Charlie said after this game Happ will return to the pen and everything will stay how it was.

Success last year does not mean anything about success this year. Jaime Moyer was successful last year and that didn’t mean much this year, Kendrick was success in 07 and then not in 08.

Happ coming in to do long relief I blow outs does not translate into good starting pitching, Long relief tends to come in during blow outs, not close games in tense situations, it’s a horse of a different color. I hope he throws a no-hitter but I won’t be disappointed if he goes 6 innings 5 runs cause I dont have crazy expectations like everyone else on the board.

I agree with you Happ as earned the opportunity and as has prooven that he can start. I think you are on the money that he will be a superb #5 if he is better than that score one for us, if not than he is a #5 win-win. He has been very effective in the bullpen as well, but we are missing consistency there too, I think we either put Park or Moyer there. Personally I think Moyer would be better there since coming in for 2-3 innings does not allow the other team to adjust to him.

He is a freshness. period
No he will not be Steve Carlton maybe not even Terry Mulholland, but
He has to be better than several of the starts we have seen.

He gets people out, in other articles we talk about Moyer not making it through the lineup 2x well Happ throws harder and it will be harder for a lineup to adjust to him the 2x and 3x time through

I think he will do fine as long as we can support him with good fielding and hitting

Happ has performed well in every role the Phillies have ever given him… our starters are not performing as we expected.. so we know “EXPECT” Happ to produce better than the other guys..

Which is true. fine. good..

I have a hard time seeing how anyone can be on the extreme either way.. that Happ is going to be Lights-Out ?? OR.. that Happ won’t be able to produce..

Lets just watch.. take a wait and see approach instead of trying to boot 3 of our 5 guys from the rotation, and having Jason Donald come up to pitch.. since he’s the world’s greatest utility man and all

Happ SHOULD be fine.. I doubt he’ll throw a no-hitter.. and I doubt he’ll get rocked.. what we need from him is a solid 6 innings

How has he proved to be a good starter? He has proved he can provide pretty good long relief most of the time when the game is a blowout one way or the other.

If he proved he was a good starter he would have beat Park for the 5th spot. He has not proved anything… Saturday is his chance, so let’s wait and see how he does against these lowly Natinals.

I think he’s good, and he has PROVED he can be a good starter. So what’s your beef?

I hope that they don’t burn him out like they did with Chad last year, because it’s a great thing to have multiple effective arms in the bullpen in the 2nd half of the season.

At the very least, Happ could a good 4th starter or a superb 5th starter. He has talent and composure on the mound. I’m wishing him all the best.

I think Happ will give a strong performance.. I don’t know how long he’ll be able to go as he hasn’t thrown more than 3-4 innings on a regular basis in a long, long time..