I wasn't around the Phillies last week in Arizona and San Francisco. It's one of the three trips all season I don't make.

So when I walked into Citizens Bank Park, I heard the whispers that began on the west coast - the whispers that were printed in several newspapers, that, in all likelihood, J.A. Happ would be sent to the bullpen to make way for Pedro Martinez.

The starting rotation would be Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton, Jamie Moyer and Pedro Martinez. Really.

Really?

The logic escaped me. It continued to do so Wednesday night, when J.A. Happ spelled out every reason he shouldn't be sent anywhere but back to the mound every five days.

He pitches innings (nine on Wednesday) and he pitches them well (all of the shutout variety against the Rockies, who oh by the way, are the third most productive offense in the NL).

Pedro Martinez and Jamie Moyer are at the point of their respective careers where getting six innings out of either one of them is a luxury. Happ is younger and more able to pitch innings (and more effective innings), thus, saving an already over-used bullpen.

So, please.... can someone explain this to me like I'm a six-year-old?

Moyer and Martinez have a combined 470 career wins. Happ helps you win now.

UPDATE: In my get-up-the-blog-and-get-out-of-the-ballpark rambling, I forgot to include at least one stat regarding Happ. Since he entered the bullpen Memorial Day weekend at Yankee Stadium, he is 6-2 with a 2.80 ERA and two shutouts in 14 starts.

He has allowed two runs or less in seven of his last nine starts.


Read more about Happ's brilliant night - and what he and Charlie Manuel had to say - in tomorrow's Delco Times.



(That's at delcotimes.com or at your local newstand - if you're down the shore, the Paper Peddler in Avalon stocks our paper)