A slight, but interesting, rotation shift
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
A slight, but interesting, rotation shift
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
Even before Kyle Kendrick allowed six runs in 1.2 innings Wednesday night in a 14-7 win over the Nationals, the Phillies made a barely-perceptible, yet highly-interesting shift in their rotation that gives them plenty of flexibility in the coming week. And while manager Charlie Manuel brushed off a question about Kendrick's future in the rotation, they could delay his next start until a week from Saturday in Arizona, by which point veteran righthander Joe Blanton could be ready to be activated from the disabled list.
Kendrick's fifth day falls on Monday, which happens to be an off day for the Phillies. They could elect to skip Kendrick in the rotation rather than start him Tuesday against the Braves, who feature a pair of ferocious left-handed sluggers in Jason Heyward and Brian McCann.
Additionally, the Phillies have flip-flopped Roy Halladay and Jamie Moyer in the rotation, starting Halladay Friday on normal rest and Moyer Saturday on six days rest. This ensures that Halladay will face the Braves even if they do not skip Kendrick, and it gives them the option of lining up Halladay, Hamels and J.A. Happ for starts against the Braves, and scheduling Moyer and Kendrick's next starts for Friday and Saturday against the Diamondbacks in Arizona. To do so, they would have to push Moyer back one day further to Sunday and start Hamels on Saturday on normal rest. That would then leave Happ in line to start against the Braves on Tuesday on normal rest, Halladay to start Wednesday on normal rest, and Hamels to start Thursday on normal rest.
Either Moyer or Kendrick would start Friday, April 24 against the Diamondbacks, unless Blanton is ready to be activated from the disabled list, which is possible. On that day, Blanton would be three-and-a-half weeks removed from his oblique strain. His initial prognosis called for a three-to-six week recovery. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said today that Blanton's rehab is going very well, and that he could throw a bullpen session on Friday.
It is still unlikely that Blanton will be ready by next weekend, since the Phillies would probably want him to make at least one rehab appearance. Still, the possibility is there.
Rotation as it stands now:
- 4/14 v. WSN - Kendrick
- 4/15 v. WSN - Happ
- 4/16 v. FLA - Halladay
- 4/17 v. FLA - Moyer
- 4/18 v. FLA - Hamels
- 4/19 - OFF
- 4/20 v. ATL - Kendrick
- 4/21 v. ATL - Happ
- 4/22 v. ATL - Halladay
- 4/23 @ ARI - Moyer
- 4/24 @ ARI - Hamels
- 4/25 @ ARI - Kendrick
Potential rotation:
- 4/14 v. WSN - Kendrick
- 4/15 v. WSN - Happ
- 4/16 v. FLA - Halladay
- 4/17 v. FLA - Hamels (last pitched 4/12)
- 4/18 v. FLA - Moyer (last pitched 4/10)
- 4/19 v. OFF - [Kendrick]
- 4/20 @ ATL - Happ (normal rest)
- 4/21 @ ATL - Halladay (normal rest)
- 4/22 @ ATL - Hamels (normal rest)
- 4/23 @ ARI - Kendrick
- 4/24 @ ARI - Moyer
- 4/25 @ ARI - Happ
This would also give the Phillies the ability to have Halladay's next six starts come against the Mets, NL contenders San Francisco, St. Louis, Colorado and Milwaukee, and Boston.
I'm with you Wally, but we have to be careful. You can't questions any of the coaches' moves, like you have to agree with everything they do. Like, why wasn't Ibañez getting the day off yesterday against lefty Scott Olsen? Charlie keeps saying he needs and wants to give his bench some regular playing time. Yesterday, it was a nice opportunity to give Francisco more Abs and rest Ibañez. Yes, Raul had good numbers against Olsen, but that was early last season when he was on fire. Since July he’s been awful at the plate. Yes he was hurt and had hernia operation in November, but to me he got enough time to get his timing back. He’s been swinging the bat since mid January and had a bunch of ABs in ST and so far 34. That’s not counting the BP he gets everyday. Maybe Charlie had another one of those hunches that he would get out of his 9-month funk yesterday, but Raul keeps hitting those week grounders to second or lazy flyballs to the outfield with an occasional K in between. Expect Raul to be back today and tomorrow against righties Sanchez and Nolasco. Lets see what Charlie does on Sunday when the Phillies face LH Nate Robertson.— EL Zorro- Kendrick is a joke— phillyphanforlife
- The Kyle Kendrick experiement is over. Halladay, Hamels, and Happ need to start on a regular 5-day basis. When Blanton returns, he too. Moyer can go 5-6-7 days if need be. Kyle is messing with pitches he can't throw for strikes. He gets behind hitters (which he didn't do in Spring) and they wait for the meat strike to pound. The bullpen showed its real colors yesterday. I'd use Herndon more (check his ERA). Bottom line for ALL Phillies hurlers, gotta get AHEAD in the count and NO leadoff walks. Period, end of story.— drhoffman
