Phillies Notebook: Halladay's next start for Phillies likely to be Game 1 of NLDS
WASHINGTON - Barring some unforeseen development, baseball has seen the last of Roy Halladay until the playoffs begin. That was about the extent of the pitching decisions the Phillies announced yesterday, a day after locking up the National League East title and homefield advantage throughout the postseason.
WASHINGTON - Barring some unforeseen development, baseball has seen the last of Roy Halladay until the playoffs begin. That was about the extent of the pitching decisions the Phillies announced yesterday, a day after locking up the National League East title and homefield advantage throughout the postseason.
Joe Blanton and Kyle Kendrick, both of whom are unlikely to get a start in the first round of the playoffs, will start tonight against the Nationals and Friday in Atlanta, respectively.
Otherwise, the Phillies were mum on their plans, although Halladay appears likely to start Game 1 of the NL Division Series a week from today. Manager Charlie Manuel, who said he already had decided whom he would send to the mound, declined to announce his intentions.
Halladay is the only one of the Phils' top three starters whom pitching coach Rich Dubee definitively ruled out for a tuneup start before the postseason.
He tossed a two-hitter in an 8-0, division-clinching win over the Nationals on Monday, meaning he would not be ready to pitch again on normal rest until Saturday. Besides, he already has logged a major league-leading 250 2/3 innings.
"We've got a lot of things up in the air, but if we're even going to consider using him Game 1, it's pretty hard to pitch him Oct. 2," Dubee said.
As well as Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt have pitched lately, the seemingly unanimous feeling throughout the organization is that Halladay is the Phillies' ace. Provided he does not pitch again this season, he will finish 2010 with perhaps the best season of his career of 12-plus years. In addition to innings, he leads the NL in wins (21), complete games (nine), shutouts (four) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.30-to-1). He is also in the top three in ERA (2.44), strikeouts (219) and walks/hits per inning pitched (1.041).
Only Cardinals righthander Adam Wainwright, who is 20-11 with a 2.42 ERA in 230 1/3 innings, has similar levels of performance and endurance. Wainwright has a strained muscle in his right forearm and is unlikely to pitch the rest of the season.
The identity of the Phillies' starter for Game 2 is less clear. The decision could change based on the opponent, particularly regarding the benefit of splitting up righties Halladay and Oswalt with lefty Hamels.
"It depends on who we're playing," Dubee said of splitting up the righties.
One thing to keep in mind: Whoever starts Game 2 could be in line to make every one of his postseason starts at home. Oswalt is 9-0 with a 2.10 ERA in 10 career starts at Citizens Bank Park and has said repeatedly this season he likes the mound.
Oswalt also has pitched on 3 days' rest five times in his career (2.59 ERA) and 2 days' rest three times (5.21 ERA). Hamels has never pitched on short rest.
"We'll take everything into consideration," Dubee said.
Close call
The last thing anybody wants to see is Roy Halladay take a pitch to the head in the batter's box, which is almost what happened in the ninth inning Monday night when Nationals reliever Joe Bisenius lost control of an 0-1 slider.
With catlike reflexes that hadn't been seen since "The Empire Strikes Back," Halladay managed to deflect the incoming pitch away from his noggin with his bat. Needless to say, his pitching coach was thrilled when home-plate ump Todd Tichenor rung him up on a check swing on the next pitch.
"I was really glad he punched him out the next pitch," Dubee said. "Doc wasn't too happy. But I was going to go out there and get him and bring him back. Yes, you swung, Doc."
For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese. Follow him on Twitter at