‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: Brad Lidge on the impact of Jhoan Duran, today’s closer entrances, and more

Lidge was once the final piece in a Phillies championship puzzle. Can Duran be the same? The former Phillies closer joined The Inquirer’s baseball show to discuss closing, then and now.

Brad Lidge had 100 saves in four seasons with the Phillies, including a 48-for-48 run between the regular season and playoffs in 2008.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Scott Lauber

Updated Sept. 17, 2025, 10:08 a.m. ET

Published Sept. 17, 2025, 9:56 a.m. ET

After making the playoffs but getting bounced in the first round in 2007, the Phillies traded for a closer whom they believed could be the final piece in a championship puzzle.

In a sense, then, Brad Lidge was Jhoan Duran before Duran.

It couldn’t have worked out better for the Phillies 17 years ago. Lidge famously had a perfect 2008 season — 48-for-48 in save opportunities, including seven in the postseason — and struck out Eric Hinske on a hellacious slider to end the World Series.

Duran has made a big impact since the Phillies traded for him at the deadline. Through Tuesday night, he had a 1.53 ERA, 22 strikeouts, and only one walk in 17⅔ innings and was 15-for-17 in save chances.

But can he close out a World Series?

Lidge, who recently returned from an archaeological dig in the Tuscany region of Italy (he’s pursuing his doctorate in that field), joined Phillies Extra — the baseball show from The Inquirer — to discuss Duran and other topics.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview, edited for brevity and clarity. Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Q: When the Phillies acquired you from the Astros, they put you in the ninth inning and it felt like suddenly the bullpen was more organized. It had a little bit more structure to it. Do you see something similar now with the Phillies’ addition of Jhoan Duran?

A: I think so. I think structure is really essential for bullpens. And I know that a lot of teams get to the postseason without a bona fide closer and are able to piece together games and have different strategies. But when you’ve got an established closer and you can slot everybody in front of him, it really shortens the game, and it makes life a lot easier for the manager and for the coaching staff, and for the players on the field to have that confidence that, if we have the lead after five, six innings, this game’s over.

And I think bringing Duran in there really kind of gave the fans and the rest of the guys in the bullpen that feeling. So, yeah, I do see some similarities that way. It’s interesting that the stuff that the Phillies have in the bullpen now, in terms of guys coming out of there, it’s electric. Obviously Duran is a lot of fun to watch. And for me, for sure, I’ll compare the bullpen much more favorably now to what we had in 2008 because now you can kind of see the pecking order, the clear areas where certain guys are going to be brought in, whether it was [Ryan] Madson and J.C. Romero, or Chad Durbin, whoever in front of me. Now the Phillies have those guys set up in front of Duran as well. And they’re all great. They’re all going to get out there and do their job nine out of 10 times, if not more in some cases.

So, I think it just gives everybody a lot more confidence in that recipe for the postseason. There’s only a few things you’ve got to do: You’ve got to be able to hit, you’ve got to have great starting pitching, and you have to be able to count on your bullpen to do its job if you’re in a seven-game series just about every single night. It should give the fans a lot more confidence that they’re going to be able to get that aspect done this year.

Q: What jumps out at you when you watch Duran?

A: There’s certainly a couple things. I’ve watched him pitch over the years, and I’ve watched him pitch a few times now with the Phillies, and obviously his stuff is incredible. But to me, it looks like when hitters get in the box, they’re gripping that bat tight and they’re like, ‘I’ve just got to try and put the ball in play.’ There are a lot of closers in the game, and I’m sure myself included, where you get up there and that hitter is thinking, ‘If he throws a first-pitch fastball in this part of the plate, I’m going to launch it.’ And if you make a mistake, you’re in jeopardy.

But the thing with Duran is, even if the hitter is thinking that, and even if they get the timing right, the movement is such that they end up breaking their bats a lot of times and really putting the ball in play with hardly any exit velo. So, for me, watching him pitch, the confidence is high. He attacks hitters, he attacks the strike zone. And I think he knows, like there might be a game or two where they can string together a few singles, and they might score a run every once in a while by doing that. But if he goes out there and he’s pumping strikes with his movement and velocity, he’s going to get so many bad swings. The infield needs to be alert when he’s pitching because they’re going to have a lot of soft contact coming to them. And I think it’s awesome to watch.

… The one thing, regardless of your movement, your stuff and everything else, the one thing is that you want somebody that’s going to go out there and attack the hitters, get ahead in the count, and then put the pressure on them. In the postseason, if you’re falling behind guys as a closer, it’s just a recipe for disaster because you don’t want to groove anything in important situations. So, if you’re falling behind, you might have to walk guys, you put guys on base, all kinds of stuff can happen. But he doesn’t put guys on base that way. He attacks hitters. And so it’s really fun to watch.

Q: When you watch guys like Duran and Edwin Díaz in New York with the trumpets, is there a part of you that wishes that when you played that the technology existed to be as theatrical as some of these guys are with their entrances?

A: So first, I would say it is pretty damn exciting to watch Duran come out there. And I know for Mets fans, to watch Edwin Díaz and hear the trumpets and everything else. I don’t know if I would have liked to have all that going on. It’s cool. And you get this level of respect when you’re a bona fide closer, and you go out there and however your entrance song is, it’s fantastic. If you’re like a Hall of Fame-caliber guy, and you can really kind of dial that in then it just becomes even more amazing. But I don’t know. You want to get out there and get the job done, and if you’re going to have a big entrance like that, you better make sure you get the job done for your fans at home.

But the one thing I would say also is that it does bring a certain level of adrenaline and excitement when you’re closing at home. When I was closing in Philly and that song [“Soldiers,” by Drowning Pool] started playing, and the fans got on their feet, I felt like I could run through a brick wall. So there is certainly something to it that gets you going even more as a closer. I don’t know where it’s going to end up, but I think we’re probably at a good point where it’s really cool, the fans are really into it. I don’t know if you need to do any more.