Athletes - Brad Lidge

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	Athletes - Brad Lidge

Bradley Thomas Lidge (born December 23, 1976 in Sacramento, California) is an American relief pitcher for the Houston Astros. At home games in Minute Maid Park he is introduced as Brad "Lights Out" Lidge, complete with not only the entrance music (Drowning Pool's "The Game"), but his own entrance video.

Lidge attended Notre Dame and was a 1st round draft pick for the Houston Astros in 1998, taken 17th overall. He missed parts of his first four professional seasons with injuries, including a broken forearm that threatened his career. Lidge debuted at the major league level April 26, 2002, serving as a middle relief pitcher in the bullpen. During this time, he partook in a historic event when against the New York Yankees on June 11, 2003 and he was Following the trades of Billy Wagner to the Philadelphia Phillies on November 3, 2003 and Octavio Dotel to the Oakland Athletics on June 24, 2004, Lidge assumed the role of the team's closer. Despite spending half of 2004 as a setup man and the other half as a closer, Lidge set a new National League record for strikeouts by a reliever with 157 - passing Goose Gossage's record of 151 set in 1977. This mark is fourth all-time for relievers, behind the 181 set by Dick Radatz of the Boston Red Sox in 1964.

In his first All-Star Game appearance in 2005 in Detroit's Comerica Park, Brad pitched in the bottom of the seventh, facing and striking out all three batters he faced. Melvin Mora, Mike Sweeney, and Garret Anderson were offered a total of 11 pitches, two for balls, but more importantly none made contact with his pitches not even for a foul tip.

In Game 5 of the 2005 NLCS the Houston Astros were one out away from their first ever World Series appearance in the Top of the 9th inning, having taken a 4-2 lead over the defending National League Champions St. Louis Cardinals. Lidge had struck out John Rodríguez and John Mabry for the first two outs of the inning. Lidge worked David Eckstein to a 1-2 count before he singled to left to keep the game alive. Lidge then walked Jim Edmonds, who was ejected in the eighth inning of Game 4 for arguing pitch calls, the tying run. Albert Pujols, who had gone 0 for 4 and left 4 runners on base during the game, came to the plate and hit a hanging slider for a 412 foot home run that shot over the train tracks in left field at Minute Maid Park to give the Cardinals a 5-4 win.

The next game he pitched, Game 2 of the 2005 World Series, he gave up a walk-off home run to Scott Podsednik, who did not have a single home run during the regular season, in the bottom of the ninth inning for a final score of 7-6 White Sox.

He also was the losing pitcher in Game 4 of the 2005 World Series, having given up the lone run scored in the game in the 8th inning off of World Series MVP Jermaine Dye's RBI single.

He lives in Englewood, Colorado during the off-season with his wife and one daughter.

It has been reported that for 2006 Lidge has added a split-fingered fastball to his high-90 MPH fastball and low-90 MPH sharply-breaking slider.

Lidge just finished pitching for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. He pitched a total of two innings, without giving up a single run. It is probable that Lidge will overcome his struggles in the 2005 playoffs and bounce back with another solid year.

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Athletes - Brad Lidge

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