It's amazing to me that I'd be writing so much about the Phillies pitchers. With hitters like Shane Victorino, All-World Chase Utley, Ryan "the K" Howard, Raul Ibanez and Jayson Werth, you'd think it would be all about the hitters. But not so. Maybe it's true that great pitching beats great hitting.
After all, the Phils had a starter (Joe Blanton) give up 2 runs in a game against the Giants only to lose to Tim Lincecum. The Phils got great pitching. But the Giants pitched better, and the Phillies potent offense was a non-factor for most of that series. I am still puzzled at how they could have lost to Barry Zito.
Back in April, I was among the Phillies fans moaning about the sorry state of the pitching staff. The ERAs at that time were appallingly high and homers were leaving Citizen's Bank Park at an alarming rate. Brett Myers: 4.91 ERA. Jamie Moyer: 5.09 ERA. Prima Donna Cole Hamels: 7.27 ERA.
And my assessment of Blanton? "He's been pretty....awful thus far, but he did have some great moments last year. Time to get going, dude. Sooner the better." Well, you can't be right all of the time.
I was kind of ahead of the curve in some of my ramblings: "Chan Ho Park. Why? All I have to say. I got nothin' else. I'm ready to see what JA Happ can do in the starting rotation. Or Pedro Martinez. Anyone." Partially right - Happ's been great as a starter - easily one of the most consistent pitchers.
Park has proven to be a pretty good relief pitcher. I feel a lot more confident in him than I have in Brad Lidge or Ryan Madson. And don't even get me started on Chad Durbin. As for Pedro - I am looking forward to his first pitch as a Phil. I hope it's against the Mets. And look at that...the Phillies visit the Mets for a 4-game series starting Friday, Aug 21. Maybe that's longer than they will wait to find a spot in the rotation for Pedro, but that would be fun to see.
A lot has changed since then. The Phillies have righted the ship, benefitted greatly from much better quality pitching and the somewhat surprising collapse of the Mets. As I write this, the Phillies have a 7-game lead over the Marlins in the NL East, a Cy Young winner on their pitching staff and the 'problem' of having more quality pitching options than they could have expected.
Sending Happ to the bullpen to make room for Martinez would be pretty lame. Then again, sending Moyer to the 'Pen would be pretty lame. He may be Methuselah and somewhat ineffective, but he's a classy veteran who leads the team with 10 wins and he deserves the respect of remaining in the starting rotation. I'd rather see the Phils go with a six-man rotation than send Happ to the bullpen. What the hell? It'll give the pitchers plenty of rest between starts until the end of the season.
Amazingly, Blanton has put together a pretty solid season. I didn't expect much more than we got last year from him, but he has exceeded my expectations. In his past five starts, he's gone 4-1 (with a tough, not-his-fault 2-0 loss to the Giants and the aforementioned Lincecum), given up six runs, gone at least seven innings in each game and dropped his ERA from 4.69 to 4.02. Especially impressive given that his ERA was 5.08 at the end of June.
And Cliff Lee? What else is there to say? Two starts, and he's 2-0, racking up Ks and giving the Phils that much needed ace presence. When this season started, I figured Hamels would be the ace, and that Brett Myers, Moyer, Blanton and Park/Happ would round out the staff. Didn't even sound all that good on paper.
However, a rotation that boasts Lee, Happ (8-2, 2.74 ERA), Blanton, Hamels (7-6, but his ERA is DOWN to 4.68 since April), Moyer and Martinez is a lot more potent and sounds good however you state it. It's amazing that Hamels would be the number four pitcher on this staff, but at this time, it's simply stating reality. He's not pitching very effectively.
I'm thinking he'll snap out of it and be the machine he was in the postseason last year - but he ain't got it right now. Someone needs to tell him that he did NOT pitch too many innings last year and that sports commentators should stop trying to supply excuses for him. Come on, Cole. Let's see some of that magic you showed us last year!
Kudos to Ruben Amaro Jr.!
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I agree with you fully about the pitching situation. As for Hamels, I think he would benefit from some time in Allentown. I have it from a reliable source that he is spending too much time with personal appearances, and not enough time with his head in the game. This was the same problem with Rollins...he got his act together...now it's Hamels' turn. I think he need to take a vacation to get his head together, and Allentown is a lovely place for that! This would leave the 2 veterans, Moyer and Martinez to round out the last spot. I think Martinez has maybe 6-7 good games in him.
As for your shout out to Ruben...I couldn't agree more!!! Kudos Ruben!!!
I searched your blog to see if you had some more commentary on Pedro Martinez. Two other postings came up: 4/29 & 4/3. Of course they are from early in the season. I noticed the phrase "pretty...awful" appeared in the above entry as well as the the 4/29 one. I know you're gonna widen the repitoire!
Thanks.
J KANE
A six man rotation might be dicey because you could throw the starters out of their rhythm; they are creatures of habit. I'd be in favor of trying out Moyer in the pen as a long reliever who can make spot starts. He's enough of a professional to make that transition, where other starters might not be able to handle it. And it might actually make him more effective when hitters see his slow stuff after facing the the faster stuff of the starters. Either way, it's a nice problem to have.
I'm interested to see what happens when/if Myers comes back. He was effective as a closer once and Lidge has not been this year.
We still have Romero and Durbin on the mend, too. It will be a very nice pitching staff if we can get everyone healthy.
You cannot have a 6 man rotation. A) We all know Cole Hamels is like an OCD patient when he doesn't have his every-fifth-day start, and it completely throws him off. B) What, you're going to give Cliff Lee a start only every 6 days? If he was a CC Sabathia-type rental, I'd say send him out every other day (are you following me, Chris Short and Jim Bunning?). But you have to give him the ball as much as possible. And C) Are you going to take starts away from Happ and Blanton? They have been your most consistent pitchers. I say welcome to the bullpen, Mr Martinez, and wait to see if anyone in the rotation gets hurt. You can't not pitch Moyer. You're exactly right, he has 10 wins. And last year he led with 16. He deserves every chance to start every fifth day. What's the other option? Swap Martinez and Moyer every 10th day? Let's just enjoy our wealth of starting pitching, and play it out. Don't mess with chemistry. And be glad your rotation doesn't include Adam Eaton, Freddy Garcia, Jon Lieber, Eric Milton, and Kevin Millwood. Poor Rodrigo Lopez.
Moyer's ten wins are a little deceiving in that his ERA is 5.55. On the other hand, his leadership can't be underestimated, but if Martinez comes in and pitches well and Moyer continues to get shelled every other outing, they might have to make the tough decision.
Good point about Lee. You want him (and the other top starters) pitching as much as possible, so a 6-man rotation doesn't really make sense.
It's cool seeing all the comments on here now. I might have to start posting again :-)
Last note on Jamie: Even if your ERA is 5.55, the Phillies should easily be scoring that many runs behind him. But that is a lot to ask. But that's what Jamie is, a pitcher that keeps you in the game while your offense does its thing. And, as you well know, Jamie's effectiveness often depends on the home plate ump, and how wide is strike zone is. If it's a generous zone, Jamie will have a good day.
Ok, this REALLY is the last note on Jamie: Do not underestimate the impact having Jamie on the team is on JA Happ and Rodrigo Lopez and any of the young pitchers, Hamels included. He's a coach in the rotation. Jamie and Dubee need to lock Cole in a room and don't let him out until he knows what he needs to do to help win another title.
I still think Hamels needs to get his head together. Another outing where he didn't make it out of the 6th inning. He is just way too inside his head right now to be effective. I think he needs a slap in the face, or the ego, to get back in it. Send him down. I would rather have Lopez on the hill any day. But what do I know?? Off to watch Moyer try to snag one from the fish. Hope the rain holds out!
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