Slide, Jimmy, Slide!!

August 27:  PHILLIES 3, San Diego 2 (12 innings)

Wasn't that one of the most beautiful slides into home plate that you've ever seen?

True, it's probably made all the more better because a) it was done by one of our guys and b) it won a ballgame we desperately needed to win.  However, stepping back this morning and watching the highlights again on MLB Network, and that slide was, for any baseball fan, a thing of beauty.

One thing's for certain, these Padres can pitch, and they are not going away any time soon.  I was impressed with their starting pitcher, Mat Latos, who throws 95 gas, then follows up with a killer, 83 change.  No wonder his WHIP entering last night's game was an amazing 0.98.  Indeed, the Padres can pitch, and that will take them well into the post-season.  If they can start hitting the ball with some degree of consistency, they'll be the team to beat.  Yes, Phillies fans, the Padres may well be the team to beat in 2010.

As frustrating as it must be to watch Brad Lidge close out games in person or on TV, for fans like me who live well outside the TV market (Chicago area), and who aren't ponying up the dosh for MLBTV, hearing about Lidge's ninth-inning antics is even more maddening.  A balk?  With the bases loaded?  In the bottom of the ninth inning?  With two outs?

Can Brad get more creative in blowing another save (his sixth in 22 chances already)?  Are you fans getting as tired of his highwire act the past two seasons as I am?  Geez, I love Charlie Manuel as a manager, but how far do you take loyalty when you're two games back of the faltering Braves and you've been munching Rolaids like they were salted peanuts for the past season and two-thirds?

How sad has the closer's situation become when fans and the media get as giddy as a school girl when he pitches a 1-2-3 inning?  Shouldn't that be a ho-hum occurrence?  It is in most cities.  One thing I am glad of, living so far from home:  I don't have to listen to sports talk radio on the morning after another Lidge-a-pa-looza.  I have a feeling, based on my own frustrations, that callers are often just about stark raving mad.

Anyway, a nice win last night.  A needed win last night.  And we made up some ground on Atlanta and put a half-game cushion between us and "the pack" in the Wild Card race.

As an aside, I've been looking for a "sign off" for each post here.  I thought about borrowing Gene Hart's classic, "Good night, and good hockey", modifying it for baseball.  I thought about cute.  Thought about philosphical.  Thought about corny.  Instead, in keeping with the "cheesesteak counter" theme, I'll be signing off each post now with one, simple tagline:

"ORDER UP!"