Philadelphia Phillies: phenomenal pitching strength
The rotation for the Philadelphia Phillies is said to be the best in all of Major League Baseball currently. This year, they would be competing for their fourth straight National League East Division title and chances are that they might win that and go
much further in the competition.
Their team boasts of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. Together these four create something of a pitchers paradise. All of these super talented pitchers in one team make one of the best starting pitching rotations MLB has seen in recent
times, or maybe in all of baseball history.
Halladay will be 34-years-old by May and he is no doubt the Ace among Aces. He won his second Cy Young Award last year with the Philadelphia Phillies. His career statistics showcase the kind of player that he is. Halladay, better known as ‘Doc’, had a perfect
game last season and went on to pitch a no-hitter to start off the playoffs. Out of the nine All Star seasons, he has been on seven of them and has pitched more than 220 innings in the last five seasons.
Cliff Lee needs absolutely no introduction. Everyone knows him and everyone has come to love him for the kind of honourable player that he is. He turned down tens-of-millions of dollars that the New York Yankees were happy to pay him, just so he could play
for a team he loved and a team he felt comfortable with. Every team that he has moved to, Lee made sure he turned their luck around.
He had a big part in leading the Phillies to the World Series and when he moved to the Texas Rangers, they went on to have their first ever World Series appearance. That is the kind of difference he makes by being on a team. Lee has managed to pitch over
200 innings for the past three seasons without exerting any extra pressure on himself and is the proud winner of the American League Cy Young Award as well. With him being only 33, there’s no telling what he would be able to accomplish before his retires.
Roy Oswalt is definitely the lead Ace for the Phillies and if he were to be placed anywhere else, he would probably prove himself to be an Ace there as well. Out of his last seven seasons played, Oswalt managed to pitch over 200 innings in six of them. He
received the prestigious NLCS Most Valued Player in 2005 and that was the time when he led the Houston Astros to their first ever World Series appearance due to him being on the team.
Oswalt is only 27 years of age and has managed to make himself known as an entity to be reckoned when pitchers like Lee and Holladay are there on the same team. He has pitched over a 180 innings since the last four years straight.
Having all of the above mentioned players on a team is more than anyone would want, but the Phillies have more at their disposal. Joe Blanton, the Number five starter for the Phillies is one of them. Since he has started playing, he has managed to pitch
more than a 170 innings in every season. Kyle Kendrick has managed over 180 innings last year.
It can be clearly seen that the Phillies have the kind of depth that would make any other team enviable as well as worried. They should be able to cover any loopholes in their line-up or bull-pen with the help of their superb pitching rotation.
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