Major League Baseball

Manuel's decision to back Lidge pays dividends

Published Oct. 13, 2009 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

For all the struggles that Brad Lidge faced during the course of the regular season, the one thing he always knew was that manager Charlie Manuel had his back.

Manuel, in an explicit vote of confidence, called on Lidge to close in a 6-5 victory against the Rockies at Coors Field.

This was a far cry from the nightmare in Houston, where Lidge had as much trouble dealing with the double-talk of manager Phil Garner as he did National League hitters. It was Garner who proclaimed that Lidge was his closer going into the 2007 season, and then, after Lidge blew an Opening Day save, didn't give him another chance to earn a save for 57 days.