Blanton and Phils Fightin for the Hill

In April, I wrote a small piece about what Hank Steinbrenner might say about the Phillies situation up until then. I thought he would laud the efforts and stability of the bullpen, Tom Gordon not included. I also thought Hank would be uneasy about the starters, but hopeful that the pitching Mendoza could be maintained (6 IP, 3ER) to keep the pen healthy and rested.
Now, hours before Joe Blanton takes his first at-bat in the majors against Johan Santana, the season has shaped up just as I thought. The bullpen has been phenomenal so far (2.74 ERA) with 9 pitchers making contributions, although the credit should mostly go to Chad Durbin and Ryan Madson. These long-men have allowed an under-performing starting rotation to not pull the late-innings down with them. Brad Lidge and JC Romero, the expected aces of our pen, have operated almost exclusively in set-up and closing situations (although Brad Lidge did warm up 6 times in the All-Star Game!) and have flourished in their respective niches.
As said, the starters are under-performing, but, to be honest, this was what was expected by many people. In March, did I really think that Kendrick would still be able to fool people with only a sinker? Did I think Eaton would be able to rise above his resume of mediocrity and stun the city? Did I think Myers was solid enough to flip-flop between starting and closing and then back? Obviously, the answer is no, but what I did think was that our explosive offense could buy our guys a few innings here and there, allowing them to go deeper into games. For example, Kendrick in 20 starts this season has won 8 and only lost 4, still not throwing one wild pitch (which is impressive for a sinker-baller). His ERA (4.74), however, is less than impressive and makes you wonder how he could have managed twice as many wins as losses. Compare this to Oliver Perez of the Mets who has a similar ERA (4.36), just as many appearances/innings and nearly twice as many punch outs (95 to 49), but is a .500 pitcher (6-6). The obvious explanation for this is that the Phillies have simply won more games but, as evidenced by the gravity of tonight's game, the two teams are exactly tied.
Soon enough, we will see two teams battle for first place in the most contested division in the Majors at Shea Stadium. First it will be Johan Santana, who, much like the reception after a funeral, has been good but disappointing. Then it will be Joe Blanton, the mid-season pick-up from the A's with poor 08 numbers but undeniably scary stuff. Then Santana, then Blanton and so on.
Santana is the better pitcher going into the game. That is for sure. What makes baseball different than almost anything else, though, is that there are no definites, no sure-bets, no impossibilities. That is, the better pitcher before the game doesn't always win, and often doesn't.
Ringo Starr once reasoned that because he was the drummer for the greatest band in the world, he must be the greatest drummer in the world. Panglossian quandaries aside, I think this reasoning holds true for baseball, because in the game where something doesn't happen on every pitch but anything can happen on any pitch, we can only look to the scoreboard after the game to see who was really better that day, and I hope tonight, at least for tonight, Joe Blanton will be the best pitcher on the best team in the East.