.

The Yankees want to pitch Rivera as often as they can, and for as many innings as they can. The Phillies have seemed to want to pitch Lidge as little as possible.

He had pitched only four innings in the first four weeks of the postseason, none at all in the 11 days since the clinching victory against the Dodgers.

Lidge said the time off hadn't been a problem, just as he said having Damon at third base rather than second didn't affect the way he pitched Rodriguez.

And really, none of those details is that important right now for the Phillies. What counts is they're a game away from seeing the season end, and seeing the dream of back-to-back titles end.

What counts is that the two guys who mattered most to them last October still matter the most, but in the opposite way.

Two nights in a row, they've been the focus. Two nights in a row, they've taken the loss.

Hamels said he can't wait for the season to end.

Lidge?

He just made that end seem an awful lot closer.