Ok, so pretty much every website and blog that covers the Phillies will have a post up tonight or tomorrow about J.A. Happ’s impressive outing against the Rockies tonight, so I figured I might as well do one.
The Phillies won 7-0, behind Happ’s 2nd complete game shutout of the season.
Happ improves to 8-2 on the season, 5-2 as a starter. Just a few days ago, I mentioned that Happ made the most sense to shift to the bullpen when Pedro Martinez makes his Phillies’ debut. Happ has a ton of success this season as a reliever, so a few days ago, the decision to move Happ to the ‘pen made sense. He had a few bad starts in a row, but that could be attributed to the trade rumors being thrown around concerning him.
Now, that decision would be ludicrous. Happ looked dominant in the game against the Rockies tonight. He had them guessing at his breaking pitches and simply blew his fastball by them all night, ending up with a career high 10 strikeouts.
I was high on Happ from the beginning, writing that he should be considered the front runner for NL Rookie of the Year a short time ago. With a performance like this, he has shown he should be a strong contender for that award.
However, that decision on who to move to the bullpen still looms large for Charlie Manuel. Pedro Martinez looked very good in his rehab start for Double-A Reading tonight, striking out 11 in 6 innings on 82 pitches. Now, it’s only the minors, but Pedro was locating his pitches, which is a great sign. This was supposed to be his last rehab start, so a decision on the rotation will need to be made very soon.
Might Jamie Moyer be sent to the DL for a bit with a “shoulder” injury? I don’t know about that. I think the Phils should ask Pedro to pitch out of the bullpen when he comes up to the big club. Jamie has a high ERA, but he does lead the team in wins, which has to count for something. He just knows how to win games, and he would be terrible in the bullpen.
Ultimately, I think the decision on the rotation will come down to one of two things happening. Either Pedro will go and pitch out of the bullpen, or Jamie will go on the DL for a bit.
As John Kruk said on Baseball Tonight, if they move Happ out of the rotation, I’m canceling my season tickets.
