Posted: Thursday, October 8, 2009, 11:01 PM | 20 comments |
 

Blanton, Pedro, Happ in mix for Game 3 start
options
 

J.A. Happ walked into his manager’s office after today's game and insisted he could pitch Saturday, despite the line drive that bruised his leg in the seventh inning.           

“I’m OK,” he told Charlie Manuel. 
           
“We’ll talk about it (Friday),” Manuel said.  
           
Tomorrow, Manuel will finally have to name a starting pitcher for Game 3 of the National League division series, which is tied at one game apiece after Colorado defeated the Phillies 5-4 today at Citizens Bank Park. His choices are Happ, Joe Blanton and Pedro Martinez, and he said he was leaning toward the latter two.
           
The situation was complicated even before the game, with Happ and Blanton available in the bullpen and both hoping to pitch Saturday. It grew still more muddled later, when both pitched in relief, and Happ was injured.
           
He was diagnosed with a bruise in his lower left leg. X-rays were negative. 
           
“It was just one of those things where right after it happens, you don’t have strength in it,” he said. “If I had (another) four or five minutes, it would not have been an issue.”
           
Happ said he could pitch Saturday, as a starter or reliever. “I feel like I would he ready,” he said.
           
In his postgame press conference, Manuel mentioned only Blanton and Martinez as possibilities to start Game 3--but that was before the brief meeting in which Happ made his case. 
           
“Right now, I would say it is between Blanton and Pedro,” Manuel said. 
           
Both Martinez and Blanton said they would be ready despite the severe weather expected in Denver. Forecasts call for temperatures in the low-30s, with a 40 percent chance of snow on Saturday.
           
“Yes, I do expect to get the ball in Game 3 but you have to ask Charlie,” Martinez said. “It is up to him.”
           
Martinez acknowledged that the weather would create unfamiliar conditions. “I’ll be a rookie out there,” he said. “Even though I think I have played in 30 degree weather, it hasn’t snowed. In Boston and Cleveland and New York, it has gotten cold, so I’m looking forward to doing what I can.”
           
Blanton threw 19 pitches, fewer than he would in a typical side session between starts. “A few less pitches, but a little more intensity,” he said. “I don’t see it being a problem one way or another….I recover quick and I can do whatever.”
           
Blanton said that the cold would not bother him. “It’s going to be cold,” he said. “If you let it bother you, it will. If you don’t, it won’t.”
           
Manuel insisted that Blanton would be ready to start, despite the relief appearance. “I’ve been around the game 47 years. Yeah, I think he can do it, yes. Yes I do. I’ve seen guys come back and pitch three or four days in a row that were starters. How about that? Yeah, I’ve seen them do it.”
Posted by Andy Martino @ 11:01 PM  Permalink | 20 comments
20
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:25 PM, 10/08/2009
    Blanton starting game 3, Pedro preparing as if he was starting, and being used first out of the bullpen if Blanton goes short. Happ as the definite starter for the potential clincher in game 4 (give him the extra day to rest his leg, since we're guaranteed a game 4 now). That's the way to go.
    — jjacob02
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:34 AM, 10/09/2009
    jjacob02 i completely agree (for what that's worth)...i am still sick about yesterday's game...i want the Rox GONE!!!
    — jachanin
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:50 AM, 10/09/2009
    Yeah Charlie, you have seen former starters relieve in 3 or 4 (that may be an exaggeration) days in a row, but not in the same season when they were starters. Maybe Smoltz, Eckersley and Righetti did it, but they were starters converted in to full-time relievers. You can say, that so far, the decision to put both reliable starters as relievers out of the chute, has backfired on you a little. Now you don’t know for sure who is going to start game three. That’s not good.
    — EL Zorro
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:00 AM, 10/09/2009
    and WHY, EL Zorro, does it matter that Charlie know or announce if he does know, who the starter is, before today? It doesnt matter in the slightest. What matters is that the guy he chooses goes out there and in ready to perform. Period the end...OUR and the press and even the players dont need to know anything...we may WANT to know...but in the end, it just doesnt make any difference, regardless of the perspective or the millions of experts out there
    — TheLon
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:52 AM, 10/09/2009
    Pedro will start, Blanton and Kendrick will be available for long relief, and Happ will start game 4.
    — JBP
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:09 AM, 10/09/2009
    TheLon, because you need to have a concrete gameplan, you can just pick a rabbit out the hat hoping is going to work wonders. Tracy, who lost de la Rosa, arguably his best starter, knows his game-three pitcher.
    — EL Zorro
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:29 AM, 10/09/2009
    I don't like using both Blanton and Happ in game 2, and using Lee as a pinch runner. Do the Phils have 12 pitchers on the playoff roster, or just 5? I would think Pedro will start game 3 now. I was hoping there wouldn't be a play at the plate with Lee in the 9th.
    — BobbyD
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:35 AM, 10/09/2009
    Im not worried about the cold. It was in the 20's or something during the game 5 part II of the world series last year and they pulled it out then. They are going to get it done. We've shown we can hit the rockies bullpen and is anyone really scared of the rockies third or fourth starting pitchers?? This is where we show our depth at starting pitching. Bring it on.
    — MTust24
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:22 AM, 10/09/2009
    You gotta like Joe Blanton's attitude. No drama, no complaining, just give me the ball and I'll be ready. On the weather: “It’s going to be cold. If you let it bother you, it will. If you don’t, it won’t.” Cole, are you listening?
    — bobby
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:40 AM, 10/09/2009
    Stupid managing! Using starting pitchers as relievers doesn't work! Happ and Blanton won't truly be ready if they are called on to start which means Manuel is going to have to use the same pitchers he wouldn't use in game 2 in game 3. I don't understand this at all. He should have used Kendrick or Durbin (who's been pitching lights out lately).
    — James TL
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:53 AM, 10/09/2009
    Lets see Dubee hates Blanton, Charlie expressed displeasure with Pedro, so who does that leave? If They had started Pedro in front of the home town crowd we would have stood a better chance of winning. For what ever reason(s) Hamels has not done the job this season and why they thought he would suddenly change is as foolish as the idea he could again be a big game pitcher. The way we went about bringing in relievers (minus the Happ injury) reeked of panic from my view. And once again there was a difference of opinion between Rich and Joe which was captured on camera. Also after game #1 when the players high 5 each other Lee purposely avoided Dubee. Now I'm sure we will hear how much they all love Rich but my suspicison is this Rich is too heavy handed. The experienced pitchers resent it, and the young ones cave in to it. Just my opinion not worth much more than this blog.
    — Wally 24
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:59 AM, 10/09/2009
    wow, you people are unreal.. there is no way charlie can win in this, for the last 2 months people did nothing but complain about how bad the bull pen was, so charlie does "whatever it takes" to try to win, and you tear him down.."durbin has been lights out" WHAT!!! he gave up 4 runs to the marlins... we are not playing the NL east we are playing the NL's finest.. he wanted to win game two at all cost.. it makes sense, we just lost home field and are going to terrible weather conditions in colorodo that could change the outcome of the games.. i dont like what he had to do but there was no other choice... blanton will pitch game 3 and happ in 4... Go Phils
    — bleed green forever
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:22 PM, 10/09/2009
    Second-guessing is an art form in this town. There's a lot of crowing about how Charlie should not have started Hamels in light of his wife's impending delivery. Well, that may or may not have been the right thing to do, but it's easy to say now that we have the benefit of knowing that he pitched poorly. Guaranteed if Charlie had held Hamels and the Phillies lost, everyone would be up in arms, certain that Hamels would have won the game had he pitched. Bottom line is: losing brings out the second-guessers; winning cures all.
    — bobby
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:54 PM, 10/09/2009
    You can call it second guessing, you can call it Monday-morning-quarterbacking, the bottom line is that Charlie used 4 of his 5 starting pitchers in the first two games and all he has to show for is a 1-1 record at home. Thanks God for the complete-game gem by Lee on Wednesday. That left three starters for one game, and the team still lost. You can't dispute that.
    — EL Zorro
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:57 PM, 10/09/2009
    Well said Zorro!
    — Wally 24


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