FanHouse JA Happ

It had been one of the greatest mysteries of the baseball postseason thus far in 2009. Who would start Game 3 for the Philadelphia Phillies in their NLDS matchup with the Colorado Rockies? It was an answer that became somewhat clearer, yet more confusing at the same time, on Thursday afternoon when the Phillies brought both Joe Blanton and J.A. Happ in to relieve Cole Hamels.

Happ threw only four pitches before having to be removed from the game after taking a line drive off his leg, and Blanton gave the Phillies an inning of work. All of which made you think that Charlie Manuel was leaning toward veteran righty Pedro Martinez. Friday it became a fact when MLB.com's Todd Zolecki announced it on his Twitter page.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Phillies are going to have a tough decision on their hands. J.A. Happ and Pedro Martinez, headed for a course to occupy the same spot in the Philadelphia rotation, both made strong statements on Wednesday night.

Happ pitched a four-hit shutout against the Rockies, while Martinez struck out 11 in six innings for the Phillies' Double-A team. The Phillies signed Martinez a few weeks ago and have had him working his way into big-league shape in the minors. Since the Phillies got Martinez, they also acquired Cliff Lee, leaving six pitchers -- including Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton and Jamie Moyer -- fighting for five spots.

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel wasn't ready to address a problem that's not a problem until Martinez is deemed ready for the bigs.

"Let me answer that later on," Manuel said. "I don't feel like getting into that."

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While the Phillies are "earnest" in their pursuit of Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay, according to a major-league source, the sticking point between the teams might be the inclusion of left-hander J.A. Happ and right-hander Kyle Drabek.

A second source said, "I'd be shocked" if Philadelphia would "reverse course" and include both Happ and Drabek for Halladay. But a third source stated Toronto has "got to" have both.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

We've seen our fair share of no-hitters and perfect games get busted up in late this season, maybe even more then our fair share. In fact, if Jonathan Sanchez hadn't finally made it all the way through nine innings back in early July, I'd think there was some sort of conspiracy against the no-hit bid in 2009.

Sunday, Brett Anderson took a perfect game into the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Angels. But, just like most of the attempts for perfection this season, the Angels found a way to play spoiler. This time it was Bobby Abreu in the seventh inning.

Abreu also was responsible for breaking up Anderson's perfect game, grounding a clean single through the left side with two outs in the seventh. Anderson promptly picked him off.