Pre-game notes: Blanton, Oswalt, Schneider, more. . .
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Pre-game notes: Blanton, Oswalt, Schneider, more. . .
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
Reports of the demises of Roy Oswalt and Joe Blanton were overblown. At least that is the indication from Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee, who said that Blanton will start as scheduled against the Braves tomorrow, and that Oswalt is still expected to pitch on Tuesday against the Cardinals.
Oswalt is still in Clearwater, where he is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Sunday. He will then join the team in St. Louis. Oswalt reportedly lacked life on his fastball last night in a Class A rehab start at Clearwater, but Dubee said he is not concerned.
Other notes. . .
1) Jose Contreras threw a bullpen session today, although Dubee declined to estimate when the veteran righthander might make a rehab start. The original timetable in late-April was a three-to-four week recovery, which would put Contreras back in action sometime in the next week or two. Contreras hasn't suffered any set backs in his return from an elbow strain. Dubee said he threw "very well" today.
2) Brian Schneider is in Philadelphia, where he either has been or will be examined by team doctor Michael Ciccotti. Charlie Manuel said today that he does not know how long Schneider might miss with the hamstring strain he suffered against the Marlins on Wednesday.
3) Pete Orr is starting at second base tonight against righthander Brandon Beachy. More and more, it's looking like a platoon at second.
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At least Pete Orr won't hit into as many double plays as Valdez does.— SteveS11- The bad news is that Blanton will make his scheduled start Saturday vs. Atlanta.— baabyrrej
Comment removed.- No "most of the commenters", in this case baaby is right on. You have a poor to mediocre at best pitcher who actually tells the team his elbow hurts and they start him anyway. Im guessing hew's down 3-0 before we even sit down to watch the game.— Sewellmatt
- As I have said before, name a better #5 starter on any team. If you can name 3, I will give your criticism of Blanton some merit.— Master Dreamz
- I'm tired of these clueless wonders like Master Dreamz. He's probably having a wet one when he dreams of his hero Joe. Just check the stats for all the teams in MLB and you'll see at least ten #5 guys who have better ones than Fat Joe. And probably very few if any #5s who are making $10,000,000 this year. He's a joke.— baabyrrej
- And furthermore, Master Clueless Dreamz, there's two better #5s on the Phils, Worley and Kendrick.— baabyrrej
- I still haven't heard anyone name 3 #5's better than Blanton...
- The news about Contreras incouraging. We need another arm in pen. Prado and SS Gonzalez real good players.— Don w
- issue isn't that there may not be any better #5s in MLB. issue is that phils have better #5s available. hopefully joe is being showcased to prepare for trading deadline, although IF his arm hurts i don't really see value in rushing him to mound to showcase an even lower level of performance than ususal. we'll see.— barrywil
- Amaro has a lot of cards to play. Many teams would love to have Blanton, Worly, Bastardo, and a couple more pitchers if Amaro decides to make moves there. Except for Doc, I don't see where Blanton is pitching any worse or better than the rest of the staff right now. And stats are a wonderful way to measure what happened in the past.— Ron
- @Ron, either you need to check in to rehab or you just haven't seen blanton pitch this year. i like the guy and hope he comes around, and i'm in favor of sticking with him to enhance his trade value, but he has been among the worst pitchers in the NL to start the season and his fastball is being clocked at 86 mph.— CosmoK
- Not to worry, naysayers. Rest assured that we will NOT win every game, and if JoeB fails, we have Worley ready to take over as #5. Now, dont you feel better already ? Check the record and SMILE.— NewMick314
- Ok, for you dopes like Master Dreamz and "Brighter" who probably heard someone else say, "name me three, blah,blah,blah..." there's Worley and Kendrick on the Phils, Jurrjens on Atlanta, both Colon and Garcia on the Yanks and both Young and Gee on the Mets. Apparently some teams use six starters. That's seven, and there's many more if you take the trouble to check team stats instead of parroting what you heard your friend say. The real challenge is finding three worse than "Bland". Now go get your' freakin' shine box.— baabyrrej
- "When healthy", Blanton is a darned good pitcher (I hate giving out 'numbers' to pitchers). Unfortunately, since he signed that 3 year deal (a la Lidge), he has been injured at the start of each of the past two seasons (winter work-out program?). If you actually look at his over-all numbers since be acquired by the Phillies, you doubters may be quite surprised (including his great 2nd half of 2008 and 2010). His numbers equate much higher than being the last man on a five-man rotation. The key is "when healthy". I personally don't believe he is healthy right now and should have made a few 'rehab' starts prior to coming back to the Phils (especially since Worley is 2-0 with a nice ERA). Again, we can all sit here and play manager/GM, but we still have to trust the gentlemen who have afforded us the best 4-year run in franchise history..agreed?— drhoffman
