Charlie Manuel has announced that Joe Blanton will be his Game 4 starting pitcher.
According to the Phillies’ official Twitter account, when asked if he had a starter for Game 4, he replied:
‘I sure do. My game 4 starter is Joe Blanton.’
Blanton has been the most consistent starting pitcher ever since coming over to the Phillies from Oakland last summer. In 6 postseason appearances, he is 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA. Of course, he also has that monstrous home run in Game 4 of the World Series at Citizens Bank Park last year.
The Phillies clearly have a big advantage in starting pitching over LA with Cliff Lee going against Hideki Kuroda in Game 3 tomorrow and Blanton going against former Phillie Randy Wolf in Game 4.
With no announced pitcher for Game 5, signs are pointing towards Cole Hamels coming back for that. He didn’t pitch that bad against the Dodgers in Game 1, but was hurt by an error by Chase Utley. Hopefully, Hamels can man up and not be a bitch.
With any luck, Lee and Blanton get the job done in Games 3 and 4 to set up Hamels in the series deciding Game 5. That’s a hell of a pitching rotation that most teams would want.
Now, they just have to get it done.
