Closer Question Still Looms For Philllies

by BigGreek24

Friday October 2, 2009 

Closer Question Still Looms For Philllies thumbnail

I have to say that probably more posts than any other on this site have been about the Phillies closer situation.  I know I’ve written about it as have both Eric and Joe.   I know I’ve even gone as far to say that the Phillies closer woes are the biggest obstacle facing the Phillies hopes to repeat as World Champions. 

Back in 1981 it was the players strike that effectively derailed the Phillies repeat train, and make no mistake about it, the 1981 team looked and played even better than the 1980 version.  Gone was Greg Luzinski replaced by a younger, sleeker left fielder named Gary Matthews.  Nicknamed “Sarge”, Matthews would eventually propel the Phillies to the World Series in 1983 with a NLCS performance for the ages.  The Phils still had a prime Carlton, and Schmidt and Rose were also playing at high levels to go along with the maturing Lonnie Smith and Keith Moreland.  Unfortunately the strike hit and the Phillies were awarded the first half championship in Baseball’s newly formed format and the Phillies had virtually nothing left to play for and they went into the post season flat and were dispatched by the younger Montreal Expos in a hard fought five game series that saw the Phillies come back from a 2-0 deficit.

Now its 2009 and there was no work stoppage.  There has been, however, a lack of stoppage from the Phillies bullpen.  Brad Lidge has been dreadful.  Ryan Madsen suffers from what I like to call Aaron Heilman syndrome – he’s great in the 7th and 8th but when it comes to the 9th he makes Mitch Williams look smooth.   Brett Myers hasn’t proven to be healthy yet, and both Chan Ho Park and JC Romero are still slowed by injuries.   Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse they lose Jamie Moyer to a torn groin muscle just when Jamie was asserting himself as an effective longman out of the bullpen.

One name that has been brought up has been JA Happ, the Phillies southpaw rookie-of-the-year candidate who started the year in the pen but has proven to be the most effective of the Phillies starters, going 12-4 with a 2.85 era and 118 strikeouts in 164 innings of work.  Funny thing happened on the way to the playoffs, however, and Happ probably will not be in the post season rotation over Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Pedro Martinez and Joe Blanton (not in any particular order).  So if he’s not going to be in the rotation, how can you best use Happ? That’s right – as the closer. 

I know, I’ve shot this idea down before, but with the injuries in the bullpen and the fact that the Phillies have tried all the other options I figure why not.   I watched the 1993 Phillies go down in flames because of a tired Mitch Williams and quite honestly don’t want to see Lidge and Madsen trying to hold down one run leads when they simply aren’t able to.   The Phillies should give Happ the shot like the Cardinals did with Wainwright three years ago.  I think that turned out okay, didn’t it? Memory serves me correctly the Cardinals overcame an injury to their closer, Jason Isringhausen and managed to beat the heavily favored Mets in the NLCS (insert picture of mega buck Carlos Beltran standing there frozen at the called third strike to end game 7) and dispatched the Tigers to win the World Series.   I’m not saying this should be a permanent solution – give Lidge the winter to get his head right and he’s the closer again in 2010 and Happ goes back to the rotation.  I’m just saying that the Phillies need to do what gives them the best chance in 2009 – and that just might be Happ as their closer.

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