Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Phillies starting rotation woes possibly coming to a slow and steady end(well, sort of)


No I'm not an idiot. In fact, I am/was an honor roll student. Although the headline might be hard to understand, there may actually be an end in the near future to some of the Phils starting hurler's(who sometimes make me want to hurl, in the other way) problems. After a strong start by J.A. Happ against the Yanks, and as it appears Cole Hamels's SI cover jinx has worn off, we may start to see more solid starts in the near future. Brett Myers has been more consistent than all of them, being, until last week, the only Phils starter who had an ERA under 5. Joe Blanton and Jamie Moyer,however, continue to get roughed up, with Blanton going tonight against former North Carolina pitcher Andrew Miller and the Marlins. While Blanton is known to have a high ERA for a starter, he usually gets the job done until this year, with a shaky record and ERA, 2-3 and 7.11 respectivly. While I am still a firm beleiver that Blanton will come around, if he keeps going like this, he may find himself much like Brett Myers last year heading to Lehigh Valley to play for the Pigs for a while. Jaime Moyer is someone to worry about. Until this point, Moyer has turned out to be a great find. Although aged, Moyer joined the Phils rotation a little bit past the midway point in 2006, and has proved to be a reliable pitcher, playing a huge role in helping the Phillies win the 2008 World Series. At 46, if he doesn't start producing soon, he will find he baseball career come to a sreeching halt. When and if that happens it will be a sad day for me, being a fan and admirer of Moyer. But that doesn't take away from his off the field image, which is a very great guy, and a terrific role model. In a perfect world Blanton and Moyer wille come around. But unfortuatley we don't live in a world like that. Being realistic, maybe one of them will go back to their previous form, but probably not both. Hey maybe they will prove me wrong( I secretly hope so!). But just so you are prepared, options to replace them are: Vance Worley(3-2, 3.22), Kyle Kendrick(3-3, 4.21), and Andrew Carpenter(1-0, 4.02). If you haven't being following Lehigh Valley this year, then I will tell you why Carlos Carrasco isn't listed. He is currently 0-6 with a 5.81 ERA. Hopefully he will come around too!! Bottom line is the Phillies top part of the rotation is coming back into their former form, while the bottom part still has some issues to work out.

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