Is Blanton the right choice to pitch?

By
Collegian Staff
on October 30, 2009 6:36 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

No amount of innings from Joe Blanton equals just five or six from staff ace Cliff Lee.

Although Lee could deliver great innings against the New York Yankees in Game 4 of the World Series, Charlie Manuel has announced his decision to start Joe Blanton.

Announced Friday afternoon, the decision is going to rightfully earn Manuel some criticism. Manuel said, "I don't think he's ready for it on three days' rest," though there are at least a couple of reasons why Lee is a better option for Game 4, and also why this decision affects the Phillies' chances for the rest of the series.

If Lee starts Game 4, it can reasonably be expected that he would not pitch another complete game. What Lee would be able to give the Phillies is something no other Phillies starter has proven they can do against the Yankees; give them a quality start and therefore - a chance to earn a lead for the bullpen.

Pedro Martinez could not silence the Yankees' bats, even after a borderline dominant performance against the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, and Joe Blanton was unable to do even that well against the Dodgers.

The first question on the minds of Phillies fans is "If Pedro couldn't do it, how will Blanton?" The Yankees' lineup packs a much larger punch than the Dodgers' lineup, and a more consistent pitcher is needed to establish the Phillies during the first few innings.

Realistically, Lee would only be expected to throw a maximum of six innings, but that gives the Phillies two-thirds of the game to put runs on the scoreboard. Blanton effectively gives the Yankees confidence that the Phillies want to keep away from New York, especially while at home in Philly.

While Lee could be expected to deliver a deeper and perhaps better performance in Game 5 rather than Game 4, pitching Game 4 will allow Lee to rest enough between games to be able to throw a possible Game 7 if necessary.

The decision makes little sense on the surface, but don't discount the fact that managers know their players better then any journalist or fan could. Lee might be too tired to pitch more than a couple good innings and Blanton may have shown enough in the NLCS to earn the look in Game 4.

- Zack Feldman

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Dave Miniaci is a senior majoring in journalism and is the Daily Collegian's sports chief. He has previously been sports night chief and a sports copy editor. He has also covered men's rugby, men's track and field and field hockey. He is from New Jersey and is a big Devils fan and proud of both, and he doesn't care if you hold that against him.


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Adam Clark is a senior majoring in journalism and is the Daily Collegian's sports editor. He previously covered fraternity and sorority life, crime and courts and was the Collegian's summer 2009 news/sports editor. His favorite athlete died on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 and his favorite football team is coming off the worst six-year stretch in NFL history. He does hold it against Dave Miniaci that he's from New Jersey.


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Dan Rorabaugh is a senior majoring in sports journalism and minoring in English. He is the sports copy desk chief, and was previously a reporter for the men's rugby, men's cross country, men's volleyball, women's soccer, women's basketball and men's lacrosse teams. Last year, the impossible dream happened - one of his favorite teams, the Phillies, won a championship. Now if only the Eagles could catch some of that magic, he might be able to actually find peace with sports.


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Michael Oplinger is a junior majoring in media studies and political science and the Collegian's assistant sports copy desk chief. He previously covered the men's tennis and men's volleyball teams. Even though he enjoyed the Phillies' World Series victory, he misses the days of Jose Mesa and David Bell.


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Eddie Gentile is a senior majoring in journalism and minoring in history. He works on the sports copy desk and previously has covered the women's tennis team, the Lady Icers and the Penn State baseball team. Gentile is your stereotypical Philly fan - he considers every game a loss until they actually win... and even then he'll probably still be moaning. Go birds.


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David Rung is a senior majoring in journalism and minoring in kinesiology. He works on the sports copy desk and previously has covered the women's swimming team and the men's rugby team. Rung isn't as die hard about pro sports as his sports staff brethren from Philly and Pittsburgh, but he does take pride in being a Red Sox fan before the bandwagon started.