The P-DQ: Brad Lidge
JUPITER, Fla. — During the tour of Florida this past week, there were several opportunities to unfurl the list of questions that make up the Vanity Fair-esque PD-Q and get some answers from around baseball. And it’s like today’s will disappoint. Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge will forever have a place in St. Louis Cardinals’ lore for one pitch — one pitch that Albert Pujols hit into history that October night back in 2005. It was the shot that saved Busch Stadium II, for one more game. And it came to define Lidge for awhile.
But now he’s so over that. He got a needed fresh start in Philadelphia, went 41-for-41 in save opportunities and got to deliver the final pitch for a World Series winner. All is right. As I started asking him the P-DQ I realized there were many opportunities for him to make reference — sarcastic or serious — to the pitch he made to Pujols. But he didn’t. When I asked, “You tune people out when they talk about … “, he didn’t say Pujols. When I asked, “Greatest fear?”, he didn’t say Game 6 of the 2005 NLCS. And, when I asked what his greatest regret is, he didn’t say hanging a slider to the Cardinals first baseman.
If you’re looking for answers that reference that night, you won’t find them. But you will find out what Lidge doesn’t like talking about and what creepy crawly thingy is his greatest fear, all as the Phillies righthander and All-Star closer goes rapid fire with the P-DQ:
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Advice you received from a parent that stays with you is …
Nothing is as good as it seems. Nothing is as bad as it seems.
South Park or The Simpsons?
South Park
A memorable Christmas or holiday gift you received is …
I remember some Transformers when I was 7 or 8 years old.
What word or phrase you use too often?
“Let me tell you something.”
Favorite superhero?
Daredevil
Best baseball movie?
Bull Durham
Best fictional baseball player?
Ebby Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh
Your greatest achievement is …
I’d say being healthy in the major leagues.
Your current state of mind?
Let it all hang out.
Your greatest extravagance or indulgence is …
Napping.
Favorite ballplayer growing up?
Dave Winfield
First car?
Two-door Montero
Current car?
The one I’m about to get: Mercedes S-Class.
Place you’ve got to visit before you die is …
Egypt. I’m actually going to maybe go this winter.
I wish I knew how to …
Sail.
Who would be in your Fave Five?
My immediate family (wife and both parents), Obama and George W. Bush. Put them both in there.
Most embarrassing song on your iPod?
Something by Elton John.
Movie you’ll stop to watch whenever it comes on is …
Braveheart, every time.
Sing in the shower or in the car?
In the car, not the shower.
You know you’re in the minors when …
PBJ is your only option every day.
A treasured possession is …
My house in the Colorado mountains.
Your greatest fear is …
Spiders.
I tune out when people talk about …
Pitching.
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Previous P-DQ: Adam Wainwright … CC Sabathia … Skip Schumaker … David Wright … Brian Barton … Ryan Ludwick. … Ryan Franklin.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Dont worry Brad, no matter how much you want to push it out of your memory, we will always remember ‘the pitch’..
Greatest story of that night, whether its really true or not i dunno, is that Brad Ausmus handed the captain of the plane a note that said ‘when we get up to altitude, tell everyone to look out their window where they could see Pujols homerun still going out of the park’..
Two things:1) The roof was close,Hadn’t it be,that ball could have probably travel 800 feet.2)what happened after that homer is more important because after it Albert hit him freely two or three more times and other clubs started hitting him.It was a matter of what ALbert did to his confidence.
Give “Lights Out” plenty of credit for righting himself and becoming a dominant closer again. The list of relief pitchers who have been wrecked by home runs like Pujols’ is lengthy. Cards fans should also respect Lidge’s performance in the ’04 series. So good it was sick. I’ve always thought the fact the Cards could defeat a team with two different players having a monster series—Beltran and Lidge—was a mark of how good that ’04 team was.