Voting For Pedro

Today in Houston, the Phillies put the caper on a weekend sweep of misery at the hands of the going nowhere Astros. Today's mess was a 4-3 defeat where Bud Norris defied his season-long 6.05 ERA to outduel Cole Hamels, who took a step back from last start's dominance of the Giants. The 'Stros also got three innings of middling relief, punctuated by Jose Valverde, to seal the deal.

Each defeat in the series was different. Friday's was a classic meh moment for Cliff Lee, who broke half a dozen bats to see any number of balls falling in for hits, then had the game broken open when Wanday Rodriguez fouled off a half dozen pitches before a two-run double down the line. Saturday was (yet another) Brad Lidge meltdown, with Kaz Matsui getting the walk-off. Today's was a grinder with any number of missed chances, with only Pedro Feliz going hitless.

Luckily for the Fightin's, neither the Braves nor the Marlins, the second and third place teams in the East, are making any kind of charge. But there's still plenty to worry about here, because it just doesn't seem like anyone can get outs in the ninth inning. Brett Myers pitched in Saturday's game, and while the line looks good (1 IP, 1 BB, 0 Rs), it really wasn't that impressive of an outing --14 pitches, only 6 strikes, with a leadoff 4-pitch walk and two line drive outs around a caught stealing. Ryan Madson seems to have a mental block about the ninth inning, and while Brad Lidge has had better moments recently, he's earned every part of that 7.15 ERA and 1.79 WHIP.

Now, this is all probably just pointless worrying; a 6.5 game lead with 28 to play is safe well more than 95% of the time, unless you are the Mets. In a short playoff series, the starters become Lee, Hamels, J.A. Happ and Joe Blanton. And well... the name that's missing from that is the resurgent Pedro Martinez.

And well, am I crazy to think that maybe he could close?

He's certainly got the stuff for it, and the occasional moment of strong work; the playoff relief work against Cleveland was spectacular. But he also has had first inning issues, probably couldn't work multiple games in a row, and it's just not Charlie Manuel's style.

But well, I don't know any Phillies Fans that have any amount of faith in Lidge right now, and expecting Myers to just pick up the job a few months off hip surgery is probably asking too much. I'd rather see Martinez get the shot than, say, Chan Ho Park...