Today in Philly Sports History: Lidle Lambasts Phils, 2006

The current Phillies dugout has been so mercifully drama-free of late--unless you count the hair-cutting competition that JC Romero and Ryan Madson had on The Pen--that it's almost crazy to think that just a couple of years ago, players were still calling out their teammates for not seeming to care about winning ballgames. When Bobby Abreu was traded to the Yankees in 2006 for a couple of magic beans, Pat Gillick decided that the Yanks didn't get quite enoughfor their troubles, and threw in starter Cory Lidle to the deal as well. Lidle was hardly a great pitcher, but he was a serviceable back-end guy, winning 26 games with a 4.50 ERA in about two seasons' worth of service in Philadelphia. And on his way out, he had some words for the teammates he left behind.

“I’m the kind of player that goes to the field every day expecting to win," said Lidle. "And unfortunately over the last few years I haven’t had a clubhouse that expected to win with me. So we’d go to the field on the days I’m pitching, it’s almost a coin flip as to know if the guys behind me are going to be there to play 100 percent.” The Phils did not take the insult lying down, particularly reliever Arthur Rhodes, who countered that Lidle was a slacker himself, and would often be found eating ice cream or surfing the internet in the clubhouse during games. He also called Lidle a "scab" for crossing the picket lines during the '94 strike. Lidle recanted somewhat, and insisted that what he meant was just that trade rumors were always flying, and "we had about 10 to 13 guys that possibly thought they could have been traded--and on any given day, it just seemed like the focus wasn't always on baseball." Rhodes was unmoved. "He backtracked a lot of stuff," said Rhodes. "He's with the Yankees, you know he's going to have to backtrack."

Lidle started nine games for the Yankees that season, going an unremarkable 4-3 with a 5.16 ERA. Unfortunately, what he's most likely to be remembered for by the general public is what he did that off-season, as he crashed his personal plane into an apartment complex on New York's Upper East Side, killing himself and his co-pilot in one of the strangest stories in Sports or New York News from this decade. Rhodes found great success with the Marlins at the end of last season, and currently pitches for the Reds.