State of the Pitching Staff - Rotation

Seeing as how there are far too many problems facing the Phillies' pitchers recently, and the fact that the rotation has seen a complete revamping, I figure it is now an appropriate time to take a look at each pitcher's individual statistics and whether they are helping or hurting the team. Let's start with the rotation...

LHP Cole Hamels: 7-7, 4.69 ERA
Where would I put Hollywood Hamels at right now? I would put him down as "keeping the status quo." He's not necessarily hurting the team, but we know how he can pitch, and this is definitely not it. Hopefully he hits a good stride here and can help the Phils on this playoff run. If not, we'll be watching him fill the role of "back-end starter."

LHP Cliff Lee: 3-0, 1.12 ERA
I'd be willing to bet that the folks who were upset about not getting Halladay are no longer feeling that way.

RHP Joe Blanton: 7-6, 3.88 ERA
This guy hasn't given up more than three runs in an outing since June 18. He's 0-2 in his last three starts, but the two losses came with scores of 2-0 and 3-2. He's also eating up a lot of innings; Blanton has gone at least six innings in 16 of his 22 starts, including each of his last seven. This guy is playing out of his head and definitely helping the team.

LHP J.A. Happ: 9-2, 2.66 ERA
If it weren't for Cliff Lee, this guy would be the current ace-of-staff in Philadelphia. He's 7-2 with a 2.69 ERA since entering the rotation, and he averages nearly 7 innings per start. Certainly a helper on this pitching staff.

RHP Pedro Martinez: 1-0, 5.40 ERA
Not ready to say he's helping, but he certainly didn't hurt the team by picking up a win against the Cubbies last week. Let's give him a "wait and see."

Overall, this rotation looks pretty special. Not counting Pedro due to his limited sample size, the worst ERA on this staff belongs to Cole Hamels. That is a good sign. None of these guys are hurting the team at this point, and that's exactly what they need. Unfortunately, they have had to toss up their games to the bullpen, which has been far less reliable than the rotation. More on that later today.

At any rate, this is the best rotation that we as Phillies fans have looked at all season. Forget the "they're all lefties" talk. It hasn't been a problem yet, and I doubt it will be in the future.