Sean O'Sullivan's win a pain in neck

AS A MAJOR LEAGUE pitcher, it isn't every day that you turn around and find a baseball in your neck. Which is a good thing - turns out it hurts.

"It's like I got punched in the throat from around the corner," Sean O'Sullivan said.

This was in the sixth inning of the Phillies' 6-0 win over the Diamondbacks yesterday. On most afternoons, the six scoreless innings that O'Sullivan pitched would have been the headline, but he spent at least as much time after the game talking about a throw from his own catcher that nearly ended his outing at its most pivotal moment.

With runners on the corners and the Phillies leading 2-0, the veteran righthander delivered a 2-2 pitch to Aaron Hill for a ball. Before catching the throw back from the plate for the next pitch, O'Sullivan turned his head to look at first base, where Darin Ruf had yelled to him about playing off the bag on the next pitch. Pretty basic stuff. Only problem was, catcher Cameron Rupp thought O'Sullivan was looking at him and tossed him the ball. Rupp then realized what had happened and shouted to O'Sullivan, who turned around just in time for the ball to strike him in the windpipe and then roll to the ground.

"It was kind of shocking," O'Sullivan said. "And then I realized, 'OK, I can't breathe and there's runners on base so I have to go get this ball and then hope someone calls time out real fast.' But after a couple minutes, it kind of eased up a little bit."

Time was called after O'Sullivan picked up the ball, and Ryne Sandberg and head athletic trainer Scott Sheridan attended to him, asking him to throw a warm-up pitch before giving the all clear. Remember, there was a 3-2 count and two outs with runners on the corners in a 2-0 game. Furthermore, O'Sullivan had allowed eight of his nine runs on the season on home runs: four mistakes marring three otherwise solid starts (which were interrupted by a monthlong stay on the DL for knee tendinitis).

"It's been really frustrating," he said. "I've actually had conversations with [pitching coach Bob McClure] and Chooch [catcher Carlos Ruiz] about it. I wasn't giving up a lot of hits. It was just the one hit. Today, we really focused on when we got ahead of guys, trying to bury the ball or not be too fine early in the count. We worked on some mechanical things. After, I would say about the second inning, everything started to feel real smooth with the things we were working on. We were able to pound strike zone and let the guys behind us work."

O'Sullivan ended up getting Hill to fly out to end the inning.

The Phillies sustained two blows to their starting-pitching depth yesterday as Chad Billingsley was placed on the disabled list with a shoulder strain and, up in Lehigh Valley, potential replacement David Buchanan was carted off the field with an apparent knee injury. Billingsley is three starts into his attempt to come back from a pair of elbow surgeries that sidelined him for nearly 2 full calendar years. After allowing 11 runs in 10 innings in his first two starts, the 30-year-old righthander held the Diamondbacks to two runs in six innings in the Phillies' 4-3 win Friday. He was scheduled to face the Rockies on Wednesday, following Cole Hamels and Aaron Harang.

As much as the focus has been on the offense, which entered yesterday averaging 3.0 runs per game, the starting-pitching situation behind Hamels and Harang is the biggest reason to doubt in the sustainability of the team's recent success. The options to replace Billingsley are slim; 22-year-old righthander Severino Gonzalez makes the most sense because he is already on the 40-man roster and has made a couple of spot starts for the big-league club. He earned a win in his most recent outing May 3, when he held Miami to two runs on five hits in five innings.

One possibility for down the road is Phillippe Aumont, who has had some early success in his attempt to move from the bullpen to the rotation in Lehigh Valley. Aumont is coming off seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and no walked. In four starts, he has allowed just three runs in 21 innings with 16 strikeouts and five walks. He was outrighted off the 40-man roster this spring. Although the Phillies do have a spot open, the smart money is still on Gonzalez, who is scheduled to pitch for the IronPigs on Wednesday.