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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PHILLIES v DODGERS

October 19, 2009

Brad Lidge

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Game Four

Los Angeles Dodgers 4
Philadelphia Phillies 5

Q. It took until October 19th to get your first victory of the season. Talk about how special it is to get it under these types of circumstances.
BRAD LIDGE: Yeah, I lost my voice a little bit actually screaming so loud. Yeah, it's very special. For me obviously the regular season was not great, but obviously the post-season starts a different type of season. I feel very fortunate to be healthy, and I thank God I have the opportunity to get out there and be on this team and be a part of something like that, because that was pretty fun to watch from the dugout.

Q. This team's best quality seems to be its grit, guts, character, whatever you call it. How do you guys explain that you're never out of a game and the come-from-behind wins that you guys seem to pull off on a routine basis almost?
BRAD LIDGE: Well, obviously I think we have a lot of talent in our lineup. But besides that, I think -- not just the experience of last year but the type of guys we have on our team really believe in themselves and are borderline extremely cocky that they're going to come back every single time, no matter what the score is, no matter who's pitching.
Like I said, it's a lot of fun to watch. They really don't ever feel like they're out of a game. They always feel like they can get it done.
And I think in the post-season as a whole with our team, I think our intensity and our focus goes up and we kind of feed off each other and we're able to do some pretty special things out there.

Q. How much of your resurgence for lack of a better word, do you attribute to confidence and how much do you attribute to maybe changing some things mechanically? And does one help the other in that regard?
BRAD LIDGE: You know, I would say for me a couple things have happened in the post-season. Maybe in the last week of the regular season as the post-season started, I started feeling I could really push off my backside and not even have to think about mechanics or what I'm doing out there physically if I feel good. And that leads to a lot of confidence because I know what I'm capable of when I'm feeling good.
And then the other thing is that once the post-season rolls around, I think there's kind of a different level of focus, and fortunately for me so far it's worked out pretty good to where I feel pretty locked in.
A couple things kind of happened at the right time, and you've just got to try and run with it.

Q. You mentioned confidence, does it change your confidence in going out there down or the rest of the bullpen knowing how resilient your team is and you have that big chance to come back no matter where in your lineup you are and how many runs down you are? Does that change the way you pitch?
BRAD LIDGE: Well, I think once you're in the post-season -- I mean, I shouldn't say once you're in the post-season. Any time you go out there with our team you think if you can hold them where the game is, especially with a one-run game, our offense can definitely come back. When I was out there tonight, I really felt like if I could keep the score where it was that we had a great chance of coming back. Fortunately we were able to do that.
But yeah, every time you go out there with our guys, you've just got to do your best to keep the score the exact same as when you came in the game, because if you give our guys a chance to win the game, they will, and sometimes you're surprised when they don't.

Q. Knowing what happened last year with Matt and Broxton what was the feeling like in that at-bat? And did you get a sense at any point that this actually could happen?
BRAD LIDGE: Yeah, I think we definitely felt like we could do it. Broxton is obviously a great closer. Stairs got a hold of one last year and somebody asked me if that would play an effect into the psyche, and the only thing I would say for me I would try not to throw the exact same pitch. But obviously Stairs is a great fastball hitter, Broxton has got a great fastball, and he fell behind and put him on base.
I know that obviously was a big start for us because it got a guy on base, and once a guy gets on base, it kind of energizes the whole team. It was great to be able to get to the top of the lineup up there because those guys can handle a fastball and they've got great bat speed.

Q. Some pitchers who have gone through difficult times, they rely on video, others rely on teammates, still others both. What is the process that you go through to try to dig yourself out of that struggling mode?
BRAD LIDGE: Well, I mean, there's a couple things. I think, like I said earlier, feeling physically healthy, I mean, for me that's huge. I mean, knowing that I can do everything I can do out there, and in the back of my mind I'm not thinking about something is going to hurt or if I can push off. I'm just completely locked in and focused on the hitter. That's huge. I think for me personally my faith plays a big role just because I feel like it gives me strength, no matter -- with the highs and lows of this game, it always gives me strength to go out there and just hope that I get an opportunity.

Q. You see that ball hit, at what point do you jump onto the field and know when to run out there?
BRAD LIDGE: You've got to be careful. I think we all wanted to jump over that fence as soon as it was hit. But obviously two guys got to score on that play, and fortunately we had two guys that are very hard runners, good runners. And even though we have a catcher on first base, he still runs really hard and he's fast. You know, as soon as they get close to home plate we start running out, I think.

End of FastScripts

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