Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Charlie makes his pitch

Charlie Manuel has made one decision. He may face another one tonight.

Manuel apparently has seen all he needs of Chan Ho Park in his starting rotation. After Sunday’s outing in which a clearly rattled Park failed to get out of the second inning, coughing up a 3-0 lead the Phils handed him in the top of the first, Manuel made his move.

Yesterday Charlie gave Park the heave-ho to the bullpen. He’s putting J.A. Happ into the starting rotation. He will head to the hill on Saturday when the Phils go to New York to face the Yankees.

Tonight all eyes will be on the aging wonder Jamie Moyer when he goes to the mound against the Reds.

Moyer has been horrific in his last two starts. He says he’s simply not getting his pitches in the right locations. A third straight bad outing might mean Manuel will have to tweak his starting rotation again.

Then the Phils will have to face the problem of exactly what they want to do with Moyer, who won 16 games last year, and in the process won himself a new, two-year, $13 million deal. Moyer is one of the most popular Phillies, but that’s not helping him get people out.

In the meantime, the Phils simply continue to roll. One constant in their rotation now seems to be Cole Hamels. He again looked every bit the ace of the staff in throwing six strong innings against the Reds, striking out seven and throwing 117 pitches.

The Phils bullpen sealed the deal as they won their fifth straight, 5-3.

Manuel will be looking for five decent innings out of Moyer tonight. If he doesn’t get it, if it’s another early shower for the Souderton product, Manuel may have to tinker with his rotation one more time.

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