When J.A. Happ was called up from triple-A Lehigh Valley last week, he was the pitching equivalent of one of those Academy Awards seat-fillers. Happ was supposed to plug Brett Myers' vacated spot in the rotation, make a few starts, and after Myers spent 20 days in the minors to clear his head and fix his mechanics, head back to Allentown.Well, maybe not.
Happ held the Cardinals scoreless for six innings last night before permitting two runs in the seventh. Charlie Manuel was impressed by Happ's poise. Brad Lidge liked his stuff, comparing it favorably to Cole Hamels'. And after allowing a single to Cesar Izturis and a ground-rule double to Skip Schumaker, Happ walked off the mound to a standing ovation from the sellout crowd at the Bank.
"That was probably the best experience of my life and something I'll never forget," Happ said. "It's something I've never felt before. I definitely appreciate it. It gave me chills. Hopefully, I'll have a few more of those."
That will depend on Myers. After two starts for Lehigh Valley, he'll pitch Saturday for double-A Reading and likely once more for Lehigh Valley on July 17. Depending on how the Phillies structure their rotation after the All-Star break, Happ could make another start during a series at Florida next weekend. But Manuel will have to discuss that with pitching coach Rich Dubee before making a decision.
"He's pitched good, and we need pitching," Manuel said. "The two starts he's had he's been very good. When a guy pitches good like that, that stands for a whole lot."
I think Happ deserves another shot. Agree? Disagree?
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A couple postgame notes that didn't make The Paper:
1. With his decisive solo homer in the eighth inning, Ryan Howard collected his league-leading 80th RBI and eclipsed Greg Luzinski for the most RBIs before the All-Star break by a Phillies player. Luzinski had 79 RBIs in 89 games in 1975. Howard also stretched his hitting streak to a season-long 12 games. He's batting .340 (16-for-47) with six homers and 15 RBIs during the stretch, raising his average to .231, the highest it has been since April 5. "If you step back and really look at it, what he's doing is knocking in some pretty big runs," Manuel said. "How can you knock a guy that leads the league in RBIs and has 25 homers at the break?"
2. Lidge got nemesis Albert Pujols to fly to right field en route to his 20th save in as many chances. Lidge, the only regular NL closer who hasn’t blown a save, has converted 23 consecutive saves dating to last season. That's one shy of his career-best streak of 24 consecutive saves from June 21 to Sept. 28, 2005. The Phillies record for consecutive saves converted in one season belongs to Billy Wagner, who notched 22 straight in 2005.
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Check out Bill Bretzger's photo gallery from last night's game.
3 comments:
I would completely agree that Happ needs another shot, possibly two or three. Just because Brett says he will be ready by the break doesnt mean he will be. Management might not be ready to give him his spot back either, considering his fastball is still a little limp. And in Happs first start, he held his own quite well vs. Johan.
Plus, Happ is pitching BETTER. Shouldn't that account for something?
Even if Myers comes back and can pitch efficiently as a starter, I wouldn't count out Happ taking Eaton's turns during part of the second half of the season. If Eaton strings together a couple more starts like his Tuesdays line against the Mets, he might hit the DL with a mystery injury. Not to take anything away from Eaton's streak of Quality Starts this year, but I don't think the Phils can handle both Myers and Eaton in the rotation at the same time anymore.
Happ was excellent last night. In a rare ESPN showing that allows us out-of-staters to watch the Fightin's, Happ looked awesome. Batters were flailing at his pitches all over the place. I think Happ has huge potential and could/should be this year's Kendrick. As mentioned before, should Eaton continue to suck, a mystery illness could land him a DL spot and Happ a trip to Philly.
He definitely deserves to be the first guy to turn to when we need a starter.
Hopefully Hersheiser and his co-announcer can stop pronouncing his name "Hop" next time too. And seriously, enough with the in-game updates about the Yankees winning earlier in the day. ESPN has got to learn there are phans outside of NY or Boston. One's who completely don't care about NY or Boston too!
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