Herndon's night
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Herndon's night
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
Among the bags waiting to be loaded on the train carrying the Phillies to Washington early Friday morning was David Herndon's guitar.
"Gotta have something to do on the train," Herndon said.
The 90-minute train ride would be a happy one for the 25-year-old righthander. He is one of the few anonymous players on this 80-42 Phillies squad and rarely will a game hinge on any of his actions.
Consider Thursday Herndon's night then. Without a long man in the bullpen, Charlie Manuel figured Herndon could give him two innings. Herndon tossed three scoreless and allowed only one hit. He struck out a career-high four Diamondbacks in the 4-1 victory.
About an hour and 15 minutes into the lengthy delay, Herndon said he knew he would be the next one pitching. That allowed him some time to prepare for the outing, a rarity for middle relievers.
It wasn't necessarily the best thing.
"Well," Herndon said, "I'm a failed starter."
Either way, his stuff was crisp. Not only was his sinker located down in the strike zone, but his secondary pitches were thrown regularly for strikes. Eight of his 10 sliders were strikes. Four of his five change-ups were, too.
The Rule 5 selection from a season ago has quietly been serviceable in a forgotten role for the Phillies. He has not allowed a run in his last eight outings, over a total of 8 2/3 innings. Since his May recall, he has allowed an earned run in only three of his 22 appearances. His ERA during that span is 1.82.
When he achieves the long streaks of consistency, what changes?
"I try not to overthrow," Herndon said. "Earlier in the year I was trying to throw 95 every time out. I finally swallowed my pride and said, 'Just get it downhill.' As long as it's down in the zone, if it's 90, it's 90. If it's 93, it's 93. Who cares?"
If there is anything to be decided in the season's final 40 games (and there is not much), a few postseason bullpen roles are definitely up for grabs. Herndon has certainly made a fine case for his inclusion.
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David Herndon is the reason I hope no-one connected to the Phillies ever listens to the dim bulbs that post on this board. I remember well the morons that wanted the Phils to dump him because he wasn't Cy Young, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee all rolled into one from the moment he first set foot on the CBP mound. Have you morons ever heard of letting a guy develop before you give up on him? Huh, what's that crickets? Ya, that's what I thought.— pocobull- Agreed pocobull. Rule 5'ers are the closest to a free player that exists today and allows Phils to pay the horses. Phils have 3, which I believe is very unusual across the league, and which I think says something for the Phils. The others are Martinez, who many have seen enough of. His hitting might look light, but he has a clutch factor. And the good news on him is his hitting will likely get better, and his fielding already can't get much better. The third is Victorino -- part of why the Dodgers boo him besides his killing them in playoffs.— adamklee
- @pocoball - OMG Lonewolf was right! Herndon is a frontrunner, and yes, I was one who says the Phils should have dumped him. And I still think so. As he says himself, 'I'm a failed starter' which on this team doesn't make him a fine reliever. So he had a good outing. Good for him. Let's see him do this day in and day out and time and again. Then I will get off his case. Until then, back atcha.— Dadof24
- You don't understand baseball. See my post lower on the page. — AbeVigoda
- @Dadof24- all relievers are failed starters. I just worry about him being inconsistent. Some days he is just totally off his game. Some days he pitches like today.— verve
- Give the guy his due. He's been working hard and that ERA has dipped below 4. He's showing more consistency and may be growing into a reliable arm out of the bp. I'm also surprised lonewolf hasn't posted one of his pro-Herndon rants.— Repubrebirth
- The new Chad Durbin.— ESFjellin
- Kudos to Schneider for calling a great game and handling all those pitchers...— M60tanker
- Smart player development is a HUGE part of the Phils' success. Compare Herndon and Kyle Kendrick to two seasons ago. What an amazing job the Phils have done of developing those guys (and what a great job the two pitchers have done of developing themselves.) Herndon was so bad at times last year, but you knew there had to be a reason Dubee was sticking with him. A winning team has the luxury of being patient and using people like Herndon and Kendrick in roles where they can learn success. Same thing is happening with Mayberry this year.— tomB
- @Dadof24, Ryan Madson is a failed starter— mtairy1
- Rule 5s rule! Vic, Hern and Mini-Mart.— Romus
- The people who routinely complain(ed) about guys like Herndon (END OF THE BULLPEN) because they gave up runs are complete morons. He is an end of the bullpen guy and he is YOUNG, he is going to give up runs. No one had a bullpen full of Madsons and Bastardos. The people who complain about dumping young, end of bullpen guys just don't know the game.— AbeVigoda
- Herndon has really improved since he began throwing his slider much more. Like most Phillies fans, I used to cringe when Herndon came into a game. The numbers dont lie.. Herndon has done a very nice job over the past 2 months and looks to be used plenty in the last 6 weeks of the year.— bradco
- The Phillies need a long man/mop up guy and Herndon fits that role. However, one good outing doesn't make a career. For people with short memories, Danys Baez threw five amazing innings in that 19 inning game earlier in the year. Was anyone advocating that we keep him because of that? It seems that every time the Phillies use Herndon in a high pressure situation (mostly because they've already used everyone else) he gives up key runs. Last night was not high pressure. He was put in the game with a 3 run lead in the 4th inning and asked to hold it for a couple of innings.— SteveS11
- Any more doubt that Herndon is a future ace??— lonewolf100
