I will remind those who may have forgotten that it was our own sports columnist Jack McCaffery who noted that it was not an especially good sign when the closer the Phillies has just acquired in a trade with the Astros showed up for the press conference on crutches.

No problem, was the standard reply from everyone involved. Lidge just had his knee cleaned up a bit. He’ll be ready to roll when the team reports to Clearwater.
Oh, really?

On Saturday Lidge, the Phils’ key off-season acquisition, strode to the mound and unfurled his first pitch of spring training.

And immediately started limping.

One pitch. One. Uno. Single.

Lidge hopped to the locker room. Later the Phils uttered the immortal words we have come to hear every spring.

“We don’t think it’s any big deal. We’re just going to shut him down for awhile.”
Today Lidge will undergo surgery on the very same knee. He likely will miss the entire spring training. And there is no guarantee he will be ready for the opener.

So far the only two stories to emerge this spring have been the team’s dispute with its slugging first baseman, Ryan Howard, one that saw them lose an arbitration hearing, and now Lidge limping to the locker room with a bum knee.

That’s not good karma.

But it is springtime in Clearwater.

Everyone was hoping the Phils can reverse the trend of the past few years when they got off to horrific starts in April and spent much of the summer trying to dig out of their hole.

So far, not much has happened in Clearwater to make you believe things have changed.