Starters going deep
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Starters going deep
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
Remember early in the season when the Phillies rotation consisted of Roy Halladay and pray for rain?
(An aside: It's drizzling here at Citizens Bank Park as I type this and the tarp has been on the field all day. Forecast looks like scattered showers all night.)
Well, it's May 18 and the Phillies' bullpen has pitched the fewest innings of any team in Major League Baseball. The bullpen has logged 93 1/3 innings in 33 games. Next fewest is the Yankees, with 96 1/3 innings in 36 games.
The starting pitching has been remarkable of late for the Phils. Only once in the last 15 games has a Phillies' starter pitched fewer than six innings -- Cole Hamels pitched just five on May 9.
Through 37 games, every Phillies starter has gone at least five innings except twice -- Kyle Kendrick did it both times (4 IP, April 8 and 1 2/3 IP, April 14). Not bad.
Here's what May looks like:
May 1: Halladay 9 IP, 0 ER (W)
May 2: Moyer 6 IP, 5 ER (W)
May 3: Blanton 6 2/3 IP, 4 ER (L)
May 4: Hamels 8 IP, 1 ER (ND)
May 5: Kendrick 7 IP, 0 ER (W)
May 6: Halladay 7 IP, 2 ER (W)
May 7: Moyer 9 IP, 0 ER (W)
May 8: Blanton 6 IP, 3 ER (L)
May 9: Hamels 5 IP, 3 ER (W)
May 10: Kendrick 6 IP, 4 ER (ND)
May 11: PPD
May 12: Halladay 6 1/3 IP, 2 ER (ND)
May 13: OFF
May 14: Moyer 6 1/3 IP, 4 ER (W)
May 15: Blanton 7 IP, 5 ER (W)
May 16: Hamels 6 2/3 IP, 2 ER (W)
May 17: Kendrick 8 IP, 2 ER (W)
In May, Phillies starters are 10-2 with two no decisions.
Some parts of the bullpen -- like Jose Contreras, Danys Baez and Chad Durbin have sometimes been taxed -- but in most spots, the Phillies have been judicious with their use of the bullpen because of the innings from the starters.
Just something to chew on...
Who is in the lineup tonight?- Charlie needs to listen to his own advice every now and again and stay away from Contreras and Beaz for a couple of days, for no other reason then pure rest. They have logged the heavy work and done it during crucial times, while Maddog and Lidge are nowhere to be seen. Romero and Bastardo need work, Herndon needs work so he can get the experience Manuel doesn't want to give him all of the sudden (went 9 days b/t games earlier), and Matthieson should be brought up to see what he can do and possibly avoid trading for a RP. RAJ likes experience, but he's got to balance that with potential and cost.— Bleue
Bleue - you do realize the reason Madson and Lidge are "nowhere to be seen" is because they're injured right?- 103 wins— guiness14
- So far so good, we had a few bumps in the road and there is a long way to go.— EarlKeese
- I've been curious about what people think of this scenario: The payroll for Ryan Howard ($25M), a number 3 pitcher ($12M) and a decent right fielder ($10M) is just about equal to the Phillies signing Cliff Lee ($20M), Jayson Werth ($18M) and a decent 1st baseman ($10M). We then would have the best #1 starter in all of baseball with Halladay, the best #2 starter in all of baseball with Cliff Lee, the best # 3 starter in all of baseball with Hamels, and possibly the best #4 and #5 starters with Blanton and Happ. What would you rather have -- that starting rotation AND Jayson Werth or Ryan Howard? Seems like a no brainer to me. What's everyone else's opinion?— Ticketpete
- Jamie looks great in that old powder blue uniform. It is almost like looking at him back when he was in his early days of pitching if he would have pitched for the Phils.— kzimm63
- But we also recognize that Madson injured himself being an idiot, and Lidge always says he's healthy & never is ...— billinseattle
- Nothing matters but getting to the finish line ahead of the rest of the division! The sooner a spot is wrapped up,the sooner the pitching can get rest, and get re-aligned if necessary. And the same goes for the rest of the team. I DO think that if we get a rain out tonight (Pretty likely at this time) that Doc should be given a rest period til his next scheduled start, and not just pitch tomorrow. He'll have to be the work-horse in the post-season, so every opportunity for resting him should be taken throughout the season. Whether he agrees or not....it's for the good of the club.— TBear
- ticketpete - anytime you can have the 2nd or best player at a positio you do it. howard is a that guy. finding those other "decent" guys is dificult and hard to do. the phils are doing the right thing now for the team....... fyi braves fan here.— sasquatches
Ticketpete -- i disagree. i think having a 45 hr guy on ur team to plug up that line-up is important. ryan howard does indeed strike out alot, but its impossible to ignore what he can do. i want to keep werth as well, but not at the price of howard.- The Phils appear to have an 100 pitch count limit on their minor league starters. They are being developed and trained to throw only around 100 times in a game. So it is not the number of innings pitched but the number of pitches thrown that dictates how deep into games these mminor league starters go. I am surprised that Charlie and his trusted assistant Dubee are allowing Halladay and now Hamels to run up high pitch counts this early is the season. Will they have anything left in the tank later in the season or are they just masking their lack of confidence in their bullpen?— Dull
Comment removed.- TicketPete makes an excellent point. We all love Howard, but 125 million seemed more than a bit excessive to me since day 1....— Lando_M
- Ticketpete ... Your math is wrong. Howard doesn't make $25 million. He makes $19 million this year and will make $20 million a year in '11, '12 and '13. He won't make $25 million a year until 2014. And you probably couldn't get Cliff Lee for $20 million. He's looking for CC Sabathia money (probably from CC Sabathia's team, too); that would be $23 million a year at least.— GoPhilsGo
