Mid Season Report Card

As promised, and only a day late, here are DirtyWudders' grades for the Phillies pitchers. The Phillies pitchers have the 3rd worst ERA in the NL, have given up 21 more home runs than anybody else and quite frankly, are the reason why the Phillies are not running away with this thing. Ladies and gentleman, your Phillies' pitchers;

Cole Hamels: 5-5, 4.70 ERA, 79 K’s: 2008 NLCS and WS MVP Cole Hamels had a poor first half. Injury plaqued and inconsistent. He started the season banged up, got banged around and then got more banged up. Pitched about a month and a half of good baseball and then could not get out of the 4th inning in two of his final three starts. The Phillies are going nowhere unless Cole Hamels pitches better. C-

Joe Blanton: 5-4, 4.69 ERA, 85 K’s: Heavy B has had an up and down season this year. He started off a little shaky but has been pitching fairly well for the last month or so. He is leading the Phils in ERA and K’s - something Cole Hamels should be ashamed of - but that doesn’t really prove much. Hopefully he can carry his recent success into the second half and win some more ball games. C

Jamie Moyer: 7-6, 5.72 ERA, 51K’s: A couple of starts into the season it looked like Moyer was done. Though not great, Moyer has been much better, his last 10 starts or so. He needs to lower that ERA but as long as he can get into the 6th inning of games, I would be happy. C

Brett Myers: 4-3, 4.66 ERA, 46 K’s, 10 GS: Before going down with a season-ending hip injury, Brett wasn’t really setting the world on fire. He wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t necessarily good either. I found his 10 starts this year to be a total disappointment after such a great second half last season. With that said, I wish he was still around - we could really use him down the stretch. C

J.A. Happ: 5-0, 3.04 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 9 GS: J.A. Happ has done nothing but impress during his time in the majors. Happ has gone from a borderline prospect to a guy the Phillies are reluctant to trade for the best pitcher in baseball. Total team player, Happ pitched well in relief before joining the rotation in late May against the Yankess. His last three outings included a CG Shutout and two 7 inning gems that the bullpen ended up blowing. A-

Chan Ho Park/Rodrigo Lopez/Antonio Bastardo: Ho stunk as a starter but seems to have settled into his role as a middle reliever. He can be counted on to pitch a couple innings when needed. Lopez pitched a great game in his first start and was going strong the other day before leaving with a shoulder injury. He was a pleasant surprise in the last week. Bastardo was great at first, then not so great before getting hurt. I didn’t expect much from him initially, but he filled in nicely when the Phils needed him. Ho: F as a starter, B- as a reliever. Lopez: B+. Bastardo: B-

Sergio Escalona/Chad Durbin/Scott Eyre/J.C. Romero/Clay Condrey/Tyler Walker/Jack Taschner: Condrey and Eyre pitched very well before going down to injury. Romero has been getting better the more he pitches after his suspension. Durbin has been hot and cold. Overall, the middle relief has been adequate but not as strong as lat year. C+

Ryan Madson: Madson was untouchable for the first part of this season but has struggled lately – especially in the closer role. He threw two scoreless innings against the Red the other night and seems to getting some confidence back. His time spent as a closer was painful to watch, and he cost the Phils a few games along the way. Here’s hoping we only see him in the 8th inning from now on….B

Brad Lidge: The MVP of the 2008 Phillies has had a tough first half showing a 6.89 ERA, 6 blown saves and opponents batting over .300 against him. Since returning from the DL, Lidge has pitched better but the first half was a total disappointment. D