Monday, September 14, 2009

Forget Who's On First! Who's In The Rotation?

Normally at this juncture of the season starting rotations and bullpens are set barring injury. Roles have been defined and routines have been established.

Not in Philadelphia.

Kyle Kendrick thew something of a monkey wrench into an already unsettled situation and Pedro Martinez continued to mess with the order of things as the Phils swept the Mets in a day-night doubleheader yesterday.

Kendrick pitched very well in the day game; Martinez pitched even better under the lights. Oh, and Brad Lidge pitched poorly again while Brett Myers flashed some of the form that had him leading the majors in home runs allowed. Meanwhile, newly crowned closer Ryan Madson got crowned but good in blowing a save Saturday afternoon.

Kendrick joined six other pretenders for the starting rotation (Lee, Hamels, Blanton, Martinez, Moyer) by mixing his pitches just like the Phillies hoped he'd learn to do when they sent him down to AAA for the year. All thatPedro did was win his fifth straight game without a loss.

At this point in September teams in playoff contention are beginning to think about setting up their rotations in anticipation of the initial round. Around these parts the question looming largest is who is going to be in that rotation in the first place?

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