Once Kyle Kendrick served up a two-run home run in the eighth inning, ruining his bid for a shutout, it was obvious the bullpen was going to be called on to preserve a suddenly-close ball game at the Bank.

The experiment to sit down struggling closer Brad Lidge has had both good and bad results.

Ryan Madson saved three in a row, including Tuesday, when he walked in and saved Lidge; but he blew one Saturday night and the only other possible closer option, Brett Myers, didn't look any better.

As Tyler Walker tried to record the final two outs of the eighth, all eyes in the ballpark turned to the pen, to see who had next.

And even from the upper levels of the ballpark, the windup and follow through as the right-hander warmed up made it easy to figure out who the next man out of the bullpen would be....

...it was Bradley Thomas Lidge.

Five days after being unceremoniously pulled out of a save situation to save his team from watching another game go bad, Lidge returned to his familiar spot, mental scars and all.

After a leadoff single to Jeff Francouer, which appeared to scare the living daylight out of the 45,024 paid customers, Lidge got Carlos Beltran to ground out to shortstop.

One out.

Josh Thole (Josh Thole? Who?) followed with a booming, RBI single off the wall in right. It almost looked like it might sneak out of the ballpark. Instead, it made it a 5-3 game, and brought the game-tying run to the plate.

Lidge reared back and struck out pinch hitter Luis Castillo looking.

Two outs.

But the drama didn't end there. After Thole (Thole?) scooted to second due to defensive indifference, Jeremy Reed punched an RBI single into center. Ladies and gents, we have a one-run game.... it's 5-4.

But Lights-out Lidge.... who should really have a new nickname by now.... still managed to save the game. He struck out Angel Pagan, preserving a 5-4 win.

That was easy, huh?

Let's do it again. We're back on the field in about four hours.