Happ (12 Ks) Throws No-Hit Gem In AAA
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Fri, July 18, 2008 01:01 PM | Comments: 16
Posts
Lost in Blanton mania is an absolutely fantastic start by JA Happ in AAA Lehigh Valley.
Last night Happ pitched seven no-hit innings, striking out 12 in the process against Scranton-Wilkes Barre. The game was rescheduled from before the All-Star break, originally started by Brian Mazone. So in essence, Happ threw a no-hitter and was a walk from a perfect game.
Happ threw 102 pitches, 71 for strikes. He was on his game. And clearly, he’s making a case to come back to Philadelphia and into a now-crowded Phillies rotation. After the Blanton acquisition, one could say Happ is the odd-man out, but this latest outing makes it very hard to keep him from the equation.
Posts: 0 Troy K
I was at this game last night and he pitched very well. Something can also be said for the state of the Yankees AAA team too though….they are pretty weak on the offensive side.
Happ certainly looks like the kind of Lefty that could have a long career in the majors but he’ll never be a dominant pitcher as long as his fastball is 89-90.
Posted: 01:31 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 Chris C.
I know this will not happen, but right now the phillies have too many starters (athough not all really that great) and have talked about bulking up the pen. Why not make Myers the set up man and put Happ in as the 5th starter. Gordon is old and hurt so there is room, and a 1-2 punch in the back end of the pen with Myers and Lidge would be nice. This would take pressure off of Romaro so he could concintrate on lefties and not being a set up man. Happ is not going to be dominant, but you do not need that from a fifth starter. As for Eaton, who cares where he does.
Posted: 02:01 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 philsphan
I agree with Chris C. Cut/DL/DFA Eaton, bring up Happ, and send Myers to the bullpen to set-up for Brad Lidge.
Posted: 02:23 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 christopher
agreed 100%
Posted: 02:28 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 Pete
The Phils should hope Myers has a good start, then dangle him in a trade to a team that needs a closer. Promote Happ to be the #5 starter. Trade Eaton for a bag of baseballs and agree to eat half his salary (better than 100% of it!)
Posted: 02:30 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 cramer
Release Eaton and make Happ your #4 starter ( before myers )
Philsphan… why would you move romero or madson out to make way 4 myers. myers could be a long relief man and if Lidge were to go on the DL, myers could, at the same time, be the backup closer or emergency starter
Posted: 02:37 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 ryan
wow. this certainly raises a big question for the phillies here. I think that Happ is absolutely for real. and we need to get him in the bigs for the rest of this year. and we also need to get Carrassco some experience this year and have him in the rotation for the entire 2009 season. we need to stick with the homegrown talent that has brought us to this point. if happ and carrasco are as good as we think they can be , I can’t see us not winning a world series in the next few years.
next year’s rotation
Hamels
Blanton
Kendrick
Happ
Carrassco
and lets not forget about bastardo in the coming years as well.
Posted: 02:49 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
I hate to say it but we need Brett to come back and be the number two starter he failed to be before his self described ‘rehab’ stint. All signs suggest Eaton’s going to the pen so that makes Condrey the likely guy to go down when Flash returns.
Happ is a tough call here, the one place we don’t have space is the back of the rotation which has been set as Moyer and Kendrick. He’s running out of time and he looked ok in Philly but didn’t seem like he was able to get a pitchers count for his outpitch. Maybe dominating in AAA is the best thing for him right now and a shot at the rotation in ’09 but realistically where does this guy figure?? He looks good but he’s too old for a prospect to have high trade value and not be with the big team…
Posted: 02:51 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 Gary B
Great comment about Pete, you made me bust up laughing.
The only thing, I don’t think there is a GM out there that is willing to give up that much for Eaton…
Posted: 03:41 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 Pete
@ Gary –
Hahaha…good call. Maybe if they were *used* baseballs? Idiot Bill Bavasi would have probably trade us Ichiro for Eaton; too bad we didn’t try that one before the year started.
Maybe we can send him down to Lakewood and if he stays under 9 ER in 3 IP try to sell high.
Posted: 04:00 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 Lewisauce
This is one of the things that worried me about the Blanton acquisition. Happ deserves a spot in the rotation — at least for now. He’s earned it.
But now, even without Eaton, we have five starters PLUS Happ. I’d hate to see him be the odd-man out, get stuck in the minors, and eventually be traded to a team that uses him in long relief or something. I think the kid’s got talent, and he’s 25 — now is the time to give him an opportunity.
Typical Phillies, though. They’ll overpay scrubs like Eaton and Blanton and ignore home-grown, actual back-of-the-rotation talent. I’m not sure why, but I simply don’t trust the organization’s ability to evaluate talent and bring guys along properly. If you look at the past decade, the only guys they really brought along properly from within the organization (pitching-wise) were Hamels and Kendrick. Both are doing pretty damn well right now.
We need to be looking for more guys like that. I think Happ is the left-handed Kendrick. I wouldn’t mind those two at the back of my rotation for the next five or six years.
Are the Phils smart enough to see this?
(Caveat: someone will get hurt, or Myers will simply not recover, and then we’ll need Happ down the stretch. Still, I think he simply has earned an opportunity, and not giving it to him is a violation on the part of the Phillies.)
Posted: 04:07 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 Bill
I think Happ MUST be brought up and Eaton let go. Put Myers in the pen and see if he can raise his stock enough to be decent trade bait as a closer. The bullpen is no place for Eaton. He struggles the most in the first 1 to 2 innings.
Posted: 04:17 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
I really think we should see how Myers next start goes. He has ace potential. If he pitches like shit get rid of him.
Posted: 04:46 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 Gavin
I agree that Happ should come up and Myers to the pen, but if he comes up again I predict it will be the other way around. Myers…..a 12 mill set up man. ouch.
Posted: 04:52 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 ASSHOLE
Remember when everybody on this site was beating their bologna over myers 10 hit outing against the very same AAA Crankees squad. I guess Happ showed everybody how a real man handles those bums.
Posted: 07:19 PM on July 18, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA Phillies Fan
I like Happ. He is ready to be the Kendrick for this year. Phils are trying desperately to showcase Myers and trade him b-4 the deadline. If he keeps pitching well Happ will be back this year
Posted: 11:26 AM on July 19, 2008