Enough is enough with the starting pitching
by Scott Butler 5/15/09
I have a feeling we might hear about a Charlie Manuel explosion in the next few days if the Phils can't get a pitcher other than Hamels get past the sixth inning. This is getting to be ridiculous. Joe Blanton knew before he took the mound tonight that we needed a deep outing from him. With a double header scheduled the next day and Happ unavailable in the bullpen (although we found out later that Happ was available), we still couldn't get any innings from our starting pitchers.
We are past the point of cutting the pitchers some slack. A month and a half into the season, they need to quit messing around and do their jobs. We have the worst pitching staff in the National League. That is a fact. Brett Myers has been below average. Jamie Moyer has been terrible. Chan Ho Park has been awful. Joe Blanton has been atrocious.
It is one thing to give up some runs and have a high ERA, but you have to pitch deep into a game every now and then. You may not want to see this, but let's take a look at the numbers. The Phils starters excluding Hamels have a combined 7-9 record with an ERA of 6.98. In 26 starts they have given up 34 Home runs. 34 Home runs! Not only that, but they average going 4.46 innings per start.
If the pitching continues on the same track, we have NO SHOT at winning the division. It is that simple. I know I am going on a rant, but this is simply unacceptable. I hope that my previous article about the starting pitching is accurate and the pitching will correct itself, but I'm beginning to wonder...
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