Events on October 22 in Phillies history

  • October 22, 2008 – The Phillies won Game 1 of the 2008 World Series at Tropicana Field, a 3–2 victory keyed by a two‑run Chase Utley first‑inning homer, an RBI groundout by Carlos Ruiz, an outing from starter Cole Hamels, and a Brad Lidge save to give Philadelphia a 1–0 series lead.
  • October 22, 1929 – Phillies catcher Walt Lerian was killed in a car accident in Baltimore at the age of 26. Lerian had just completed his second season in the majors and in his two seasons in Philadelphia hit 8 home runs, drove in 50 runs, and batted .246 in 201 games.

Phillies players, managers, executives, and broadcasters born October 22

  • Jesse Biddle (born 1991) — Left‑handed pitcher from Philadelphia who was a first‑round pick of the Phillies in 2010, made the major‑league roster with time in the Phillies organization before moving through several clubs, and is listed as born October 22, 1991.
  • Jimmie Foxx (born 1907) — Hall of Fame slugger born October 22, 1907, who finished his playing career with a 1945 stint for the Philadelphia Phillies after legendary seasons with the Athletics and Red Sox.

A DEEPER DIVE… Brad Lidge’s 2008 season

Brad Lidge emerged as the Phillies’ primary late‑inning option in 2008, appearing in 72 regular‑season games as a high‑leverage reliever and closer during Philadelphia’s run to the postseason.

He converted all 41 of his regular‑season save opportunities, posting a season that combined extreme results and a high degree of reliability; sabermetric reappraisals note that Lidge became only the second pitcher in major‑league history to record at least 40 saves in a season without a blown opportunity, though his year was not without blemishes — a July 25 outing in Atlanta where he failed to record an out and surrendered five runs and another appearance in which he allowed two earned runs in a tie game stand out as rare lapses in an otherwise dominant closing performance.

Lidge carried his effectiveness into October, converting seven straight postseason save opportunities, tying the record for most saves in a single postseason, and he recorded the final out of the 2008 World Series to seal the Phillies’ championship in dramatic fashion, an image that remains one of the most enduring of that fall.

The value of Lidge’s 2008 season is best seen in context: his reliability in save situations reduced late‑game volatility for a club with a potent offense and a bullpen that needed a definitive finisher, and his sequence of perfect conversions under pressure provided both run prevention and psychological lift for a team chasing and ultimately capturing a title.

Opponents and sabermetricians have since parsed those outings for nuance, noting that while the raw save count and postseason perfection are exceptional, Lidge accumulated a small number of high‑leverage defeats and non‑save runs that complicate a purely pristine narrative. Even so, the combination of traditional saves, clutch postseason work, and the final, celebrated out in Game 5 of the World Series turned Lidge’s season into a defining chapter of the 2008 Phillies championship story.