Late last week, your Daily Philadelphian hypothesized that Pedro Martinez had a shot to overtake Joe Blanton in the playoff rotation. More wrong, we could not have been.
Besides Pedro developing a pain in the ass neck that affected him during his last start, Blanton has been one of the most consistent pitchers on the staff since Pat Gillick stole acquired him from Oakland last season.
The man came up big in the playoffs, going 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA in three starts. He is 11-7 this year, and has gone at least six innings in all but three games since May 26.
Yesterday, Blanton pitched the Phils past Josh Johnson and the Marlins en route to securing a 9-3 win.The man has not given up a run in his last 13 innings.
At the same time, Pedro is now day-to-day with a strained neck. His next start was pushed back to Saturday, making it a full week since he last took the mound for the Phils.
With the Yankees Son and JA Happ dinged up, Blanton need not even think about looking over his shoulder. He has pitched himself into the third spot in the playoff rotation, and will be a key in determining how far the Fightins go this year.
