June 29 -- CARRASCO OR CARPENTER?

BY SCOTT LAUBER

TORONTO -- So, here we sit, at Gate 160 in the US Airways terminal at Pearson International Airport. Having cleared customs and made it through security, there's nothing left to do but watch the sun rise, await a boarding call, and well, since I'll be traveling for most of the morning, give y'all a new blog post to start your week. Here at Philled In, we're all about customer service.

Anyway, we could rehash yesterday's game, including Brad Lidge's white-knuckle save -- hey, at least it was a save, right? -- and Charlie Manuel's postgame announcement that Jimmy Rollins will start, and bat leadoff, tomorrow night in Atlanta. (For more on that, please click here.) Instead, we're going to look ahead, three days into the future, and talk about Thursday night, when the Phillies will need a starting pitcher for the series finale against the Braves at Turner Field.

Who will it be?

A few days ago, after Antonio Bastardo strained his left shoulder during a start at Tampa Bay, we ran down a few of the many possibilities at Class AAA Lehigh Valley. But Rodrigo Lopez threw 90 pitches last night, likely taking him out of consideration, and Gustavo Chacin is listed as tonight's starter against Norfolk. That leaves Kyle Kendrick, Drew Carpenter and touted right-hander Carlos Carrasco (right, AP photo). About the only things Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee will say on the matter are a) a decision hasn't been made yet and b) call-ups often come down to which pitcher is throwing the best.

Let's take a look, then, at the candidates' recent starts:

Kendrick: 2-3, 4.56 ERA, 53.1 IP, 54 H, 15 BB, 28 K in last 10 starts
Carpenter: 6-1, 1.50 ERA, 54 IP, 51 H, 11 BB, 38 K in last 8 starts
Carrasco: 4-2, 3.67 ERA, 44.2 IP, 37 H, 14 BB, 40 K in last 7 starts

In his last three starts, Carrasco has allowed six earned runs in 19-2/3 innings and has held opponents to two runs or fewer in five of his last seven starts. Thus, it's a safe bet that the Phillies will call on either Carpenter or Carrasco. They saw Carpenter last month, in a spot start in Washington, and he wasn't overly impressive (4.1 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 4 K). They haven't seen Carrasco since spring training, when he was impressive at times and raw at others.

So, while I travel today, pretend you're Manuel and Dubee, enjoying your off-day in Atlanta and likely discussing what to do about Thursday. Which starter would you pick?