Excuse me while I ramble about Game 4

And so it culminated late on November 1, 2009. The Brad Lidge collapse was all but complete, as he suffered a loss on the biggest stage in baseball, 7-4 to the New York Yankees. Pedro Feliz had hit a solo home run just minutes before to tie the game and overcome the litany of miscues and errors the Phillies had made through the first eight innings. Lidge had even shut down the first two hitters the Yankee lineup had to offer, moving quickly toward the final out of the top of the ninth inning. But, as he had done so many times before, "Lights Out" Lidge handed the game over with little resistance.

What's gotten into Lidge? It hardly seems to matter now that the Phillies are a loss away from being MLB's second-place finisher, but it is certainly relevant when it comes to what the organization does with him during the offseason. After he had seemingly "gotten it back" during this playoff run, it hardly seems necessary to let the guy go. At the same time, the numbers are hard to ignore: 11 blown saves and eight losses during the regular season and one glaring three-run massacre in the World Series. Do his 31 regular-season saves and five-straight shutout appearances in the playoffs make up for those numbers?

The blame for tonight could be put on Lidge, but Brad's pitching doesn't change the mediocre performances we've seen out of the lineup (outside of Jayson Werth, of course) and Cole Hamels. Ryan Howard has been an automatic out during the World Series, Raul Ibanez hardly puts the bat on the ball, and outside of his three solo home runs, Chase Utley has looked weak at the plate. Utley also blew a defensive play during Game 4 tonight, ignoring the fundamentals of baseball and trying to make a spectacular play.

The Phillies are the defending World Series champions. They have the experience and know-how to win against the Yankees. However, while the Yankees should be the ones struggling with the spotlight, the Phils seem starstruck and ill-prepared to deal with the pressure. Throughout the postseason, there was a swagger associated with this Phillies team. They had their heads on straight but were extremely confident in winning. In the World Series, though, they've been lost, especially at the plate. The Phillies that we've witnessed for the last three games don't deserve to win a World Series.

Maybe with their backs against the wall, things will be put into perspective. Maybe they'll realize they can't win it all in one game and take their time. Maybe they won't try to hit home runs with every swing. It's a lot of maybes, and the way they've been playing, I should be phrasing it as "less than likely." But, you know what, it could be exactly what this team needs. All it takes is three wins in a row*, which is entirely possible with this lineup.

It starts with Game 5, it starts with Cliff Lee, and it starts TONIGHT. GO PHILS.

*- The Phillies have had 14 win streaks of at least three games this season