Blanton gave up four runs, three earned, in six innings in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers. He was behind when he left, but the Phillies won that game on Jimmy Rollins' double in the bottom of the ninth against Jonathan Broxton. Blanton has a 4.66 ERA in three games this postseason. In his career, he is 2-0 with a 3.45 ERA in the playoffs.
"I think Blanton fits for us," Manuel said, "because I think we want to keep [J.A.] Happ right now in the bullpen, especially kind of in the middle where he could do some innings, and also Joe pitched last year in the World Series, and he's got a little bit more experience."
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.
While the Philadelphia Phillies are yet to clinch the NL East title, a seven-game lead over Atlanta with ten left to play should be good enough to get the defending champs back into the playoffs. Barring some kind of epic Brad Lidge explosion in which he figures out how to blow eight games at once, anyway.
Speaking of Lidge, his inability to close out games for the Phillies this season has manager Charlie Manuel mulling over his options in the bullpen for the postseason. Since the format of the playoffs allows teams to use a three or four-man starting rotation that means it's likely one of Philly's starters will be going to the bullpen, and it's looking like that person could be the young lefty J.A. Happ.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Before the season started, I was rough on Derrek Lee. I named him the biggest bust on the Cubs for this coming season and included him on the list of "five guys to lose" your fantasy league. I even predicted Mike Fontenot would hit more home runs than Mr. Lee. Obviously, it sounds outlandish now, in hindsight, as Lee clubbed his 35th home run Tuesday night. In the process, he established a new career high in RBI with 109. His OPS is the second-highest it's ever been -- trailing only his insane 2005 season when he did an Albert Pujols impersonation.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Don't blame yourself if you didn't see a big line coming from Trevor Cahill. Coming off a three-inning, three-run game in Chicago, Cahill had to travel to Texas to take on a pretty good offense. On Wednesday, this offense was without Michael Young and Josh Hamilton, but that still left the hot Julio Borbon (.323 BA coming into the game) and Elvis Andrus (coming off a 16-game hitting streak), starsIan Kinsler and Nelson Cruz, and other players that have been hot over the course of September.
Ahhh, the National League -- where pitchers can play out their golden years without a care in the world.
Think of the NL as baseball's rest home.
Just in the past few weeks, Brad Penny and John Smoltz have reached the legendary fountain of youth that Ponce de Sabathia discovered last year in the wilds of Wisconsin.
"In reality, it's a little tougher to pitch in the American League than it is the National League," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who formerly managed in Seattle and Tampa Bay.
There is a pretty even distribution of talent this week as 43 pitchers will be two-start pitchers for the week.
Of the 11 "Must Start" options I really like Yovani Gallardo who gets the enviable task of facing the Nationals and the Pirates. Roy Halladay has it the worst of the bunch as not only does he have to face the Rays and the Red Sox, but he has to face two starting pitchers with sub-four ERA's.
The other 17 pitchers are "Risky Business". You should only be considering these guys if you're in super-deep leagues or just massively desperate for strikeouts. None of these are viable options.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
It must be nice being a Phillies pitcher.
The Philly sluggers put 12 runs on the board in yesterday's game against the Diamond- backs, giving them a total of 25 runs scored in the three-game sweep. Joe Blanton went eight innings and allowed three runs, which is going to be enough to earn a W on most nights when you're on the same team as these hitters. The team has now won eight of their last nine games and look to be the favorites to repeat as NL champions.
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the Stream Team, where we tab pitchers that are likely to help you in your quest for fantasy gold.
Update: FanHouse's Ed Price has word that Lee will in fact be starting tomorrow for the Phillies. Richmond will be our spot-start play. I usually exercise caution when dealing with a prospect's first big-league start, but I threw caution to the wind to take Chris Tillman last night, who predictably didn't make it out of the fifth inning. He should be much better next time around. Lesson learned: don't start a guy in his first game. Today we have Jorge de la Rosa pitching the back end of a doubleheader; I'm just glad he didn't have to face Johan Santana.
PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies manager Charlie Manuel Friday said he's decided to start Joe Blanton in Game 4, rather than J.A. Happ or Cliff Lee, who would have had to pitch on three days' rest.
It had been one of the greatest mysteries of the baseball postseason thus far in 2009. Who would start Game 3 for the 
PHILADELPHIA -- And the 
While the Philadelphia Phillies are yet to clinch the NL East title, a seven-game lead over Atlanta with ten left to play should be good enough to get the defending champs back into the playoffs. Barring some kind of epic Brad Lidge explosion in which he figures out how to blow eight games at once, anyway.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Every Sunday, 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the 
