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March 20, 2008 News Notes Rumors Joe Janish

Brad Lidge Back

Brad Lidge — the most prominent offseason acquisition by the Philadelphia Phillies — has already returned from knee surgery and pitched one inning in minor league intrasquad action yesterday.

According to Lidge (from the Canadian Press):

“I felt great with everything from warming up to throwing in the game,” Lidge said. “There is nothing better than facing hitters and that was a lot of fun.”

Lidge threw 19 pitches, 11 for strikes, and struck out three in a simulated session where he faced five batters. He’s expected to throw to live batters again some time this weekend — most likely on Sunday.

Seemed like a pretty quick recovery, as he had arthroscopic surgery on February 25th. It wasn’t major surgery — only a repair to a torn meniscus. But three weeks from operating table to mound is mildly surprising (though not impossible).

Interestingly, Lidge had similar surgery on the same knee at the end of the 2007 season, in October. Who knows, this could be a chronic condition for the closer.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. sincekindergarten March 21, 2008 at 4:24 am
    One also wonders if maaaaybe Lidge didn’t rush his comeback a tad, and that should translate into a couple more late-inning fastballs coming to the plate about belt-high . . . and going 400+ feet, the other way, before coming back to Earth . . .
  2. joe March 21, 2008 at 8:45 am
    That would be a shame if he returned too early and suffered a setback.