Lidge
It didn't hurt today! IT DIDN'T HURT TODAY! YEAHHHHHHHH!

The word "tendinitis" has been scaring the hell out of me ever since it latched to Chase Utley like a stage-five clinger. So, when Brad Lidge was diagnosed with biceps tendinitis last Friday, it made me a little queasy.

Thankfully, there is some good news as Todd Zolecki is reporting that Phillies closer Brad Lidge threw 35 pitches this morning with no pain. He could be back pitching a spring training game in "three or four days".

It will remain to be seen how much the injury has had an effect on Lidge's location and pitch speed. He couldn't even hit 90 on the gun in most of his spring training appearances, and it was painful to watch him locate his slider in the early going.

Zolecki does mention that a healthy arm should take care of the velocity problem, and we're crossing our fingers about his ability to locate pitches. But who better to hear from about the news than the man himself? Brad Lidge is always willing to talk to the media, for better and for worse. This morning was no different. Geez, wordy!

"It's coming," he said. "My pop will never be there until the first game I'm closing during the regular season. It hasn't been for however many years – five, six, seven years. I don't expect myself to ever be close to where that is in Spring Training. It never has been. That being said, I should be able to get more on it than I've been getting on it the past couple outings. But if I don't I still won't be worried. As long as nothing is hurting me I'm going to be real happy. It's really for me making sure that when I get out there I have good mechanics so I don't re-aggravate the tendinitis. Assuming that goes as planned I'll be more than ready on April 1."

 

My implied promise in the title of this post won't allow me to elaborate on other Phillies players who may or may not be "ready on April 1", so I will reluctantly stick to that.

Regardless, great to hear Lidge is on the up-and-up.