No pressure on left-hander J.A. Happ today, none at all. The 24-year-old left-hander just has to go out and make his major-league debut today for the Phillies in a nationally televised National League showdown vs. the first-place New York Mets. The prickly Philadelphia fans are already feeling a little cheesed off after that doubleheader sweep that dropped them five games back yesterday.
Not sure if Joe Buck will work the Fox telecast, but if he is, he can surely find a way to belabour this angle. Happ's in tough, but his debut had to come sometime.
The Northwestern product (1-2, 4.02, 1.53 WHIP in 62 2/3 innings with the Lynx) is a decent prospect, but he's had Ted Lilly Syndrome after jumping two levels to Triple-A. He's have good stuff, he'll get his good curveball over for strikes sometimes (he's averaging more than a strikeout per inning), but he'll pile up so many deep counts that he's usually at 95 pitches after five innings. He's pitched five innings or less in nine of his past 10 starts, although he was sidelined by injury for a bit, which was a contributing factor.
The Phillies also called up J.C. Romero, who never got in a game with the Lynx and presumably never made it to Ottawa. The Phillies have called up pitchers who answer to J.A., J.C. and J.D. (as in Durbin). If they get swept by the Mets and fall farther back in the race, it will be time for J.B. -- as in Jim Beam.
The Lynx will get right-handed reliever Yoel Hernandez (he's pitched fairly well, if infrequently) from the Phillies in time for tonight's 6:05 series opener vs. the ScranYanks. Clay Condrey, though, has heard the dreaded words "designated for assignment."
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