Philadelphia Phillies put Vance Worley on 15-day Disabled list as he suffers elbow inflammation
Jinx of injuries loom large on the Philadelphia Phillies as starter Vance Worley endures elbow inflammation. Scheduled to start on Wednesday, Kyle Kendrick will be doing his job now.
Worley is one of those pitchers who can throw huge number of innings and can win matches on his own. His absence will call for appropriate replacements immediately and the need to utilise existing resources properly.
As per initial reports, Joe Savery has been called up from Triple A Lehigh Valley. Unless Worley recovers in time, the Phillies will be short of reliable options. Although Savery can throw well, he will take his time to acclimatise and adjust his control
in the season.
Phillies at the moment have their offence paralysed by absence of quality hitters, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. With an injury of one of their pitchers now, the manager Charlie Manuel faces a task of squeezing results from limited resources.
The club is experiencing a slump currently, in stark contrast to what they have been in last few years in the National League East Division. So terrible their performance has been some experts have started labelling the Phillies as a seller even with hardly
two months into the season.
Earlier reports emerged stating the possibility of Cole Hamels, one of their starters and Shane Victorino, a veteran hitter, being sold. Elbow inflammation that has taken Worley off the season indefinitely will put halt to those negotiations, one can imagine.
Manager expresses his unhappiness over latest entry in DL. Realising the difficulty he will have in managing rotation now, he looks forward to see rest of the pitchers taking extra responsibilities.
''It seems like all of the sudden we lose guys for starts,'' Manuel said. ''That doesn't help, neither. We need our guys to make all the starts if possible. That's kind of how it goes and you've got to deal with it.''
Pitchers have been strength of the Phillies. Most of their wins have resulted mainly because of stand-out shows by their starters on the mound. On the other hand, their offence has declined and betrayed their hurlers time-and-again.
Manager will hope, for as long as Worley misses out, Savery who will most likely fill the rotation and turns out to be a reliable substitute.
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