Charlie tips his hand: Happ to bullpen for postseason

If there was any doubt remaining as to Phils manager Charlie Manuel's plans for the postseason rotation, he would appear to have unwittingly revealed them last night. Making his first start after missing two with an oblique injury, Phils' rookie J.A. Happ lasted just three innings before being pulled from the game for "precautionary reasons" after grimacing on his way to cover first base. As Charlie put it after the game, "I thought we would take him out of the game for precautionary reasons, we need lefties." While that's undoubtedly true, Charlie left the most important phrase out of that thought: "in the bullpen."

Were Happ to be in the postseason rotation over Pedro Martinez, the Phils' current "fifth" starter, the defending champs would boast a starting rotation which featured three lefties in Happ, Cole Hamels, and Cliff Lee, in addition to righty Joe Blanton. Hard to see much of a "need" for lefties in that rotation, Happ or no, when it features the two best lefties in the NL not named Santana. The bullpen, on the other hand, currently features just one healthy southpaw, Jack Taschner, who has never had success getting lefties (or for that matter, righties) out in the Majors. With Scott Eyre and JC Romero dealing with injuries which have already lingered long past their anticipated expiration date, it would appear Happ is really the team's only option to bolster their left-handed relief corps, a fact which we learned last night isn't lost on Charlie Manuel.