Spring Ritual

I was early for a meeting yesterday, so the host and I were talking before the others arrived in the meeting room. She asked if I was following the College Basketball tournament - she is a Purdue fan and they were playing for a Sweet Sixteen spot last night. I said I hadn't really been keeping track, and that being a dull person, I prefer baseball. We talked a little about that - baseball, not my dullness - and that being from the Pacific Northwest, missed the Mariners, especially in their heyday (relative heyday compared to teams like Boston).

Well, as fortune would have it, I was browsing through the major city newspaper Web pages this morning when I saw the headline on the Philadelphia Inquirer, Phil's Moyer Makes His Case. I couldn't believe it - didn't his career end last season with the elbow injury? No way to keep a good man down. He was one of our family's favorite players with Mariners, so I have at least casually kept track of him since he joined the Phillies - especially since the city is just up the road.

Phils' Moyer makes his case

Posted Sat, Mar. 27, 2010

By Matt Gelb

Inquirer Staff Writer

TAMPA, Fla. - After three off-season surgeries, Jamie Moyer came to spring training fighting for a job in his 24th season in the majors.

"I didn't really know what to expect, because I haven't been through this kind of thing in the past," Moyer said. "So, you know what? Go wing it. See what happens."

It's working.

The 47-year-old lefthander all but guaranteed his spot as the fifth starter in the Phillies' rotation with a dominating effort last night.

Facing a New York Yankees lineup filled with regulars except Jorge Posada and Nick Johnson, Moyer cruised. He allowed just two base runners over 62/3 innings and struck out six. He walked none. The Phillies won, 3-0.

Moyer retired the final 15 batters he faced.

"He looked pretty good, didn't he?" Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "He threw good quality strikes down. Even when he missed, he was close. He dropped a little yo-yo on them."

Manuel declined to name Moyer the fifth starter, but everything suggests he will earn the job. Early in the spring, pitching coach Rich Dubee anointed Moyer the favorite. Dubee said he did that because of Moyer's track record. Moyer has won 258 games over 23 seasons. He is also due to make $8 million in 2010.

But Kyle Kendrick has been impressive enough this spring to raise doubts. Over 192/3 innings, he has a 1.37 ERA. Throw in that the Phillies removed Moyer from the starting rotation in mid-season 2009 and his hold on the spot looked precarious.

Moyer has dispelled those doubts.

"I've never felt at any time there was urgency to do anything," he said. "Or prove anything. Or work out in a certain way. You just try and monitor every day for what it is and take it from there."

Against the Yankees, he pitched at a steady pace. He needed just 79 pitches, and no more than 16 in any one inning.

He allowed a single to Marcus Thames, the second batter of the game. That was New York's only hit. The other batter to reach base was Curtis Granderson, who was hit by a pitch in the second on a 1-0 count.

It was Moyer's second Grapefruit League appearance. In 112/3 innings, he has allowed one run. He also started three B games earlier in the spring. Two were three-inning scoreless outings. In the other, his lone hiccup this spring, Moyer allowed five runs on eight hits in three innings.

Expect to see him in the rotation.

"It doesn't surprise me," Manuel said of Moyer's performance. "I've seen him go to the minor leagues twice and you think he's done, and he fought his way back to become a heck of a pitcher. When he came to spring training this year, I expected him to be in pretty good shape and working hard. Nothing's changed. It's who he is."