Bastardo takes to the hill

It wouldn’t be Phillies baseball if pitching concerns weren’t the topic on everyone’s lips.

The Phillies bullpen, which struggled at the beginning of the season, appears on the verge of returning to its dominant form from 2008.

After a very shaky “Heathcliff Slocumb-esque” start to the season, Brad Lidge is finally looking healthy and trusting his fastball, allowing only two baserunners in his last five save chances.

In addition to Lidge’s revival, J.C. Romero returns to the bullpen this week, providing the Phillies with a desperately needed situational lefty that actually can get hitters out. Combine Lidge and Romero with Ryan Madson, Scott Eyre, Clay Condrey and Chan Ho Park (in his correct role as a middle reliever), and the Phillies once again are primed to turn games into six-inning affairs.

With innings seven through nine well accounted for, the Phillies find themselves in a strange situation regarding the hurlers of the first six innings. Just as Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton find themselves breaking out of their early season slumps, Brett Myers’ hip injury puts the Phillies in a very unenviable position.

With Park having flamed out as a starter, the Phillies already used their first rotation insurance policy by moving J.A. Happ out of the bullpen, which means Myers’ replacement had to come from someone outside of the 25-man roster.

Luckily for the Phillies, the farm system has not been depleted of talent in the typical “trade three top prospects for a below average and overpaid starting pitcher” way that peppered the Ed Wade era.Getting first crack at the job is 23-year-old Antonio Bastardo, who better be awesome, because with a name like that, he might wind up on the receiving end of the most profanity-filled taunts in Philadelphia history.

Bastardo, a young fireballer from the Dominican Republic, tore up the minors, posting ERAs of 2.14, 2.95, and 1.90 in the last three seasons, while receiving midseason promotions each year, including a move from Reading to Lehigh Valley in May.

While Bastardo’s ERAs have been impressive, and his strikeouts have always been above one batter per inning, the reason he is getting the call is that his walks are way down this season. Bastardo has finally gained command of all of his pitches, walking just 10 batters in 47 innings of work. The previous two seasons, he was averaging more than four walks per nine innings, but this season, he has cut that number in half.

If Bastardo isn’t getting the job done after the first few starts, the Phillies could bring up either Kyle Kendrick, who still can’t control his new changeup, or Carlos Carrasco, who is winless in nine starts with the Iron Pigs.

While neither of those options seem ideal at the moment, the final internal option for the Phillies is 2006 first round pick Kyle Drabek, who was just promoted to Reading. Drabek is raw and missed a season due to Tommy John surgery, but could be a surprise candidate to make the jump to the majors. The hard-throwing Drabek has a 2.91 ERA in nine games with Clearwater, and struck out 67 batters in 52 innings.

While it would be great to see Bastardo thrive in the rotation, the odds of that happening as a rookie are small, which means that by mid-June, the Phillies could be on the phone searching for a retread to round out the rotation.

The Phillies don’t have enough talent in the upper levels of the minor leagues to get someone like Jake Peavy from the Padres, but with some creativity, they could get Roy Oswalt from Astros. The only problem with either Peavy or Oswalt is that Shane Victorino and either Drabek or Bastardo would be the main pieces of any trade package, and I don’t believe that the Phillies are ready to part with the Flyin’ Hawaiian just yet. They might consider moving Victorino next year when Michael Taylor or Dominic Brown are closer to the majors, but not yet.

Honestly, I think that Bastardo will have his rookie bumps, but will ultimately do well in the rotation, and combined with Happ, the Phillies will have two solid young starters developing behind Cole Hamels for the future.

Of course, knowing the Phillies, next week, I could be right back here complaining about how they didn’t give Bastardo a legitimate opportunity, while groaning over the fact that Jason Marquis, Brad Penny, or Jarrod Washburn is wearing red pinstripes.

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Like the “On the Edge” blog? Hear more of my opinions about Philadelphia sports every Friday at 3:30 p.m. on WBCB 1490 AM during the Coffee with Kahuna show, where this week, we’ll talk about Brad Lidge’s sudden return to form, and how the starting rotation is coping without Myers.