[smc]

Phillies fans who risked heart attacks every time Brad Lidge came into a game last season can now add stroke to their health risks from relief pitchers. Word is that Eric Gagne is going to have a tryout this afternoon in Arizona for the Phillies.

Gagne has what could safely be called a "checkered career." He won the Cy Young Award in 2003 with the Dodgers and holds the record for consecutive saves with 84. He had three seasons during which the word "unhittable" would not be an exaggeration: from 2002-04, with the Dodgers, his ERA was 1.79 and his strikeout-to-walk ration was 6.29. But then came Tommy John surgery. He came back and wasn't too bad in the first half of 2007.

After that, we got to see him at Fenway Park. He joined the team in July 2007. I happened to be at the game where he made his first appearance in a Red Sox uniform, a lovely afternoon that was Bobby Doerr Day! Gagne was a disaster. The Sox got rid of him. He spent last season as a starting pitcher for the Quebec Capitals of the Canadian-American Independent League, posting a 6-6 record, with an ERA of 4.65 ERA.

In Red Sox Nation, Gagne coming into a game during his Red Sox tenure would provoke the same reaction as Lidge coming into a game for the Phillies last year. It was time to make sure your health insurance premiums were paid up.

(Gagne, by the way, was named in the Mitchell Report in December 2007 as a steroid user!)