BY SCOTT LAUBERSo, rather than continuing to rehash the series of miscues that led to last night's loss to the Marlins (there's enough of that in today's News Journal), I thought we'd look ahead to tonight's game. In that vein, I spent a few minutes with Joe Blanton yesterday. Blanton hasn't pitched particularly well this season, as evidenced by the 7.11 ERA that he'll lug to the mound tonight. But after his outing last Thursday in Cincinnati, he seemed to have an awakening.
To recap: Blanton had sailed through four innings against the Reds before yielding five runs in the fifth and slashing a 6-0 Phillies lead to 6-5. So, after the game, we naturally asked how everything unraveled so quickly. Blanton noted that he has been far more effective when there aren't any runners on base, and the numbers support that claim. With the bases empty, opponents are batting .286 (32-for-112) with three home runs against him. But when runners reach base and Blanton pitches out of the stretch, opponents are batting .342 (25-for-73) with six homers. And with runners in scoring position, the numbers rise to .381 (16-for-42) with four homers.
Since Thursday, Blanton has been watching video, and he spotted a slight mechanical flaw when he pitches out of the stretch. Basically, it has to do with how he comes set, and it's preventing his arm from following through completely. He thinks he has corrected the problem (he really won't know until he pitches tonight), and he's expecting to have more success against the Marlins.
"It's a little thing, but it makes a big difference," Blanton said. "With this little adjustment, hopefully that will be the cure."
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Also within the notebook today, there's more on John Mayberry Jr. and J.C. Romero. It'll be interesting to see what happens next week when Romero finishes serving his 50-game suspension. The Phillies will have to make a roster move, and it would seem they have two choices: a) they can send Mayberry back to Lehigh Valley and use a short, four-man bench; b) they can send a pitcher (likely Jack Taschner) to Lehigh Valley and still keep 12 pitchers.
What would you do?
3 comments:
As far as 'Breaking Down Blanton' is concerned, it seems that after all the starts that have contributed to his 7.11 ERA he has the same response, "I feel good. I've watched tape and have detected a small mechanical flaw." Much like Lidge. These responses seem to act as a stall tactic to buy them extra time before the coaches lose faith.
However, I am interested in 'Breaking Down the Blanton Trade." He did contribute to the World Series run by not suffering a loss in a Phillies uniform, but what did it cost the team? Josh Outman has pitched well, at least relative to Blanton, and he was not even the centerpiece to that trade. Obviously hindsight is 20/20, but if you have a minute and would not mind shedding some light on the move, it would be great.
Anytime you trade prospects there's always the chance that they develop and become good players, but there two things to consider here: 1) Blanton helped win a World Series and 2)the state of the farm system is the best it's been since the late 70's. So the trade did not mortgage their future and they still won the WS so I'd say most people would not have a problem with it.
As far as the Romero "move", it has to be Tashner, mainly because he doesn't do what he needs to do and that's get lefties out.They're hitting .333(avg)/.851(ops) against him, plus he has options.
Anytime you trade prospects there's always the chance that they develop and become good players, but there two things to consider here: 1) Blanton helped win a World Series and 2)the state of the farm system is the best it's been since the late 70's. So the trade did not mortgage their future and they still won the WS so I'd say most people would not have a problem with it.
As far as the Romero "move", it has to be Tashner, mainly because he doesn't do what he needs to do and that's get lefties out.They're hitting .333(avg)/.851(ops) against him, plus he has options.
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