July 6 -- PITCHING FOR PEDRO?

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Less than 10 days ago, the Phillies looked like a last-place team in an ugly, Friday-night loss in Toronto. So, they called a 20-minute, closed-door meeting to discuss their issues. The following day, J.A. Happ tossed a complete-game shutout, and once again, everything was wonderful in the Phillies' universe. It was at that point that I decided to channel my inner-James Carville and come up with a slogan to explain what had just transpired.

"It's the pitching, stupid."

Now, here we are, fresh off the Phillies' three-game sweep of the Mets and talking about Jimmy Rollins' revival, Brad Lidge's flashback to 2008, and whether Raul Ibanez will be ready to play in a major-league game before the All-Star break. But, really, the reason for the Phillies' successful weekend was the same as it always is whenever they're playing well.

"It's the pitching, stupid."

From 33-year-old retread Rodrigo Lopez's surprising results Friday night, to Jamie Moyer's 6-1/3 quality innings Saturday, to Joe Blanton outdueling the great Johan Santana for 7-1/3 innings yesterday, the Phillies' weakest link was their tone-setting strength against the free-falling Mets. In the past four games, Happ, Lopez, Moyer and Blanton have combined to allow five runs on 22 hits in 27 innings for a 1.67 ERA. Tonight, it's Cole Hamels' job to keep that going against the Reds.

"That's exactly what we want to see," Charlie Manuel said.

Which brings us to this morning's rumblings that the Phillies are planning to scout out-of-work future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez in the Dominican Republic this week. For months, Ruben Amaro Jr. said the Phillies weren't interested in Pedro. But when your starting rotation has the worst ERA in the National League (5.09), and you fancy yourself a World Series contender, and there's little pitching available with the trade deadline only 3-1/2 weeks away, you do whatever it takes to upgrade your staff.

That said, let's put this into context:

The Phillies will be scouting A LOT of pitchers between now and July 31. A source with knowledge of the Phillies' front office told me over the weekend that the Phillies will have a scout at each of Erik Bedard's starts before the trade deadline to determine if the Mariners lefty is healthy enough to help a contender. If there's a deal to be made for Cleveland's Cliff Lee (right now, there isn't), Amaro & Co. will know about it. If Jason Marquis suddenly becomes available (right now, he isn't), someone with the Phillies will be dialing Denver. They'll get an up-close look at Aaron Harang tomorrow night, but as long as the Reds are hanging around in the wild-card race, they're not selling either.

And, as a source told me this morning, if Pedro Martinez is healthy and effective enough to pitch in the majors, the Phillies certainly won't rule him out.

But Amaro has said, over and over, that the Phillies want to acquire a pitcher who will be a clear upgrade over what they have. It's hard to imagine that Pedro, who went 5-6 with a 5.61 ERA last year with the Mets and hasn't pitched at all in 2009, would be an upgrade over Lopez. But I haven't seen him throw lately. Neither have the Phillies, which is why they'll watch him work out this week in the Dominican. And, for now, that's all this is, a mission to make certain they're doing their due diligence.

Something else to keep in mind: In April and May, Martinez reportedly wanted to be paid $5 million this season, a sum that was too rich for the Phillies. But now it's July, almost the All-Star break, and he remains unsigned. Perhaps his demands have come down. Perhaps they haven't. But when pitching is in such short supply, you want to keep your options as open as possible, and that's exactly what the Phillies are doing, no more, no less.

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Here's your preview for the four-game series against the Reds:

REDS (40-40) at PHILLIES (42-37)
Tonight, 7:05: RHP Johnny Cueto (8-4, 2.69) vs. LHP Cole Hamels (4-5, 4.98)
Tomorrow, 7:05: RHP Aaron Harang (5-8, 3.86) vs. LHP J.A. Happ (5-0, 2.96)
Wednesday, 7:05: RHP Homer Bailey (1-0, 5.94) vs. RHP Rodrigo Lopez (1-0, 2.84)
Thursday, 7:05: RHP Micah Owings (6-8, 4.48) vs. LHP Jamie Moyer (7-6, 5.72)
Hot: Reds 1B Joey Votto is batting .419 (18-for-43) with two homers and eight RBIs in his last 10 games; Reds CF Willy Taveras is batting .400 (14-for-35) in his last eight games; Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins is 7-for-15 with one homer, five RBIs and a .556 on-base percentage since breaking his career-worst 0-for-28 slump; Phillies CF Shane Victorino is batting .349 (53-for-152) in his last 38 games.
Not: Reds SS Paul Janish has two hits in his last 19 at-bats, dropping his average from .278 to .233; Reds RF Jay Bruce is batting only .217 despite leading the team with 18 homers; Phillies C Carlos Ruiz has seven hits in his last 60 at-bats (.117); Phillies 1B Ryan Howard, named to the All-Star team Sunday, has one hit in his last 11 at-bats.