Phillies ride Blanton's arm to victory over Buccos

Since Brett Myers went on the disabled list May 28, Joe Blanton has taken hold as the anchor of the starting staff. The Phillies leader in strikeouts (91), innings (103.1) and quality starts (10) mastered the Pirates for 7 1-3 innings, earning the win in a 3-2 victory at Citizens Bank Park. Blanton, who improved to 6-4 with a 4.44 ERA, allowed just four hits and a walk, while striking out six, over 7 1-3 innings. The big righty has allowed three or fewer runs in eight of his last nine starts, a run that started around the time Myers went down. Just another solid performance by Blanton tonight.

Comments

[jay]

blanton is solidifying his role in this rotation. he has been solid throughout this past few months.

[G-Town Dave]

Mets lose, 3-0. Now if only those freakin' Marlins would go ahead & drop a few ...

[NEPP]

I won't be comfortable till we're 10 games up with 9 to play.

[NEPP]

Last 9 GS for Blanton: 59 IP, 2.44 ERA, 4-1, 54 K, 16 BB, 1.153 WHIP.

[Bob]

Nice to see the big guy coming through as the innings eater he was billed as at the time of the trade. And I don't mean that in a nasty way at all. I just like it when some of the guys that weren't here since say, 05',06' cement themselves in as an integral part of the team by coming through in the clutch and/or picking up the slack. Keep up the good work, Joe.

[CJ]

Bah... Blanton will never be as good as Outman/Cardenas. We were robbed!!!

[G-Town Dave]

My Wife, on Amy Fadool:

"She looks like a confused rave girl who was gonna go out & then just ... stopped here. "Like, um, OK. I'll do sports first.""

[NEPP]

Blanton already has more postseason HRs than Outman will likely ever have.

Anybody else notice that Utley's BB rate has skyrocketed this year?

2009 - 14.7%
2008 - 9.5%
Career - 9.6%

Is that a newfound patience or the fact that Howard is much less feared behind him now?

[4DaysRest.com]

I think it's not even debatable at this point that Joe Blanton has been the backbone of this rotation for the majority of the year. He is racking up quality starts, and has been very good in the last month or so. By far the most consistent pitcher.

I expect to sweep this series without a whole lot of effort. Being 10 games over .500 at the ASB with at least a 4 game lead in the division would be fantastic.

[MPN]

Hey, what's going on here? I thought Joe was too fat, and lacked the stamina (again, too fat), to be a good pitcher for us?

[Iceman]

Reading this site a week ago, I would have thought this team was worthless. I'm shocked- SHOCKED- that they've turned it around. It's not like they have a track record of competency or anything.

[Jim]

Marlins down a touchdown. Hopefully Arizona can hold this lead...

[goody]

Farewell Chris Coste, and good luck in Houston, I'll be rooting for you.

This move makes it obvious that Halladay is pulling a Steve Carlton and bringing Barahas with him.

[fljerry]

you better check who the Phils have been playing these last few series
Mets stink, Cinci is not that good, and Pit is the same as Cinci. the big series start next week in florida (4 games)

[tg082]

fljerry, you're absolutely right. We'd be better off losing these games, because they're meaningnless.

[fljerry]

Noooo tg082 - I like to beat some teams that have better than 500 record - thes teams are all under -

[fljerry]

If you remember we lost 3 straight to Atlanta another under 500 team

[Jim]

fljerry - that's how you win divisions. You beat up the bad teams and you take your fair share against the good teams.

[fljerry]

Jim
I agree but so far this year we are not doing very well against teams over 500 - when I see them beating these type teams then I will say this is the team to beat

[fljerry]

Watching Florida against Arizona and Haren is one pitcher I would love to have

[bake]

2 out of 3 against the Yankees, FWIW.

[tg082]

Haren's a heck of a pitcher; I had no idea he was having the kind of season he was having until I read Jayson Stark's mid-season awards article today. It was a very funny read, as usual; most BLers probably won't be too surprised by his choice of NL LVP (Least Valuable Player).

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=4317512

[ST]

took two of three vs NYY and probably should have swept them. should have beaten BOS in that series if replay was used

[fljerry]

Hey ST if Phils did not give any runs up they probably would of won all games from Boston and Yankees - so don't give me if replay was used bit - yes at that time they were playing lot better but went on big losing streak remember

[ASod75]

fljerry,
Are you one of the eight Marlins fans in existence?

[ASod75]

On Stark's NL Cy Yuk: Should have gone to Oliver Perez, hands down, especially considering the ludicrous contract he received....

[Phadool]

I find "She looks like a confused rave girl who was gonna go out & then just ... stopped here. "Like, um, OK. I'll do sports first." hot. Especially if she can get tickets!

[denny b.]

Marson has now raised his average 99 points since June 4th.

Here is how his numbers compare at AAA, to uber-prospect Matt Wieters (who was called up a few weeks ago):

Wieters- 141 AB's, 25 runs, 9 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR, 30 RBI, 71 TB, 20 BB, 30 K, .387 OBP, .305 BA

Marson- 175 AB's, 26 runs, 10 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 21 RBI, 66 TB, 21 BB, 30 K, .378 OBP, .303 BA

[J.R. King]

Iceman: Beerleaguers were flipping out because the team had MAJOR HOLES like Lidge, Romero, Durbin, Hamels, Blanton, Moyer, a missing No. 2 starter, a weak bench, and Jimmy Rollins. The turnaround up and down the roster has been remarkable.

[Knight]

Marlins about to lose 8-0 to the Dbacks. Oh, nevermind, game over. CG Shutout by Haren.

Giants' Sanchez also has a no hitter through 7.

[out of my league]

Not that it makes a difference, but I have never doubted Blanton's ability. Ever.

And, in case you hadn't heard Outman is gone for 12-18 months, Tommy John surgery.

I'd say the Phillies got the better deal in that trade, at least so far.

[Mike]

Everybody's favorite non-All-Star Pablo Sandoval just cost Jonathan Sanchez a perfect game by booting a grounder.

[Knight]

Mike, the ball did take a funny hop and jump into his chest. Wasn't all his fault.

[Mike]

It was a tough play Knight, but it looked like he had time to recover and make the play. A no-no through 8 is still pretty damn good.

[tg082]

One gone in the ninth. I'm listening on the radio; Jon Miller made it sound like a tough first out.

[tg082]

And Rowand had to jump at the wall for the second out!

[Mike]

tg082: He got him with plenty of room to spare on the first out (grounder in the hole), but the second out was tough. Rowand made a spectacular catch on a deep fly ball to center.

[Knight]

The first out really wasn't that hard a play. And the 2nd out was a good play because of the jump, but the OF is playing so far back the only way you're going to get anything over someone's head is by hitting it out of the park.

[tg082]

Wow! That third strike looked a little iffy, but what the heck. Good for them.

[Knight]

Hah, the umpire really wanted to call the last out, 2 pitches about a foot outside called for strikes.

[tg082]

I really wish there weren't another major league player named Chase Hedley or whatever it is. It throws me every time someone says his name.

[Tray]

Regarding the Marson discussion last thread, I'd say that he can make it, but he'd be a very poor man's Kendall. Kendall hit .314 with a .402 OBP over his first five years in Pittsburgh.

[The_GodfatherSJP]

Just thought I'd pop in a bit for the Mets/Braves trade. It helps both teams but I think ATL gets the better end of the deal as Church is a better hitter than Francoeur overall, he just lacks the same pop.

ATL was trading for a better AVG hitter, NY was trading for more power. Right now all the pop from NY is from the right side, this makes things worse as Church was lefty. I'm not really impressed here. Francoeur isn't going to help them unless he gets hot, and he's not good enough a hitter to bat anywhere before 6th. He'll also kill anything the middle of the lineup gets going with how often he strikes out. All that for a guy who hits 20-25 HR? Not worth it.

Advantage Braves here, though again this isn't a big help. They've got Jones and McCann as the heart of their lineup, but not much else. Church isn't the solution here. They need another very good hitter to do anything. Shows you how much they miss Teixeira though. This would be a much, much more dangerous lineup with him in 4th.

[MG]

Nice to see a win but Lidge really struggled again tonight. One guy the Phillies don't have an answer for.

Blanton throw throw first pitch strike after first strike tonight. If Hamels can straighten out, the rotation should be at least adequate and that would go along way to helping this team win a NL East.

[bay_area_phan]

Post-DL Lidge is still struggling, but he does look a lot better than pre-DL Lidge. Before he went on the shelf, Lidge was toppping out in the low 90s and he was all over the place with his pitches, falling behind almost every batter. Now he's hitting 94 and 95, and generally getting ahead of hitters. He's just throwing 1 or 2 bad pitches per inning, and he has been paying for them.

The bullpen was the primary culprit for the Phillies' recent meltdown, and they seem to have gotten their act back together. Madson, Romero, and Durbin have all looked a lot better during the recent winning stretch, and Park continues to look good. Of course, it also helps that the starters have been pitching deeper into games, because it means we have seen very little of guys like Walker & Eyre, who aren't terribly reliable.

[J.R. King]

Scott Eyre hasn't given up an earned run since April 27. In his last 14 appearances (dating back to early May), he's only allowed inherited runners to score in one appearance. Are you expecting more from the second lefty, b_a_p?

As for Tyler Walker, is it time to replace him with Cedric Bowers from AAA? According to phuturephillies.com, Bowers "has a 12.1 inning scoreless streak and has allowed just 1 ER in his last 18 games."

[bay_area_phan]

J.R.: Eyre is perfectly fine as a LOOGY. And the reason he has done so well is that they've been able to mostly limit him to precisely this role -- usually using him to pitch to no more than a batter or two. Over the long haul, though, you wouldn't want him pitching to a lot of right-handed hitters because he really doesn't have the pitches to get them out.

[J. Weitzel]

King: I'd don't have a clue what type of stuff Bowers throws, but the fact that he's basically been a career Triple-A reliever tells me he's a dime-a-dozen lefty whose stuff can trick minor leaguers but wouldn't fly in the bigs.

[EastFallowfield]

Francouer is a power hitter, yet he has only one more HR this season than Werth has this week.

[EastFallowfield]

Yo, new thread