What the Phils should do with their pitching

Thank goodness the Phillies brass thought with their head and not their heart on this one.

According to Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, JA Happ, who has been outstanding, will remain in the Phillies starting rotation upon the promotion of Pedro Martinez to the big league club.

Prior to the decision being made public, it was thought that the Phils might send Happ back to the pen and keep Jamie Moyer in the rotation. Even though Happ started the season in the pen, that would have been a big mistake.

Moyer leads the team with 10 wins this season, but only because of the run support he has received. His ERA is 5.55 and he really has not had a good year. Meanwhile, Happ is 8-2 with an ERA of 2.74.

In addition to the stretch run, it will benefit to have Happ remain a starter in the playoffs.

Now the Phillies have a great problem to deal with - too many pitchers.

Clearly, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, and Joe Blanton will remain in the rotation. Happ is in. So that leaves one spot for two pitchers - Moyer and Martinez.

The Phillies signed Martinez as a starter and all indications are that he will be in a starting role.

So does that mean Moyer is headed to the bullpen?

Not so fast. Charlie Manuel has made it clear that Moyer is not suited for the pen.

Amaro has said a 6 man rotation is a possibility. With four days off in August, that would mean pitchers would be pitching one a week. This would be a mistake.

The way I see it, the Phillies have three options:

1) Give Moyer a spot start here and there through August and let him serve as a long reliever otherwise. I know he has been a starter his whole career and it would be a tough transition, but they can't go with a full-time 6 man rotation. Moyer has not pitched well this year. Come September, when the Phillies only have a couple of days off, Moyer can still be used as a spot starter to give the other guys rest.

2) Send Pedro to the bullpen. I'm only in favor of this if he struggles for his first few starts.

3) Pull a Major League 2 and ask Moyer to retire and remain on as a coach. Moyer is done as a pitcher. He just does not have it anymore. I did not understand why they signed him to a 2-year extension in the offseason. However, Moyer is very valuable to the team. He is a great mentor to the younger pitchers and has a great deal of knowledge of the game and how to pitch.

My vote is for the first option. Let him start here and there and give him a little bit of work in games that are not close out of the bullpen. He can be used to give starters some rest but you don't want to have all of the starters throw once a week.

Think this is the tough decision? Wait until they need to leave both Moyer and Martinez off of their playoff roster.

Hope the Phillies brass is not affraid to hurt some feelings.

Very different summers for Phillies, Mets

It looked like we were in for another back-and-forth season between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets.

The defending champs, who overcame leads late in the last two seasons, held a 1/2 games lead over the Mets. The date was June 1 and the Phillies stood at 28-20 and the Mets were 28-21.

Things have been very different since.

The Mets went 21-31 from June 1 through July, while the Phillies went 31-22 during the same time period. Amazingly, in two months the Phillies increased their lead over the Mets to 10.5 games.

Both teams struggled in June - Mets went 10-18 and Phillies went 11-16.

The Phillies used a sizziling July to jump out to a bi lead in the division, while injuries and poor play have dropped the Mets into fourth place.

Not much of a race between the two rivals this season.