"When Brad Lidge shags balls during batting practice and one happens to roll his way, he's tempted to pick it up and fling it to the bucket with his right hand.

"Nothing would happen," Lidge said.

Instead, he exercises the caution doctors have instructed. He will toss it underhand or use his left hand.

Lidge has not actually thrown a baseball with his right arm since March 24. That was the day the pain in his shoulder was too much for him to complete an inning of a Grapefruit League game. It was later discovered he has a partially torn rotator cuff, making a return in the first half of the season difficult.

There is progress: When the team returns home from this seven-game West Coast trip that began Thursday, Lidge will play catch for the first time. It puts him right in the middle of the original diagnosis of being shut down completely for three to six weeks.

"It means that it's going as they thought it would, which is good," Lidge said. "There haven't been any setbacks. It's responding at every step. They're trying to be smart with it because if there is a setback it could be a big setback.

"We have to be smart, but at the same time it feels good, and I want to get out there as soon as I can."

Of course, it's much more complex than that, especially for a pitcher who had already lost 2 m.p.h. off his average fastball velocity from 2009 to 2010. And the pitch he threw 60 percent of the time last season, the slider, is one that puts great strain on the shoulder.

Lidge is 13 saves shy of tying Jose Mesa's franchise record of 112, but it's not unreasonable to wonder if the once-dominant closer has saved his last game for the Phillies - even if he does return sometime around the all-star break. He is in the final year of a three-year, $37.5 million deal. The Phillies hold a $12.5 million option for 2012 that will almost certainly be declined.

In his place, Jose Contreras has demonstrated competency over the season's first 18 games. Phillies officials are impressed with not only his ability on the mound but his mental fortitude, which has made transitioning to closer a non-issue.

The 39-year-old closer has yet to allow a run with eight strikeouts in seven innings. He had converted all four save opportunities entering Thursday."