Phillies' Blanton feels ready to return

READING - Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton surrendered two home runs against the Harrisburg Senators last night in his second rehab stint in Double A Reading.

Despite the two mistakes, Blanton said he felt no pain or hindrance from his left oblique and it should not slow his return to the major leagues.

"I don't even think about [the injury] anymore," said the 30-year-old righthander, who began the year as the Phillies' No. 3 starter before his injury in late March.

Physically, Blanton feels ready to return. The Phillies have not given him an updated timetable for that.

Former Phillies manager Dallas Green, taking in the game, said Blanton looked fine except for two pitches.

"He's not the kind of guy who's going to knock your eyes out with the radar gun anyway," Green said. "That's Joe. He has to move all of his pitches around. He's a command pitcher. He's an innings eater. He's got to mix his pitches, and it takes a while to get the feel of the pitches to do that. He'll be back in the major leagues soon."

The first home run Blanton gave up, a towering three-run shot by Leonard Davis in the first inning, cleared the pool behind the rightfield fence.

"I just tried to throw a front-door sinker and I just threw it over the plate," Blanton said. "I had thrown two other cutters inside, so there's three pitches in, in a row, and the third just wasn't as good as the other two."

The second home run Blanton surrendered, a two-run line drive to right by Bill Rhinehart in the third inning, splashed off the pool's back wall at FirstEnergy Stadium. Two hits produced all five runs in the Senators' 5-2 victory.

Blanton, 6-3, 244, kept most of his pitches in the mid-80s. The fastest pitch of the night - a 93 mph fastball - turned around for the first homer. His curveball looked effective in limited use, especially in the fourth and fifth innings.

Blanton had more of a feel for his pitches and more of a command of them, an improvement from recent outings.

"I felt like I threw strikes when I wanted tonight," Blanton said. "I threw it on what side of the plate I wanted and in the dirt when I wanted . . . I threw maybe eight to 10 [curveballs] tonight. They had a lot of lefties, so you're probably going to throw more curves than sliders."

Blanton threw 67 pitches, 45 for strikes, in five innings. After a 23-pitch first inning, he did not throw more than 13 in any inning thereafter. Harrisburg, an affiliate of the Nationals, managed five hits against Blanton, three for extra bases.

"I felt, for the most part tonight," Blanton said, "that I threw a lot of quality pitches."

Tomorrow, he will report to the trainers and continue rehabbing. "I knew the plan up until today," he said. "After today, I don't really know."

Blanton admitted he and closer Brad Lidge, who rehabbed here Tuesday night, can't wait to return to the majors.

"We're both definitely ready to get back and help the team how we can and contribute," he said. "We want to get back to normal. I really want to be out there pitching again, so it's been really hard."