After his four inning, 100-pitch outing, J.A. Happ said he felt good
physically and the only problem was that he was rushing himself on the mound.
The look on his face and the tone of his voice though betrayed him and seemed to
have the look and sound of a very frustrated young pitcher. In his four innings
of work, Happ allowed six hits and gave up four walks, while striking out four
and giving up two earned runs. Of his 100 pitches, 58 were for strikes.
"That pitch to the kid [Trevor Plouffe] that hit the home run off of me,
I knew I was rushing it before I even released it and I thought it could be
trouble," admitted Happ. In fact, Happ admitted to consistently rushing
himself and not being able to settle into a groove on the Coca-Cola Park mound.
Overall though, he felt that physically, he is where he needs to be and that his
pitches are also where they need to be as well. "I didn't throw too many
secondary pitches tonight, but I did have a couple of good cutters and the curve
was pretty good when I needed it," said Happ.
Happ's velocity did improve over his previous rehab starts, when he was
generally around 90 miles per hour, at best. In this outing, Happ was in the
mid-90s and his curve dropped down to the low-90s.
If there was one thing that Happ wanted to make clear, it was how good he
felt physically. "The injury is over. Now, it's just a matter of shaking
off the rust and getting back to where I need to be. I've had enough outings
that I should have shaken the rust off, but at least I'm healthy and able to get
out there. At least all of the issues are things that I can correct, because I
feel good."
Happ's situation is complicated by two things; first, the Phillies rotation,
while not great, has been at least adequate. While Joe Blanton struggled through
his first eight starts of the season, posting a 7.28 ERA in those starts, he has
turned things around and has given the Phillies three strong starts, working out
to a 3.80 ERA over those starts, including his win over Cincinnati Tuesday
night. Jamie Moyer has turned into one of the ancient wonders of the world and
Roy Halladay has been Roy Halladay all season long for the Phillies. Cole Hamels
and Kyle Kendrick have been inconsistent, but certainly, Hamels isn't going
anywhere.
The second thing complicating Happ's situation is that his rehab assignment
time is slowly running out. Players have 30 days per rehab assignment and Happ's
rehab clock started ticking on June 8, giving him time for just one more rehab
start, which would likely come on either Sunday or Monday against Pawtucket. If
it's up to Happ though, he won't be sticking around for even one more start.
"It's up to them, but I don't really think I'll need another start down
here. Obviously, if they want me to keep pitching here or wherever in the
minors, I'll do that, but I think I'm ready to get back out there."
The most likely move would be for either Happ or Kendrick to go into the
Phillies bullpen, although both have options left and either could be sent to
Lehigh Valley to work on gaining consistency.
J.A. Happ's rehab starts
| DATE |
TEAM |
DEC |
ERA |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
HR |
HB |
BB |
SO |
WP |
OPP
AVG |
| June 8 |
Clearwater |
L |
6.00 |
3.0 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
.231 |
| June 13 |
Reading |
|
15.43 |
2.1 |
6 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
.462 |
| June 18 |
Reading |
|
9.82 |
5.0 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
| June 23 |
Reading |
W |
8.03 |
5.0 |
7 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
.333 |
| June 29 |
Lehigh
Valley |
|
4.50 |
4.0 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
.333 |
|
TOTALS |
1-1 |
6.98 |
19.1 |
27 |
15 |
15 |
5 |
1 |
8 |
16 |
2 |
.360 |