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Phillies: Five things to know
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Yep, uh-huh, now is Tom Gordon's time to opine. Philadelphia tried its best to give his job away over the winter. Yanked it right out from under him by trading for closer Brad Lidge.
Of all the low-down, dirty, rotten things to pull on a guy who was an All-Star closer as recently as 2006.
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| 'I feel like I have a second chance at life again,' Gordon says. (Getty Images) |
Fine, right, but don't you figure somewhere deep down, after Lidge caught his spikes on the mound while delivering his first pitch during live batting practice last week and might have knocked himself out for opening day, there's a smile waiting to leap out of Gordon?
"I was told years ago that there's no loyalty in this game," Gordon continues. "I tell you, Philadelphia stuck behind me last year when I was sick, when I was injured. They've given me support here. They've given me everything I need.
"I'm going to stick with them."
This guy they call Flash ... he's for real?
"I've been around so many guys who tell me, 'Flash, there's no loyalty in this game,'" Gordon says. "Since I've been here, I have not felt that with this organization.
"They really push their players and kids to be young men, to really be professionals."
Push their players and kids to be young men?
What I know today is this:
The New York Mets failed the character test last September.
One reason the Phillies passed it, and blew past the Mets to win the NL East, was because of guys like Gordon.
He's 40 now, the game's version of the stray cat you can't run off and wind up keeping. The feline part of him is deep into his seventh or eighth baseball life, but who's counting anymore?
On a team boasting the past two NL MVPs (Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard), a perennial candidate (Chase Utley), a slugger who flexed better than anybody after the All-Star break last year (Pat Burrell) and a shiny new closer who retains one of the game's most wicked fastballs (Lidge), Gordon continues to make himself essential.
"He's got all of his priorities in order," Howard says. "In this game, you've got to have it together. Flash has been in the league awhile, and he brings both that veteran leadership and veteran knowledge."
As has become his custom, Gordon moved from afterthought back into immediate plans when Lidge was shuttled away for arthroscopic surgery.
The Phillies are hoping the new closer can be back for opening day. More likely, perhaps, is a return later in April.
Whatever time he does miss, the old closer, with 156 career saves and an adaptability to admire, again is around to help save the day.
"It's 1 and 1-A," says Charley Kerfeld, special assistant to Phillies general manager Pat Gillick, of Lidge and Gordon. "You've got a guy who, I think, is the best power closer in the game right now with Lidge, and your secondary guy has 150 career saves.
"And there's no ego with the guy. Flash is a pro's pro. He's one of those guys who doesn't just talk to talk, he talks when he's got something to say. Those guys are important to have around."
Not just because of what he did on the field -- after missing much of the season with pneumonia and a strained right rotator cuff, Gordon went 1-0 with a 1.32 ERA over his final 15 appearances and worked in 13 of the Phillies' final 15 games -- but because of what he brings off of it as well.
"I'm lucky to be in the same bullpen as him," Lidge says. "That's going to be a tremendous treat. My ears will be open to anything he says.
"Anybody who's ever played with him says only good things about him. And he's played a long time with a lot of people, so that can't be all bad."
Watching the Phillies repossess the ninth inning is nothing new for Gordon. Been there, done that.
The Boston Red Sox took his job away in 1999 when they installed Derek Lowe as closer.
The Chicago White Sox seized his job in 2003 when they installed Billy Koch in the ninth.
In each case, Gordon slipped quietly out the back door at season's end and found himself a new job for the following spring.
"Because I'm grateful," Gordon says. "I don't have anything negative to say. It began with me in Kansas City. They gave me two of the best pitching coaches there were in Ken Kravec and Jerry Cram.
"Those two people, they helped me understand in the game who I could be as a person."
Gordon broke in with the Royals in the late 1980s with a wicked fastball and a dirty curve. From there, the back of his baseball card reads like the lyrics to the Johnny Cash song. He's been everywhere, man.
He hasn't started a game since 1997, which is where his career took a crucial -- and permanent -- detour. Red Sox manager Jimy Williams filled a need by installing Gordon as closer, and the right-hander responded with 46 saves in '98. It was during that season that his galaxy moved into the same orbit as Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley during Eck's one season in Boston.
"Eck talked to me and guided me during that first year as closer, and he was one of the best I've ever seen," Gordon said. "I was just glad to be on the same team as the guy I'd been watching all those years, and now I can ask him questions?
"It doesn't get any better than that."
And how often did your mother preach on choosing your friends carefully and picking good role models?
Not once did he gripe, moan or consider demanding a trade so he could finish the final season of his three-year, $18 million contract elsewhere once Lidge was acquired. (The Phillies also hold a $4.5 million club option on him for 2009, with a $1 million buyout.)
Not once did he phone management to demand an explanation.
Instead -- get this -- he simply worked harder this winter. Unlike the past couple of winters, when his shoulder was nagging and his elbow was barking, he finally was healthy enough to do everything he wanted to in the gym.
"You know what?" Gordon says. "After the last two years, I feel rejuvenated. I feel like I have a second chance at life again. God really opened a world up for me."
Yeah, this is Gordon's time to opine all right. Pitching the seventh, eighth or ninth inning, it's fine with him. Whatever. When Lidge does come back, don't expect to see any cross-eyed looks from Gordon.
"If we can keep him healthy, he'll still throw 55, 60 games this year," manager Charlie Manuel says. "He'll do anything we want him to do. Set-up, close, both.
"Flash takes care of himself. He still wants to play more than one more year. I think he can play two or three more. I don't know why not."
Or, as Gordon says: "I've never had problems with any organization or what they've done. I also know what they put down on paper in spring training, it doesn't always go that way."