Roster officially set; Gload update
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Roster officially set; Gload update
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Phillies will carry 11 pitchers on their division series roster and chose Joe Blanton over David Herndon for the final spot.
Blanton pitched seven innings in September after being sidelined since May with an elbow injury. He allowed two runs, struck out 11 and walked none.
Herndon appeared in 45 games and posted a 3.32 season ERA. In 29 innings after the All-Star Break, Herndon had a 1.55 ERA and held opponents to a .216 batting average. But the Phillies decided Blanton offered more as the final pitcher.
Pete Orr and Erik Kratz will travel with the team as extra players. Brandon Moss, Joe Savery and Justin De Fratus were sent to Clearwater to stay active in case of an emergency.
The roster:
Catchers (2)
Carlos Ruiz (R)
Brian Schneider (L)
Infielders (7)
Ryan Howard (L)
Chase Utley (L)
Placido Polanco (R)
Jimmy Rollins (S)
Ross Gload (L)
Wilson Valdez (R)
Michael Martinez (S)
Outfielders (5)
Raul Ibanez (L)
Shane Victorino (S)
Hunter Pence (R)
John Mayberry Jr. (R)
Ben Francisco (R)
Pitchers (11)
Roy Halladay (RHP)
Cliff Lee (LHP)
Cole Hamels (LHP)
Roy Oswalt (RHP)
Vance Worley (RHP)
Ryan Madson (RHP)
Antonio Bastardo (LHP)
Mike Stutes (RHP)
Brad Lidge (RHP)
Kyle Kendrick (RHP)
Joe Blanton (RHP)
***
Ross Gload had an injection of anti-inflammatory medicine Monday to allievate pain in the muscle tear in his right hip that has bothered him all season. Ruben Amaro Jr. said Gload is completely ready to play in the division series.
Gload had a productive September, hitting .321 (9 for 28) with three doubles. He led the majors with 18 pinch-hits in 2011.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Download our NEW iPhone/Android app for easy access to all of our Phillies coverage, plus app-exclusive videos and analysis. Get it here.
Comments (52)
Thank god we are done with Hernia 57. Shoulda gone with Banys Daez (sic).— 24sDad- 'Herndon appeared in 45 games and posted a 3.32 season ERA. In 29 innings after the All-Star Break, Herndon had a 1.55 ERA and held opponents to a .216 batting average.'
How can this be? This guy was blowing up every time we turned on the TV or attended a game he was in. Did his agent, Lonewolf's 1, 10, 100, 1000 put this stat in your bonnet? The guy is clueless thank god the team has come to its senses with regard to his presence.
— 24sDad - Here is a scenario, if Herndon came into a game with 2 outs and bases loaded and give up 2 singles and let all 3 guys on base score and then get the last out, and guess what his ERA would be? 0.00. Even though he had a horrible inning, he simply let the previous pitchers runs in and didnt get charged with an Earned Run. ERA can be a very misleading stat in a Relief pitchers case for this reason. A stat that I like to compare relievers in WHIP which is Walks and Hits allowed per innings pitched. His was 1.37 on the season which is among the worst relievers on their team. — 8131anthony
- I think when we didn't see Herndon in that last game vs the Braves, that was our clue he would be out. Even Schwimmer saw action in that game.— otown philly fan
- Were you not watching that last game, then? Actually David Herndon pitched the bottom of whatever it was and was credited with a save. — BEMiller
- Probably the first time ever a team goes into the first round of the playoffs in a five games series with 7 pitchers who were used either exclusively or predominately as starters during the regular season and only 4 pitchers who were used exclusively as relievers with only one of the relievers a lefty. Charlie might have balance in his batting order but he does not have it in his bullpen. If Charlie has to use Worley, Blanton or Kendrick in relief in any game it is probably a lost cause, extra innings or an injury replacement.— Dull
- no surprises...Herndon might make it back for the NLCS (God willing the Phillies take care of business) but it would be a surprise meaning Blanton pitched horribly or a field player is not needed....— glove69
- Otown: Herndon pitched the bottom of the 13th, picked up the save. Blanton over Herndon, huh? Em. Tough call. He's been pitching well down the stretch.— andrewfrombrooklyn
- otown philly fan : am missing an inside joke here ?— ChiBubba
- Lonewolf will be devastated!— dogman5
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- I use Mozilla Firefox (you can download it from www.mozilla.org for nothing) and I loaded Adblock Plus (you can down load that from http://adblockplus.org/en/). This combination comes with presets that block most obnoxious ads and videos and you can customize the settings for ads and videos that aren't blocked out of the box. — raltman
- In a feat hitherto considered impossible, Herndon managed to allow 56/54 inherited runners to score. That's right, Herndon was so bad with inherited runners on that according to the MLB's official infrared thermal imaging system, even a couple ghost runners managed to cross home plate...— auntesther
- someone pull lonewolf down off the Walt Whitman, please. He is holding up traffic— Dan Callahan
- wtf?— lonewolf100
- Lonewolf howl at the moon.
Pick up your long skinny tail,
And howl at the moon.
Lone, Lone, Loney howl at the moon.
Just hate it when that happens, don't you?— BEMiller - Lonewolf 10 will probably allege Mr. FrontRunner sweet talked Charlie into dissing Cy Young Herndon.— eman
- Worley has not done well in relief. I would rather have a double-play pitcher who is used to relieving, in there.— MJSI
- I confused what role would pete orr and erik kratz have— pizzacheeks
- journalismIsDead, if you are logged in like you need to be to comment, you can go to your account settings and disable the videos.
Don't agree that seeing Worley or even Kendrick means they are in trouble, they are not carrying three guys that they plan to use only as long relief, they must have some confidence there. Not that the options were great.— Phils Phan 28 - lol... lonewolf is the man! You all need to get a clue. Stop being typical uptight negadelphians. It's a joke!— BammBamm
- Who cares about Herndon? The only time he sees action is if we are up or down big. We expect our SP to got 7-8 innings throughout the playoffs. If this happens, we don't need him. If he was a LHP it might be worth discussing, but in the scheme of things who cares if it's Blanton or Herndon?— aWESome83
- fact is charlie will have to manage his pen creatively... It also makes GREAT sense to carry an extra guy arm rather than just 10 pitchers b/c you never know when rain might fall in October...suppose one of our top starters pitches 3 innings and then there is a 2 hour rain delay? I think KK is likely the long man for situations like that with Worley being used for more high leverage situations along with Bastardo, Stutes, Lidge and Madson. Blanton likely will be an extra arm for extra innings etc...I trust him more than I trust herndon— TheLon
- @PP28 how can i thank you enough? audio: DISABLED!! finally, peace on sunday morning
- Comment removed.
- Right call on the roster. Blanton is capable of getting an out or going long........There were no other options to keep 10 pitchers.— Northcountry
- at this point, I would MUCH rather see speedy Pete Orr on the bench as a possible pinch-runner than creaky old Gload as a pinch-hitter. We are going to have to capitalize and manufacture runs in this series and it isn't done with PHers...— bingbangbong
- I got no problem widdit.— scorpio27
- What about that big bat of Bowker?— ObamaSolyndra
- I would have gone with Blanton and Herndon, and not Kendrick, who was BAD out of the pen. But if it gets down to these guys, things may not be going so well.— VicM
- Is Herndon in Clearwater working out to - or did they send him home?— dankil13
- Hey lonewolf I don't feel your pain for Herndon but you knew Blanton is making big money so they had to put him on the playoff roster. I'm glad that 3 young guns made it Worley, Stutes, and Bastardo because they earned it. Herndon had his chance.— male
- Oh yeah and I'm glad they put domonick brown back in the oven because he is not ready yet.— male
- LONEWOLF SHOULD HAVE HIS OWN REALITY TV SHOW...— lewisbratspis
- phillies in 4 but you never know what the genius can do. Larussa is brillant and gets most out of his players— mike64
- If the Phillies are going to be reliant on the pen, then they will be in trouble, so the poor Lone, Lone, Loney wolf family need not be so glum!— BEMiller
- Face it, if the Phils are using Blanton and Kendrick a lot, they are in deep do-do. It's nice that they're there, but let's hope we don't see them.— Rhomicronbeta
- Face it, if the Phils are using Blanton and Kendrick a lot, they are in deep do-do. It's nice that they're there, but let's hope we don't see them.— Rhomicronbeta
- Not fair for Herndon. He was not someone I felt comfortable with but he battled.
I think they went with Blanton so he could pitch to a righty and get strikes. But he also throws home run balls.
Herndon was not consistent in throwing strikes, that was his problem.— martyhenry - I rarely stay long on this site -- due to the obnoxious videos that you can't even turn off. Go Phillies!!— Rmyklo
- I rarely stay long on this site -- due to the obnoxious videos that you can't even turn off. Go Phillies!!— Rmyklo
- cholly plays whom cholly likes. always was, always will be. as has been noted here, 7 starters vs 4 relievers. uneffingbelievable. look what happened when oswalt was put in as a reliever last year. then again, cholly has been the luckiest mgr in the biz past few years. choose luck over skill or smarts any day, right?— bubba church & granny hamner
- WHAT? No John "Big Bow Wow" "Bowser" Bowker? Thank goodness! I hope they got his uniform after the last game, so he doesn't ever show up again.— SEEK313
- I can see I'm in the minority, and let me be clear, I'm not a fan of either Blanton or Herndon, but look at history here - in psat post seasons every time the Phills used a starter in releif, they got bombed. Herndon spent all season mentally preparing as a reliever - Blanton only pitched as a stater (except the last few meaningless games). I'd rather have a reliever relieve than a starter - thats all.— NCTony
- In actuality, today is lonewolf's proudest moment. He is an internet Troll. I don't mean that in a name calling way. A Troll is a person who gets kicks from posting outrageous stuff and laughing at the people who respond all bent as if it was a real post. Sometimes the person that does it is a regular poster to the board and the troll comment is to identify the people who don't frequent the post board(regulars don't argue with lonewolf about Halladay being mediocre and nothing more than Herndon's jock caddy) BUT today is like Christmas, like 10 of you have identified yourselves as people who are completely in the know about lonewolf's schtick BUT YOU STILL THOUGHT IT WAS IN ERNEST! hahahahaha. Forrest Gump couldn't troll that many shrimp in one shot.— UncleStosh
- blanton instead of herndon is just wrong...someone tell me in which situation blanton could possibly be used? herndon was very good down the stretch and it was stutes who got lit up like a xmas tree, he should have been left off the roster. if anyone watched the last 2 months, stutes was awful, herndon was not, and blanton just makes no sense what so ever.— grim4
- You Herdon haters cant see straight. He's not too bad. Frequently his worse innings were the result of multiple "bleeders." The guy just needs to establish a reliable out pitch. He has the potential to be the team's next Chad Durbin.
It's a shame that Francisco had no one to challenge him for that righthanded outfield spot off the bench. He's been the Least Valuable Phillie this year.— frankenslade - Gload better be ready. I like the fact that Kratz and Orr are on the scrubs if the team needs them.— Koons
- Uncle Stosh got it right; "you know who" is basking in the sun with the other troopers LHAO...— M60tanker
- Sure, Herndon isn't bad,well worth the Rule 5 year last year. Could be the next Durbin and that ain't too bad. Just not this year. Blanton pitched really well in his several outings. Trust these Phils.— PhillySubsMac
- think the Cards only pure lefty who plays is John Jay, otherwise might have gone with Savery to get a lefty out.. as others have said, if its Herndon or Blanton, we're either up 6 runs, down 6 runs, or in the 14th inning... by the way, have you ever seen a worse looking hitter than John Bowker?— jim715
1
About this blog
The Phillies Zone is the place for up-to-the-minute Phillies coverage from the Inquirer.
Matt Gelb
Inquirer Staff Writer
Bob Brookover
Inquirer Baseball Columnist
Search this blog:
Classifieds:
Site Services:
Partners:
Powered By:
