Get A Bat

I must admit I don’t really understand the current rankings of Phillies’ concerns. The closer is a problem- but:

1. The Phillies have internal options- some of which are better than the external, need to get through waiver options: Ryan Madson, Brett Myers, playing the hot hand in committee: Chan Ho Park and Jamie Moyer!

2. Lidge could turn it around yet. He was pretty good against the Braves this weekend- six up, six down- and was good enough last week for four straight appearances. Yes, that ended badly. But still... a renaissance is realistic.

3. I’m not sure the Phillies can fix this problem via a trade now. Who is a better relief pitcher than Madson that can get through waivers?

I’m more worried about the utter dearth of left-handed bench options. Matt Stairs is in the deepest of funks right now, and Greg Dobbs is hurt. Plus, this kind of bat is something they could get through a waiver trade.

The Phillies are going to need quality left-handed at-bats twenty times in a deep post-season run- and right now their top two options don’t have a hit this month off the bench combined. And that is a problem.