WASHINGTON — Problems aplenty were addressed Wednesday here in the nation’s capital. The Supreme Court debated corporate influence on campaign finance. Underneath a lit dome visible over the left-field wall at Nationals Park, the president tried to revive his flagging hopes for health-care reform.

And at a lightly attended September baseball game nearby, Ryan Madson earned the save in the Phillies’ 6-5 win over Washington. For the first time this year with Brad Lidge available, manager Charlie Manuel summoned a pitcher other than Lidge to close a tight game. The decision came hours after Manuel said that his bullpen was subject to revision.
After the game, the theme was unchanged.
“Lidge will get the chance to save games for us,” Manuel said. “But tonight I wanted to use Madson.”
Madson pitched around a leadoff single to end the game on a double-play line out to second baseman Chase Utley. “From here on out,” Madson said, “eighth inning, ninth inning, it doesn’t matter what name you have behind you, setup man, closer — just get some outs.”
Lidge spoke briefly on his way out of the locker room. “We won the game, and Madson did a great job and I’m glad he did,” he said, before firmly but politely telling reporters that since he did not pitch, he had nothing else to offer.
Madson’s save sealed a win for Cliff Lee that was neither dominant nor alarming. After an astonishingly effective first five starts for the Phillies, the lefthander had lost two in a row. He allowed 12 earned runs in eight innings in those games, attributing his issues mostly to bad command of his pitches and occasional bad luck.
It seemed ominous when Lee allowed a one-out double and a single in the first, falling behind early. And his control over the game often seemed shaky. The Nats hit several balls hard in the middle innings, but Lee relied on his defense to support him. He stranded runners in the second and third, and got out of the fourth with three loud fly outs.
The fifth began with a double by eighth-place hitter Alberto Gonzalez, who scored on a groundout. Adam Dunn later singled in another run, cutting the Phils’ lead to 4-3. Gonzalez doubled to begin the seventh, and scored when Utley bobbled the toss on a potential inning-ending double play. Instead, the Nationals tied the score at 4.
Lee earned the win because of solo home runs by Jayson Werth and Pedro Feliz in the eighth.
“I felt like I mixed speeds a little better today and used my secondary pitches better than in my previous outing,” Lee said.
The Phils were also cheered by a resurgent Raul Ibanez, who appears to be shaking a long-term slump. Nearly as effective in Washington as an insurance industry lobbyist, Ibanez followed two home runs Tuesday with two doubles and an RBI Wednesday night.
But progress by those key players was overshadowed by a change that came only after Lidge blew 10 saves this year, after blowing none in 2008. Manuel supported Lidge for months, and said after the game that he still believed in the pitcher.
“He was a good closer last year, and he’s still got that kind of stuff and he’s still got the talent,” Manuel said.
Whatever Lidge’s talent or potential, his immediate future is uncertain. Asked which reliever he would use in a potential save situation tonight, the manager said, “I don’t know. We’ll just wait and see.”