With Spring Training underway a lot of attention has been paid to the top of the Phillies rotation. There have been two questions that have circulated all winter about the starting rotation Would Roy Halladay be worth giving up Cliff Lee and top prospect Kyle Drabek? Can Cole Hamels bounce back from a disappointing 2009?
Well it is obviously far too early to have a definitive answer to either of these questions, but both pitchers certainly are not making Phillies fans worry just quite yet.
Halladay struck out three and did not allow a baserunner in his debut for the Phillies against the Yankees on Thursday. While that is an impressive line for two innings work, what was even more noteworthy was that Halladay threw 21 strikes on 24 pitches. Parting with Cliff Lee, who walked two and hit a batter over 1 2/3 innings in a simulated game on Friday, should not be a concern for the Phillies.
Hamels went two innings against the Blue Jays, giving up two hits, one run and striking out two. While seeing him give up a home run on the second pitch of his first start is not promising, the addition of the cutter that he worked on in the offseason certainly is. Hamels ran into trouble last year because hitters figured him out. With the cutter, which he threw six times out of 32 pitches, he can rely far less on the change-up that was crucial in helping him win the NLCS and World Series MVPs in 2008.
It may not be much but these two star pitchers have begun to answer the questions that echoed around Philadelphia for the past few months.
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