The rotation is just fine

There’s an old quote that says, “You can never have enough pitching.” Well, actually, you can, and that is what the Philadelphia Phillies are faced with now. They have potentially six starting pitchers and only five spots in the rotation.

The problem surfaced when the Phillies signed free agent Pedro Martinez in July as an insurance policy in case they had to trade away Rookie of the Year candidate J.A. Happ as part of a deal to land Roy Halladay. That deal never took place; Happ stayed, and the Phillies acquired Indians ace Cliff Lee instead.

When Lee joined the club last week, Rodrigo Lopez, who was filling in as the club’s fifth starter, had to move to the bullpen. Martinez, however, is still working out the bugs in the minor leagues, but when he is ready to come up and join the Phillies, many have speculated as to where he will go and what will happen to the rotation. The choice is not easy, but it might not be as complicated as some are making it out to be.

The top end of the rotation has no questions as to who will fill the spots: Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, and Joe Blanton. The only question here is whether or not Hamels can look like the ace he was back in October when he lead the Phillies to a World Championship. Cole has struggled this year at times, and excluding his last start against the Giants where he gave up six earned runs in just five innings, he appeared to be stringing together a few good starts against Florida, San Diego, and Arizona, and he looked like the Hamels of old.

The back end of the rotation, however, is where all the controversy has been brewing for the past few weeks. Three pitchers – J.A. Happ, Jamie Moyer, Pedro Martinez – and only two spots.

Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. filled one of those spots on Wednesday after J.A. Happ tossed a complete game shutout over the Colorado Rockies. Happ upped his record to 8-2 on the year and dropped his ERA to 2.74. Prior to that start, he lost his previous two outings, was faced with swirling trade talk, and had to deal with rumors that he might get moved to the bullpen.

The sheer fact Happ was able to show composure amidst such chaos and toss a gem is one of the reasons he needs to pitch every fifth day. Also, it would be unwise to even consider tinkering with Happ at this point. He is a young hurler who is pitching fantastically for the Phillies right now, and moving him back to the bullpen would not only weaken the rotation, but it would also mess with his confidence. I seem to recall young pitchers named Gavin Floyd and Ryan Madson who went back and forth, and that didn’t work out so well for the Phils now did it?

Next up is the ageless Jamie Moyer. Charlie Manuel mentioned earlier in the week that he wanted Jamie to stay in the rotation, and I almost agree with Charlie to a point. Jamie does lead the team in wins, but he also bolsters a 5.55 ERA, which is worst amongst starters. The reason he has the most wins is primarily because he typically faces one of the opposing team’s worst pitchers, and the Phillies give him a ton of run support. Yes, he does string together a few good outings every so often, but there are too many times like the one on Tuesday where he gave up six earned runs in five innings and walked four batters.

With that said, I still don’t think shipping Jamie off to the bullpen is such a good idea. First of all, Moyer hasn’t pitched in relief since the mid 1990’s. Second, Jamie would be coming into situations where he would have to get out of jams, which a lot of relievers rely on their fastball to do, and let’s face it, an 86 mph fastball isn’t mowing down anyone. Third, being in the bullpen means you have to be ready to pitch almost every day, and I think at age 47, Jamie has earned his four days off in between starts.

Lastly, there is Pedro Martinez, the man for whom all this controversy is over. When Pedro joins the team, he should do so as a member of the bullpen. I honestly don’t think Pedro has what it takes to be an effective starter any more. If he did, he would have had a job for the first four months of the season. He can probably get the job done for one, two, or maybe even three innings, but once lineups begin to face him a second time around, I feel they would start to tee off on him.

Plus, I don’t think Pedro’s arm can last into the seventh inning as a starter. So if you replace Moyer with Pedro, you would be replacing a guy in the rotation who can’t pitch seven innings for a guy who can’t even pitch six innings. That doesn’t exactly help out an already overworked bullpen. As a result, Pedro could pitch either in long relief or maybe take turns making guest appearances with Brett Myers in the ninth inning if Brad Lidge begins to struggle again.
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Read 'Em and Sweep

By Chris Pollay

At the start of the weekend, four teams found themselves bottlenecked together atop the National League East. The Philadelphia Phillies and Florida Marlins were tied for first with the New York Mets only one game back and the Atlanta Braves a mere two-and-a-half back.

When the smoke cleared at the end of Sunday afternoon, it was the Phillies who remained at the top with a one game lead over the Marlins and a four-game lead over the Braves and Mets.

Here are some of my observations following another wild showdown against the Phils and the Mets in the competitive NL East:

• The Mets held a 4-3 record against Philadelphia for the season going into the weekend (they also won four of the first five games in 2009). After Philly swiftly swept the series, however, the Liberty Bell Bombers now lead the rivalry this season by a 6-4 margin including five straight wins.

• The Phillies started the weekend leading the National League in numerous offensive categories, including: first in runs scored (394); first in home runs (107); first in slugging percentage (.444); first in OPS (.778); and first in total bases (1,173), yet they were barely treading over .500 with a 39-37 record. They can blame the inconsistency mostly on bad pitching as the ballclub was also ranked 15th in the National League in giving up earned runs, and 16th in hits and home runs allowed. In fact, the team had given up at least five runs in 14 of their last 18 games before they hosted the Mets on Friday. During the three-game series, however, Philly only gave up three runs overall to New York and emerged with a much more respectable 42-37 record.

• Philadelphia dominated a one-sided series in which they never trailed (or needed to bat in the 9th, for that matter). They outscored the Mets 13 to 3, outhit them 23 to 18 and didn't make an error. The Mets committed two. New York batted a collective .196 (18 of 92) and the Phils were .261 (23 of 88) as a team.

• The trio of starting pitchers for the Phils (Rodrigo Lopez, Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton) boasted an ERA of 1.35 in 20 innings. Even more notable, the club's bullpen had a cumulative ERA of 0.00. Not a single run was scored by the Mets in the 8th or 9th innings.

• Philadelphia exploded out of the gate strong and scored in the first inning of EVERY game setting the tone in the series. They were clearly hungrier and more focussed.

• Philly had accrued a distressful 13-22 home record before the series started. Now, it’s still less-than-stellar at 16-22, but the home sweep is definitely a promising sign.

• Jimmy Rollins proved once again to be a pesky thorn in the Mets' collective back sides. After struggling all season long, his bat seems to be heating up at just the right time. This weekend, he connected on five of eleven (.455) from the leadoff spot with three walks and a home run. He also scored twice and tallied five RBIs. By all accounts, he was the MVP of the weekend series.

• Chase Utley and Shane Victorino also came up clutch for the Phils. Utley batted .333 (3 for 9) with one homer, three RBIs and two runs. The Flying Hawaiian was hotter than Spam Musubi batting .429 (6 for 14) and scoring three runs with one RBI. The top of Philadelphia's lineup was absolutely devastating in the series.

• The Phillies showed much more patience in the batter's box, which is a large reason why they swept. They did strike out 15 times, but they also drew 14 walks. Meanwhile, the Mets only walked six times and whiffed 20 times.

For now, it appears the Phils are stabilizing and the Mets continue to be embroiled in turmoil (not to mention injuries). It will be interesting to see where the two teams sit in the standings when they play their next series in late August. The Mets will host four straight games.

The two teams face off against each other eight more times in the regular season.

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Big win a sign of things to come for Phils?

The Philadelphia Phillies won a game, and it came in front of their home crowd at Citizens Bank Park. Typically this is not headlining news, but the way things have been going for the Phils, it’s certainly worth noting.

The Phillies went 3-6 on their latest road trip and ended the swing by being swept in a three-game series at the hands of the Atlanta Braves. In that series, they lost the lead late in game one, got blown out in game two with ace Cole Hamels on the mound, and game three witnessed Ryan Madson self-destructing again.

There aren’t too many “must-win” games in the month of July, but Friday night’s contest against division rival New York Mets certainly was a “must-win.” The Phillies staggered into last night’s game with a 39-37 record and were in a tie for first place with the Florida Marlins. The third place injury-plagued Mets limped into last night’s game with a 39-39 record. If there was any time for the Phillies to take advantage of another team’s misfortunes, it was in last night’s game.

And that is what they did. The Phillies won the game 7-2 behind newest starting rotation fill-in Rodrigo Lopez, who went 6.1 innings and only gave up two earned runs. The offense also came to life and scored seven runs due in part to Jimmy Rollins going 2-for-5 with two RBI’s and Jayson Werth’s 16th home run of the season.

The Phillies hope to continue their winning ways today behind Jamie Moyer in game two of this three-game series versus the Mets, who are sending out Fernando Nieve. If the Phils can piece together a few victories against a team that is more decimated with key injuries than they are, maybe this can be what catapults them back to looking like a defending world champion.

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Phillies rotation in limbo

After LHP Antonio Bastardo was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Monday, it is unknown who will be the replacement in the Phillies rotation.
On Monday, Phillies young lefty Antonio Bastardo (2-3, 6.75 ERA) was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained shoulder.

One day later, it is still unknown who will replace Bastardo in the starting rotation. After Blanton matches up against Atlanta tonight in Game 1 of the series, Hamels has been pushed up to pitch in Game 2 and Happ for Game 3.
But when the Phils start a three-game series against division rival New York Mets on Friday, it is unclear who will be called up to pitch.

Gustavo Chacin and Kyle Kendrick of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs are most likely out of the running as Chacin pitched yesterday and Kendrick is slated to pitch tonight.

That leaves three possible pitchers who could be brought up from Lehigh Valley be available to pitch on Friday night: Carlos Carrasco, Drew Carpenter and Rodrigo Lopez.

Carrasco — seemingly the front-runner— has been rated the top Phillies pitching prospect by Baseball America the past three years. Although his 4-7 record 4.92 ERA may not wow anyone, the young right hander has shown the hot hand as of late as he has allowed just six runs in 19.2 innings pitched in his last three starts.

Carpenter is probably the most consistent of the three probables. Carpenter, who got the win in the one game he started earlier this season for the Phillies, is 7-1 with a 2.75 ERA in thirteen games started for the Iron Pigs.

The final as well as most unknown candidate is 33-year old Rodrigo Lopez. Who, after being hurt most of last season was released by the Braves in November, is 5-4 with a 3.91 ERA in 13 starts.

My vote is for Carrasco. Although there would be added pressure as he would be facing the Mets, their lineup is decimated with injuries and it could be a good spot for him to get his first Major League start. Also, if he lives up to his expectations, he could be the fifth starter the Phillies starting staff needs.
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