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Washington Nationals' Brad Lidge Designated For Assignment. RHP Ryan Mattheus Reinstated from DL.

By Patrick Reddington
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As both NatsInsider.com's Mark Zuckerman and the Washington Times' Amanda Comak reported this morning, right-handed reliever Ryan Mattheus' name was listed on the Washington Nationals' roster as being available out of the pen after a DL stint in which he dealt with issues related to plantar fascitis in his left foot, while 35-year-old veteran reliever Brad Lidge's name was not listed. Lidge had another rough outing on Saturday against the Yankees in which he gave up a walk and three hits in 0.2 IP and took the loss in the extra inning affair. After the game, the veteran of 11 MLB seasons had a 9.64 ERA, 5.84 FIP, 11 walks (10.61 BB/9) and 10 K's (9.64 K/9) in 11 games and 9.1 IP this season. Since returning from his own stint on the DL, Lidge had allowed five hits, four walks and six earned runs in 2.1 IP before it was announced this morning that he had been designated for assignment.

The tough outing Saturday was the second in two days for Lidge, who walked two and gave up a hit and three runs in 0.1 IP in Friday night's loss. Lidge replaced starter Gio Gonzalez in the seventh after Gonzalez had given up a leadoff single and the veteran reliever walked the first batter he faced, Andruw Jones. A sac bunt moved both runners into scoring position and Lidge then issued an intentional walk to Robinson Cano to load the bases before surrendering a two-run infield single by Derek Jeter which ended the reliever's night.

"Walking [Russell] Martin," Davey Johnson said Friday night, "That kind of put us in a hole which we couldn't come out of."

"He didn't give in to a hitter," Davey Johnson said when asked about Lidge's struggles, "He got a ground ball out of Jeter, unfortunately it was in the hole. We could have been out of the inning there." Lidge gave up back-to-back singles by Jayson Nix and Jeter in the fourteenth inning of Saturday's game, but struck out Curtis Granderson for the first out of the inning before surrendering a two-run game-winning double by Mark Teixeira on a 2-1 slider that Teixeira smoked to the give the Yankees the lead. "I thought after he got Granderson, we had a good chance," Davey Johnson told reporters. "He's had a lot of success against [Teixeira]," the manager continued, (and Teixeira was 1 for 10 in his career vs Lidge before the double), but he, "Just threw a breaking ball [with] probably not a whole lot on it. That was the ballgame."

The Nats' GM Mike Rizzo told reporters this morning that Lidge had taken the news like a professional:

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