The Phillies and Rockies are deadlocked at 1-1 after the first two games at Citizens Bank park, and now they are off to chilly Colorado.   The talk this year has focused on the Phillies pitching.  Everyone seems to agree the offense and defense are good enough to repeat as World Series champions, but the jury is still out on the pitching staff.  On an off day with no game scheduled, I am taking this time to review the Phillies pitchers; today the starters get their grades for the regular season.

It was a strange year.  Only four Phillies even qualified as starters.  Two midseason pickups have to be factored into the mix.   Two of last seasons standouts made no difference on the 2009 season.  Last years heroes are potentially this years goats.  So here we go.

Definition of starters.  For purposes of this evaluation, we can consider 6 Phillies pitchers as starters this year.  Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton were the only two that started start to finish, had 30 or more games played with 150 innings or more.  Jamie Moyer started off as a starter and ended in the pen, JA Happ started in the pen and ended as a starter. Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez arrived in midseason and started all the games they appeared in the regular season with decidedly mixed results.

Hamels was the best pitcher on the team last year finishing 14-10 with a 3.09 ERA and the much talked about WS MVP award.  Jamie Moyer was a close second, actually leading the team in wins but with a slightly higher ERA and less impact in the post season, finishing 16-7 with a 3.71 ERA.   Both saw their numbers drop off this year, Hamels finishing below .500 at 10-11 with a 4.32 ERA and Moyer finished in the bullpen with an overall record of  12-10 and an ERA of 4.94, but some of those statistics were accomplished as a reliever.

Happ and Blanton pitched little in the championship year, but finished tied for the team lead in wins along with Jamie Moyer this year.  Happ only started 4 games late in their championship run, was officially a rookie in 2009 and starred at 12-4 with an ERA of 2.93, to lead all starters.  Blanton started all year this year after being the Phillies mid season acquistion last year and starting in 13 games, this year finishing 12-10 with an ERA of 4.05.   Both these pitchers showed remarkable improvement over last years statistics. 

Brett Myers and Adam Eaton both factored in 2008, Myers was a non factor in 2009 and Eaton is no longer on the team.  These two were effectively replaced in the line up by Martinez and Lee.   Pedro is still a cypher, starting 9 games and going 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA but leaving three games very early and only pitching 44 innings for the Phillies this year.  Lee was more productive, but even more confusing as he went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA; at first unbeatable, then going to average and returning to very good to close the season.  And we all saw what he did in his first postseason start pitching a 6 hit complete game for the victory but that doesnt count toward his regular season grade.

So that’s their numbers.  Now, how to grade their productivity and effectiveness ?  The overall staff needs to have a high B grade in my opinion to make a concerted World Series run.  So how do this years Phillies starters, hopefuls, and part timers stack up?

I think we all have to agree Lee gets an A.  he showed us something in his first few starts after the trade and didn’t back down when he saw his stats tail off in late August, probably the result of a tired arm.

Happ has to get an A.  As a rookie, he did something no Phillie starter has done in 50 years, win 12 games; and he started in the bullpen, so he accomplished this feat in 3/4 of a season.

Blanton gets a B, finishing 4 games above .500 but with an ERA over 4.  to get the A grade, I really think your ERA needs to be in the low to mid 3’s. 

I give Hamels a B-, if his W/L percentage had dropped and he had maintained last years ERA I would grade him higher, but he seemed much less effective in the big games this year and he too finished with an ERA above 4.

Moyer gets a B- as well, and this grade would have been lower if he had not led the Phillies in wins (or co-led) for the second straight year, combined with his professional attitude when he was demoted to the bullpen after being plagued with  a 5+ ERA most the year.

Martinez is the hardest to grade, and I would have to give him a C+, only because his grade really should be an incomplete, with 44 innings pitched and only 3 quality starts in half a season with the team. 

This puts the Phillies 6 supposed starters at a cumulative grade right around a B.  Maybe good enough to do it, but I would feel better if the newest Phillies were either more tested in the postseason (Lee) or more proven in their starts this year (Martinez)  Without a lot to go on, it is hard to tell how they will perform when the pressure is on, but it looks like Manuel may start Pedro in game 3 tomorrow so we will get a chance to see if he shines as well as Lee surprised everyone after being awarded the Game 1 start earlier this week.

Expect a review and grades on the Phillies middle relief and closers in an article to follow in the next few days.  They are an enigmatic group, even harder to evaluate, and with a lot more up and down and movement in and out of the core group than the starters, if that can be believed !  I look forward to watching the rest of the NLDS and feel confident the Phillies won’t let us down on their brief trip to Colorado.   Go Phillies !