Forearm soreness could force Happ from next start

CSNPhilly's Jim Salisbury reports that the Phillies are facing another setback in their rotation, a tender left forearm that could keep J.A. Happ from taking his next scheduled turn on Wednesday. [Link]

If not for this developing situation, the Phillies, still nursing Joe Blanton back to health, might have considered skipping Kyle Kendrick's start on Tuesday and moving Happ's slot up a day, which would keep him on regular rest thanks to Monday's day off. But that option would appear to be out the door, and the Phils are hoping that's the only setback they'll suffer. The extent of Happ's injury is still uncertain, with Charlie Manuel only disclosing that his forearm is "a little stiff" and that more will be known in the coming days. Early season arm stiffness is fairly common, but could also signal deeper elbow issues, as was the case with J.C. Romero.

Aside from Roy Halladay, the rotation has been nothing to write home about, including Happ, whose spotless ERA doesn't tell a true story of his performance. Conversely, Jamie Moyer (7.50) has actually pitched better than his lines suggest, victimized by one bad inning once again and little bad luck. Moyer surrendered five runs in the first inning, ending up on the wrong side of a pair of seeing-eye hits and Ronny Paulino dropping a good swing on an inside fastball. But after that, Moyer settled in very nicely, allowing two hits and striking out seven over five scoreless innings. He would have pitched the seventh had the Phillies not been desperate for runs. Still, by gutting it out, he helped preserve an already taxed bullpen; Nelson Figueroa and Chad Durbin finished up with three strong frames. Offensively, the Phils had no answer for underrated right-hander Ricky Nolasco, who went the distance in a 5-1 gem.

We're back later today with a rubber match preview and thoughts on a big April game for Cole Hamels.

Comments

[A-Train]

That's a bummer about Happ. Maybe the elbow explains his less-than-stellar performance so far this season. If he's got a problem, they should sit him and get him right so we don't lose him for a long period of time.

In the meantime, assuming KK starts on Tuesday, Halliday can start on Wednesday with his full 4 days rest. Jamie and Cole can finish the starts vs. the Bravos.

The April schedule could help the staff through this.

[Andy]

Jason's previous post: "...a Rollins-less offense that has shown no signs of slowing..."

Thanks for the BL jinx there, big guy.

In re: Moyer
As much as I jumped on him in the first half of last season, I must say that he has been a very good pitcher this year apart from the innings you note. Last night was more about the Phils not being able to destroy Nolasco the way they've done in everyone else so far.

[curt]

Jerry Manuel's latest gift to the NL East: "After last night’s 2-1, 20 inning victory over the Cardinals, Francisco Rodriguez told reporters between the ninth and the 19th inning, he estimated he threw 100 warm-up pitches..."

[curt]

Shocking to learn that the Fish have beat the Geezer 4 out of the last 5 times. It's like the Washington Generals suddenly owning the Harlem Globetrotters.

[muchacho peligro]

...or like Navy suddenly owning Notre Dame.

oh, wait...

[PHinBK]

injuries, rotation problems, bullpen being taxed. hmm, reminds me of 2008.....WOOHOO!

[Scott]

While many, including myself, were outraged by LaRussa giving last night's game away, he probably did the Phillies and their fans a favor. Jerry Manuel needed the win (for job security) more than the Cardinals did. The longer he remains the Mets skipper, the more he can run them into the ground and take them out of contention before the All-Star break.

[Iceman]

Headed up for the game today with a friend. He and I are split on whether or not it's okay to boo Hamels if he's ineffective yet again. My take: no, you'd be booing the WFC MVP, plus the guy is already pressing and doesn't need any more reasons to stress out when he's on the mound. His take: Boo him, especially if he doesn't look like he wants to be out there, which is the case a lot of times. Especially boo if he comes undone after a HR.

Any thoughts on what's appropriate here?

[loctastic]

Booing Hamels isn't appropriate until May.

[NEPP]

You dont boo...thats crap.

[MG]

Murphy was on this earlier in the week and had gotten an indifferent response from Happ after his last outing when he asked him about how he was feeling & if he was hurt.

Kind of thought something was off with Happ because he simply has better command than he has displayed this season. He just couldn't throw a strike when he needed to in either start.

Hopefully it is nothing but as Murphy noted that Happ's velocity & control have been notably off since spring training too. My bet is that Happ is likely headed to the 15-day DL soon. Just hope that it isn't serious because the Phils don't have a solution right now to replace him if he misses 1-2 months.

[phlipper]

Since when is it EVER inappropriate for a Philadelphia fan to boo?

[Jimmie J.]

calling Pedro?...is this Pedro?...hello? Hello?

[NEPP]

Our rotation is Halladay and crap if Happ goes down too.

[clout]

NEPP: I was about to say that the Phils can simply recall one of their LV vets to take a start or 2, but then I looked at their stats. Here are the BB/K numbers for the LV rotation.

Bump 3/3
Mazone 3/4
Carpenter 6/3
Vogelsong 9/8
Savery 2/3

For those of you scoring at home, that's 21 walks and 21 Ks in 46 IP. There are 2 words to describe this: UGG and LEE.

[Scott]

You don't boo Hamels. By all accounts, he did everything he said he was going to do in the off-season to improve. He didn't spend most of his time signing autographs, filming TV shows/commercials, being "Hollywood," etc. He stayed in shape and worked on developing new/improved pitches. If the opposite were true, then boo him unmercifully. Save the boos for Freddy Garcia not running out a ground ball. Save them for teams from New York. Save them for Tommy Lasorda. Don't waste them on one of our guys who has made an honest effort to improve. If the effort is there, but the results aren't, you just have to work through it, just like Cole does.

[Jack]

Inspired by last night's game, what Phillies position player do you think Charlie would turn to on the mound if need be?

Victorino could probably throw some heat. Were any of our position players well-regarded pitchers in high school? I know Anthony Gose was considered actually a better pitcher than outfielder in high school, but obviously he's not on the big-league squad.

[bay_area_phan]

I'll miss the game today, so I won't be able to contribute my in-game pessimistic commentary. I did have a dream last night, however, that Cole Hamels pitched 1 scoreless inning & then tore his achilles heel on the first pitch of the 2nd inning. I really did dream that.

[st]

if it's the same thing as romero, then rest won't help. he'll need surgery. that's what romero had. just conjecture of course

[NEPP]

UC would try to win the game with his pitchers...he wouldn't have pulled that crap.

[NEPP]

I could see Werth as a pitcher though.

[NEPP]

What's the word for a situation where you trade away pitching depth for prospects and then you desperately need pitchers a couple months later?

I know there's a word for it...what the hell is it?

Maybe I should email Rube and ask him.

[NEPP]

I will also be out for the game.

Hopefully Cole gives them a gem

[Scott]

NEPP: There's a Canadian musician who would probably compare it to rain on your wedding day...

[mikes77phillies]

If Happ is down, the Phillies should give Contreras a start. He can not be any worse than Kendrick or Moyer.

[GBrettfan]

I agree, no booing of Cole. Well said, Scott.

And I, too, thought of Werth as a potential pitcher in a 20-inning game.

Here's hoping for the best with regards to Happ. And cursing Francoeur for jinxing us w/regards to injuries. If I believed in jinxes, that is. :)

[NEPP]

Contreras isn't stretched out...he's been a 1 inning a outing guy. Besides, that weakens a potentially already shaky bullpen.

[NEPP]

If its short-term...they probably bring up Carpenter (scary thought) with Figgy sliding into the rotation. If its longer term, they need to sign someone like Pedro.

Either way, its a really weak rotation. I'm under no illusion, despite what some think, that Figgy is a legit starting option. Having a rotation with KK, Moyer AND Figgy is a scary scary thought.

Hopefully Blanton is back soon to alleviate at least a bit of this issues and give us a legit Top 3. We can mix and match at that point and avoid the 5th starter whenever possible by keeping Roy and Cole on strict every 5th day schedules.

[kart racer]

Halladay and Happ and crap?

[kart racer]

Happ and Halladay and hope for a holiday?

[NEPP]

I was thinking...Cy Young averaged 390 IP for a solid 10 year period...perhaps Roy could make 50 starts this year.

Halladay
Hamels
Halladay
Blanton
Moyer

[Philly phan Doc]

this is scary if this is a issue.

[NEPP]

Yes, yes it is.

Hopefully, its just minor early season stiffness. Hopefully, he slept on it wrong or something stupid like that.

Hopefully Blanton is back and healthy and the loss is mitigated. Hopefully, this spurs Rube to make moves NOW to fix the rotation issues instead of having to try and do it in July/Aug when everyone needs pitching.

[G-Town Dave]

I do have to give Moyer credit for hanging in & saving the bullpen from total destruction. In retrospect Jamie could/should probably have gone one more inning -- Nolasco has been fairly dominant in his starts at CBP, so the chances of the Phils coming back from being down 5-0 were slim at best -- although even I don't really fault Charlie for pulling Moyer when he did. However, it's hard to be very high on a guy who gives up 5 runs a start, be in all at once or spread out. That's simply not acceptable, & Rube's decision to give him a 2-year deal looks worse w/ each passing start.

Speaking of rotation issues, it's always nice to see Heidi getting another daytime start, as that usually works out well for everyone involved.

[NEPP]

That changes today. Hamels needs to come up big and I think he very well might do just that.

[denny b.]

Happ reported no soreness today after throwing in the OF. So maybe he misses a few days (for precaution) and starts in the Arizona series.

Does anybody have a list of the Phils hitters "walk up" music for 2010?

[MG]

From Phils' insider:

"The Phillies' public stance is that Lidge will be back and he will be good again. But you know they're not positive when pitching coach Rich Dubee won't even entertain the subject.

"I'm not answering that," Dubee snarled when asked about Lidge's velocity. "I'm expecting him to come back. We'll wait and see. If you want to speculate, go ahead, but I ain't speculating."

Dubee has consistently refused to address any questions about Lidge besides generic talking points. Ditto on Cholly.

[NEPP]

Good thing we didn't overreact and freak out.

[G-Town Dave]

NEPP: I certainly hope you're right.

[bay_area_phan]

G-Town: Totally agree about the daytime start. Cole could have started last night on normal rest. So why didn't he? Better to save him for today's day game?

Cholly seems to regard Cole's day/night splits as a fluke, because I don't recall his ever taking any proactive steps to line Cole up for night games. But those day game stats are based on 38 career starts & 214 IP. And it's not just the career numbers; it's that the same trend has emerged in literally every season of Hamels' career. These splits ain't a fluke &, if Cholly can avoid pitching Hamels in a day game, he ought to.

[NEPP]

Its to prep him for all those day playoff games he might be pitching in.

[GBrettfan]

So on the one hand, the Phils are doing what they're supposed to do by beating up on weaker teams with mediocre to sub-par pitching. On the other hand, when facing a pitcher on his game, like Oswalt and Nolasco have been, our vaunted offense isn't able to do much/any more than anyone else's. So far. That moment when Ryan came up with bases loaded and hit a weak grounder was anticlimactic, to say the least.

I'm happy Werth prevented a shut-out last night. And that it only took 9 innings! - That 20-inning affair had to be brutal for the players and the pitching staff in particular. And that Jamie did hold off the Fish after the 1st, if only to save the BP. Tip of the cap to Nolasco.

Let's go today, Phillies!

[NEPP]

Following that Mets/Cards game on BL with everyone was the highlight of the season so far.

Fantastic night of baseball...and that other game too...the less impressive no-hitter.

[BobbyD]

Booing the World Series MVP is never appropriate. It's embarassing actually. The only reason you boo any hometown athlete is if he is blatantly not trying or blatantly hates the fans. There isn't anyone on this team that fits those descriptions.

[joseph]

Lidge will be back and be good.

[NEPP]

The only appropriate WS winner to boo from the 08 team is Adam Eaton. And that's not because he was terrible on the field. Its because of his actions off the field including refusing to go to Florida to stay sharp in case of injury, ripping the team repeatedly and being an complete douche.

I wouldn't even boo Bruntlett.

Anyone that would boo Hamels needs to check themself and honestly, go fvck themself as the guy carried us to our first WS victory in 28 years. As BobbyD says, there is no one on the current team that deserves booing.

[kart racer]

These pitches Hamels been getting the strikeout on the last couple innings, is it fastballs or cutters? They look like they have more movement than Hamels usual straight fastball.

[Daily Lurker]

Just want to add my support to the notion that nobody on this team deserves to be booed.