After a very effective outing yesterday by Chan Ho Park (4 IP, 1 ER), JA Happ followed that up today with 3 shutout innings, allowing 2 hits and striking out 7. Kendrick and Carrasco are going to have some catching up to do, although I believe absent a phenominal spring by Carrasco, the Phils have always intended him to start this season in AAA.
John Mayberry, Jr. hit another homer today, bouncing back well from a game yesterday where he left 4 men on base.
Phuture Phillies 
I just got back from the game, and Happ was pretty dominating – throwing hard, throwing strikes and looking very confident.
As for the other prospects, Mayberry’s homer was a bomb to left field. I’m thinking that he is increasing his chances of making the club. You figure that Dobbs, Bruntlett and Jenkins are locks. Paulino is the backup catcher. The fifth spot looks like it should be Mayberry’s unless Coste or Stairs get it.
Donald also had another hit today, and started the fifth inning rally, scoring on a grounder by Marson (who was hitless). Donald played second and handed a couple of chances. He’s looked pretty solid at both second and short in the two games I’ve gone to. Has anyone heard medical reports on Feliz and Utley? I hope that if one or both of them aren’t ready for Opening Day, that the Phils will keep Donald rather than Cairo or Giles.
– Jeff
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that is the thing Marson was o/3 with a run scored and a rbi
if you can contribute when u are hitless you are a player
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It was a questionable scoring decision on Marson’s grounder. It could have just as easily been ruled a hit.
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How about the 2 SBs off Moyer and Marson? Moyer is usually pretty good at keeping runners close and Santiago isn’t a monster basestealer. Just looking for how Marson looked defensively.
7 Ks for Happ. Happ’s my 5th starter at this point.
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Stolen bases are hard to measure in sprint training. Especially since Ruiz cant throw many runners out (but he is a giant next to Baker and MCCann).
I think how they see Paulino is more important to Marson staying or not.
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If you watched Japan v. Korea in the WBC you had to feel for Chan Ho Park missing it. His commitment to the Phillies matters, it wasn’t a casual decision. Chooch had to get a call from the president of Panama to change his mind and go. I’m glad he did. Too bad Park didn’t get a call of his own.
Meanwhile, it’s tough to see putting off Happ any longer. Striking out 7 in 3 innings puts him squarely in the lead.
Should Park lose the starting job to Happ it is important to do some damage control. The Phillies need Park to play a big role this season and at some point it will be as a starter.
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The 5th starter spot is Park’s to lose regardless of how Happ does. The main reason is that teams prefer to not have 3 LH’ed starters in their rotation.
Most likely Happ takes Romero’s spot in the pen for the first 50 games and then they make a decision depending on what happens with performance, injuries, etc.
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Let’s see how Chooch’s neck is doing before we say we’re happy he played for Panama.
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Santiago’s steal of third was all on Moyer – he had a running start off of second.
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While Moyer is generally decent at holding runners, if they get a jump on him it’s almost impossible to throw them out. Moyer has a leg kick, and he only throws 80 mph. That’s why he needs to read the runners in order to keep them close.
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3up who says a team a team would rather have 3 righties than lefties.personally i would rather have a.eaton than carlton. happ is your 5th starter, since romeros 50 game suspension will only begin to matter about 30 games into the season.
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John,
Its tough to take you question seriously when you proceed to make a snide comment comparing Eaton/Carlton. Obviously a good pitcher is better than a bad pitcher, regardless of which hand he throws with.
As for the reason teams preferring to not have 3 left-handed starters, that is rather simple. The majority of hitters in baseball are right-handed and most hitters hit better against pitchers of the opposite hand.
The latest #’s I could find were from 2007. Against left-handed pitching, righties hit .281, lefties just .251. So with 2 pitchers being equal, a RH pitcher will match-up better against most line-ups.
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Carrasco is out of the race. Needs more experience.
Kendrick has to pitch lights out 4 or 5 times and show a consistent changeup and slider to get considered. Unlikely.
So it’s Park or Happ.
I hope it’s Happ. Roles are everything to pitchers these days. Happ is locked in as a starter and strikeout artist. Park did very well as reliever last year. It should stay that way.
I could be wrong, 3up, but that’s the way I am thnking of it now.
Sure, Park could win the job and throw a lot of quality starts and Happ could come in and get LH hitters out in the 7th/8th inning. But I think it’s just as likely Park falters a lot in innings 4-6 and Happ does not accilmate to the pen.
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I don’t have a problem with Happ winning the job if he shows that he deserves it over everyone else. Just pointing out that if its close, I expect Park to get the nod.
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Unless they sign a lefthander, I fully expect Happ to be in the bullpen. Meanwhile, Park desparately wants to start, and although stamina could be an issue, Park’s ERA as a starter last year was 2.16; as a reliever 3.84. As a starter, Park allowed fewer hits than inning pitched (22 hits in 25 innings) and struck out more than one batter per inning (30 in 25 innings). As a reliever, he allowed more hits than innings pitched, 75 hits in 70 innings while striking out only 49 in 70 innings. I think that Happ would be a good starter and may get the chance when Romero comes back if one of the other starters come up short.
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I’m beginning to see the light, 3up.
Besides being RH Park has several things in his favor, including experience and allowing the Phillies to tap into an important revenue stream from Korean fans. Chan Ho Park jerseys would probably outsell Happ jerseys 10 to 1, maybe more, if he wins the 5th starter job.
The competition is real but I agree it’s Park’s job to lose. I would never suggest jersey sales should be decisive but I am a realist, too. Revenue matters.
Hopefully both of them pitch so well in ST it makes the decision a tough one. Most likely both will be given important starts this season anyway.
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Assuming he continues to pitch well, the Phils need to go with Happ. Although I agree that both will get starts, Park can swing either way and, let’s face it, his upside is limited. Meanwhile, Happ may have a chance to develop into a very solid middle-of-the-rotation pitcher. They need to lay the groundwork for that evolution now. If it doesn’t work, Park can take over. To me, it’s kind of a no brainer, but that doesn’t mean it will happen.
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I hear you, H man. I am probably higher on Happ than most. But I’m high on Park, too, and hopefully both guys can just concentrate on the things they can control and not worry about the rest.
I can’t remember feeling this good about a 5th starter race in a long, long time. In years gone by we’d be talking about Park as a #3, Happ as a #4 and Carrasco or Kendrick as the #5. And just look the 5th starter candidates the Mets are throwing at the wall to see what sticks. Even Freddy Garcia is still in the mix with his 85 MPH fastball.
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There is a good chance, IMO, that we see Happ and Park both in the rotation this year at the same time.
Anyone expect us to remain injury free? Happ/Park might be the best fill-in if the top three is hit. When Romero comes back we can afford to do that.
We also have some pen depth, with Koplove, Majewski, Escobar and Bastardo.
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3up your stats are great but go farther and see who you want pitching against specific teams. i.e. the teams you play the most your division. mets you want a lefty braves you want a lefty these teams you want to turn around to the right side. what did hamels and moyer do against the marlins last year. nothing is black and white but happ is NOT a reliever. madson was screwed up for 2 years myers for a year because of trying to force a pitcher into a roll that is not his stengh. you never waste a true starter for the pen when you already have a great pen. and as i said romero will not be needed until may. you dont move happ into the pen than back into the rotation for 20 games.
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Against the Mets, I would prefer a RH’er. Bother Reyes/Beltran put up better #’s as RH hitters, Wright is RH, and Castro is a better hitter than Schneider. Murphy/Tatis/Evans will platoon r/l and Castillo splits are almost identical. that leaves Delgado/Church as the LH threats in their line-up.
For the Braves, they are better from the left-side with Johnson and McCann. Chipper has more power left-handed but is about a wash average wise. Escobar/Francour/Diaz are their main righties.
Florida is almost exclusively right-handed with Baker and Hermidia being their only lefties. Moyer eats their lunch because they are free swinging and Hamels is just good!!!
Washington is also predominately RH’ed although the addition of Adam Dunn makes their line-up closer to even.
So for division opponents, A right-handed pitcher would be preferable against all but the Braves.
As to the whole starter/reliever thing, Papelbon seemed to make the move ok as did Smoltz several times. Maybe Happ can transition, maybe not but it appears that several quality organizations don’t share you opinion about wasting a starter in the pen…
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Kendrick got slapped around again. Park was very good yesterday. Happ’s done nothing to hurt his chances.
I read Hamels is having elbow stiffness between innings. He’s seeing the club doctor in Philly. I always hate that statement. It’s very good to have depth though.
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