Philadelphia Phillies Fan Blog

A little schooling for Kendrick in Phillies’ loss to Nationals

For the next 5 days, the pitch that Kyle Kendrick will try to avoid dwelling upon was a changeup. It is a pitch that has occupied a large chunk of the last year of his life, from his 2009 season at Triple A Lehigh Valley to his recent spring-training performance that propelled him back to the big leagues. But it is also a pitch that Kendrick sent floating over the plate in the fourth inning yesterday, resulting in a deafening, two-run homer by Willie Harris that served as a pivotal blow in the Phillies’ 6-5 loss to the Nationals.

The lesson for Kendrick: There are still plenty of lessons left to be learned, and that his staying power in the Phillies’ rotation will depend largely on the speed in which he does so.

The list of pitchers who struggled in their first starts of 2010 reads like a fantasy team: Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano (eight runs in 1 1/3 innings), Red Sox ace Josh Beckett (five runs in 4 2/3 innings), Yankees ace CC Sabathia (five runs in 5 1/3 innings).

But those pitchers also have proven their ability to adjust between starts, to both identify their kinks and massage them out. As Kendrick stood in the visitors’ clubhouse at Nationals Park, where the Phillies would depart with a 2-1 record, he did not sound like he would struggle with the first part. His problem, he said, was leaving too many pitches up and over the plate, a sentiment that manager Charlie Manuel had expressed only minutes earlier.

Click here to read the full article – By DAVID MURPHY of philly.com

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April 9, 2010 - Posted by GameSetMatch | MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies Apparel, Phillies News | Baseball, Kyle Kendrick, MLB, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies, Phillies Apparel, phillies baseball, phillies news, phillies t-shirts | No Comments Yet