Blanton survives another rough start

Joe Blanton frequently has been described as an innings eater, a pitcher who typically lasts late into a game, meaning the Phillies' righthander usually gives his team a chance to win while the bullpen gets somewhat of a respite.

For much of this season, though, the Phillies and their followers have found the first inning by the innings eater awfully hard to digest.

So it was time to swallow hard again when Andres Torres, the Giants' leadoff hitter, began Wednesday's game with a mammoth home run that landed in the second level in right field at Citizens Bank Park.

Then the next batter, Buster Posey, laced a single, and it appeared the Phillies might be in for another long night of playing catchup when Blanton starts.

But Blanton managed to get through the first without further damage, and Jimmy Rollins went on to singlehandedly give him a cushion in the Phillies' 8-2 win.

The trepidation that has coursed through a Philly crowd in the first inning when Blanton pitches is justified. He had allowed at least two earned runs in the first inning of five of his previous eight starts. That computes to a first-inning ERA of 14.63 during that stretch. Yet in those eight games, Blanton's ERA was a very respectable 3.19 from the second inning on. His season ERA for the first inning was 8.63.

If only Blanton could begin his starts in the second inning.

Publicly, at least, Blanton doesn't share his feelings on why he has struggled in the first inning. He shrugs it off in a stuff-happens sort of way, which is probably just as well. Otherwise, why risk its becoming some kind of psychological hurdle? Denial can be good in baseball.

"Even though I gave up a couple runs the last few games, I still made good pitches, but choppers found the hole," Blanton said after striking out seven and walking none to earn his first win since July 26. He extended a walk-less streak by Phillies pitchers to 19 innings.

"Tonight they found a couple holes, but I was able to get out of it. That's baseball. Sometimes it happens and sometimes you get out of it."

The highlights of Blanton's night came when he ended the fifth inning by freezing Torres with a two-strike fastball that caught a corner of the plate, and then duplicated the feat when Posey led off the sixth.

As for Torres' leadoff homer, Blanton said he didn't want to walk the first batter, so he took his chances with a fastball.

"The first batter I went to a full count, and the first hitter, you don't want to walk him, so I threw a fastball down the middle and he hit it out," Blanton said. "After that, a couple hits found the hole and then I kind of settled in."

Despite Blanton's shaky first innings, good things have happened to the Phillies in his appearances at home, where they are 7-0 in his last seven starts. Blanton seems to get all the run support Cole Hamels doesn't.

That leadoff home run by Torres was still fresh in Charlie Manuel's mind when the manager ambled to the mound to pull Blanton with one out in the seventh and the Phillies in front, 5-2. Back-to-back singles by Mike Fontenot and pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa brought Torres to the plate representing the tying run.

As Blanton headed toward the dugout to watch Chad Durbin induce a double play from Torres, the crowd gave him a hearty ovation. The innings eater had given the fans only a mild case of heartburn, which was quickly alleviated by a victory.

"He got the guy 3-2 and threw a fastball and the guy smoked one, but then he started mixing up his pitches," Manuel said. "I thought he pitched pretty good. He gave us a chance to win. After he gave up the homer, he kept the game pretty much in check for us."