Brad Lidge and Chad Durbin Stand Behind Statement That the Nationals are More Talented Than the 2008 Phillies
This is a few days old, but it needs to be mentioned. When Brad Lidge mentions Roy Halladay and Stephen Strasburg in the same sentence, we don't have much of a choice.
Brad Lidge is not backing down from his recent comments. Last week, Brad Lidge said the Nationals were the "most talented" team he has ever been on. I disagreed, and judging by reader comments such as "What are they drinking in Washington?", you disagree as well.
The new tag team duo of Lidge and Chad Durbin have become Nats cheerleaders.
Lidge first.
"Let's be honest," Lidge said Thursday. "They need something to write about right now. If spring training is slow, you're going to make it seem like something it's not. So whatever. My final thought on it is: whatever."
This is the part where Chad Durbin, standing next to Lidge in the locker room, ran to the defense of his comrade. Go Chad go!
"We're talking about talent — I mean top to bottom," Durbin said, standing side by side with Lidge in the Nationals' clubhouse Thursday morning. "It's talent. We're not talking about numbers that people have put up for five years."
Annnnnnnnd back to Brad:
"That's what people are struggling with right now," Lidge said. "When I talk about 'talent,' I would expect people to have enough baseball sense to know that 'talent' does not translate into wins. It translates to nothing. I'm just specifically stating, if you come and watch BP or watch[Stephen] Strasburg throw, there's no denying the talent. You can take whatever you want out of that.
"Is Stephen Strasburg better than Roy Halladay?" Lidge went on, at his rhetorical best. "No. I'm not going to say he's better than Roy Halladay. But he throws 103 [mph]."
"He went 101-103-76 to [Giancarlo] Stanton the other day," Durbin interjected. "And that's spring training."
"And if you're throwing 103 in spring training," Lidge chimed in, "that's the most talented you could ask for. That's Nolan Ryan stuff."
A post involving the Washington Nationals would not be complete without quotes from the $126 million man, Jayson Werth.
"I don't think Brad was knocking anybody or anything in Philadelphia," Werth said. "I know it will be taken the wrong way in Philadelphia. But if you know Brad, that's not his style at all. I think it was more just an assessment of what he's seen so far in this camp, with the type of talent that's oozing out of some of these arms. I think it's more a testament to that than anything else.
"I can say this without even asking Brad: He wouldn't trade that '08 team for anybody, because that was a special time, in a special place, with a bunch of special people. None of us would change what happened that year or any of those years there. We created lifelong bonds with tons of people. None of that's going to change."
Rivalry? No rivalry? Fake rivalry? Regardless, I'm ready for baseball.
