Jamie Moyer collected his 249th win on April 26th, 2009 against the Marlins. It would take him more than a month and 6 more starts to become the 44th pitcher (and 11th lefty) in MLB history to reach 250.

On May 31st, en route to a three-game sweep of the hapless Nationals, Moyer would pitch 6 full innings, giving up 3 hits and an earned run (on a Willingham solo shot, his first of 2) while striking out 4, improving his season record to 4-5 while whittling his ERA down to a svelte 6.75.

What made this all the more exciting was the unforgettable post-game quote from the Undisputed King of Soundbites himself:

“It’s not about the personal things, I’m more excited about us winning,” Moyer said. “I really haven’t thought about [winning 250]. It takes so much effort to prepare and play. I was taught to play the game as a team, not as an individual. When you play 20-some years, some of these things can happen.”

This game was loaded with all sorts of unlikeliness: Moyer went 6 strong innings and won, Chris Coste hit a home run, Pedro Feliz collected an RBI (on a very likely fielder’s choice), Ryan Howard tripled and Brad Lidge pitched a scoreless 9th.

Even though I stopped buying tickets to Moyer’s starts after the May 25th loss to the Marlins, I’m glad he did win it at home, because of my favorite things in the world is fan-made stadium cellphone videos on YouTube, complete with disembodied attempts to sound like Harry Kalas:

May 31st Recap | ESPN.com

When the confetti from the World Series parade was collected and the streets were cleared, the Phillies knew they had very little work to do. After all, the championship team that brought the first title to Philadelphia in over two decades was largely intact heading into 2009. There were two notable exceptions, however, as Pat Burrell and Jamie Moyer were both heading towards free agency.

Burrell, among the longest tenured Phillies on the roster, was likely out the door from day one. His ride atop the Clydesdale-drawn wagon was to be his last moment as a member of the Phillies, and it wasn’t long after that newly crowned General Manger Ruben Amaro, Jr. signed veteran Raul Ibanez to a three-year deal, severing Burrell’s ties with the club.

Moyer, despite his advanced age at 46 years, wasn’t a sure-bet to follow Pat out of town. Although he was the oldest player in the majors in 2008, he was effective and among the best pitchers in the Phillies rotation, so it was not a huge surprise when he was re-signed for the 2009 season. What was surprising, however, was the length of the contract, which ensured Moyer would remain in red pinstripes until the end of the 2010 season. While Moyer put up a solid 2008 season and the fact that he is a feel good story of a local kid, it didn’t necessitate the a two-year deal. After all, the man is in his mid-40s, and sooner or later, the hitters catch up.

Sooner appeared to be in 2009, when Moyer finished the season with an ERA just under 5.00 and a seat in the bullpen by September before an injury ended his season. And now, after multiple surgeries, Moyer is back on the mound. And like two years ago, the question is: What do the Phillies do with Jamie Moyer? And because of that two-year deal, there is only one option: He has to pitch.

But where? Do they put him in the rotation and hope that he matches up against the Florida Marlins or Washington Nationals every fifth day? Or do they stick him in the bullpen and hope he can serve as a lefty specialist and long man until J.C. Romero is back?

I hate to ruin the mystery, but it’s the first one. Barring an injury or an exceptional run by Kyle Kendrick, Jamie Moyer will be starting the fifth game of the season for the Phillies in 2010. Despite his struggles in 2009 and the early spring success of Kendrick, Moyer has more or less “earned” the position, at least by baseball standards, due to his age, pedigree, and paycheck.

Even though most of us will agree with The Daily News’ Paul Hagen’s assessment that “Sports…is a strict meritocracy…Whoever pitches best wins the job,” that’s not how things tend to work out. Even in light of Kendrick’s new approach and tutelage under Roy Halladay, the spot is still Moyer’s to lose.

Unfair? Perhaps. Kendrick has shown a lot of promise and improvement in his appearances in the spring, and despite my mantra of “it doesn’t matter,” there is a lot to be said about the kid. He has yet to allow a run or a walk this spring, and his secondary pitches have vastly improved from two years ago.

Ultimately, the direction that the team takes on April 5^th should not be considered the final say in the matter. Just last year, the Phillies were faced with a similar situation in which the veteran Chan Ho Park was vying for a starting rotation spot with the rookie J.A. Happ. Although they both pitched very well in the spring, Park earned the rotation spot in April, but relinquished it by May when he and Happ flip-flopped positions. The result? Park went on to be one of the best relievers on the team, while Happ finished second in N.L. Rookie of the Year voting after posting a 12-4 record to go along with a 2.93 ERA.

Here’s my take: Like Hagen, it is my opinion that the fifth spot should be determined by who pitches the best, and not other outside influences like tenure or salary. It’s quite possible that Moyer could return to form, but the opposite is just as likely. That being said, Moyer deserve a fair shake at the spot, just the same as Kendrick or anyone else.

UPDATE: Now, here is why this is important:

Originally, this article was about examining the usage and effective of the “number five” starter. My brief research led me to the fact that a number five starter is usually a high ERA guy whose primary duty is to not be awful, and barring injury, he won’t see any starts in October, so they are nearly irrelevant, at least in the grand scheme of things.

However, the Phillies do have a few question marks in the rotation this season. Namely, Cole Hamels and J.A. Happ. It’s rather obvious that Hamels has to bounce back from a disastrous and uncharacteristic 2009, and while all indications this spring are pointing in that direction, none of us will know until the games count.

And although it is blasphemy to suggest that Happ, who was arguably the best pitcher in the rotation last year not named Cliff Lee, would be a question mark, we’ve all seen the advanced metrics that point out the apparent root of his success. Namely, that luck played a bigger part than skill. Now, this isn’t meant to turn into a debate against the virtues of Sabermetrics, but for now, the stats speak for themselves. If anything, Baseball Logic 101 tells us that while Happ had an extraordinary year in 2009, his first full season as a starter, it isn’t prudent to think that he would repeat such success. That is not to say that he won’t, but consider Kendrick’s first season in 2007 (10-4, 3.87 ERA) compared to 2008 (11-9, 5.49). Ignoring his record (which you should, anyway), Kendrick was a much worse pitcher in his second season, which is not uncommon with young pitchers because opposing teams have had more looks at them.  There are exceptions to the rule (Tim Lincecum), but the second full season in the rotation can often summon the sophomore slump monster that can make or break a young pitcher. Is Kendrick really a fair comparison for Happ? Probably not, but it is worth noting that they are in similar situations.

The reason that I bring Hamels and Happ into the discussion is because they are both fixtures in the 2010 rotation, and if they can produce at reasonable levels, then there is no reason why the Phillies shouldn’t be on their way to their fourth straight N.L. East title. However, should Hamels struggle or Happ regress, then the need for a solid fifth starter becomes greater. Despite my earlier assertion that the guy at the end of the rotation is basically a punching bag, you can never have too much pitching depth. And while the debate between Moyer and Kendrick may appear to be a superfluous one, it can have far reaching implications.

What say you, Fightins Dot Com readers? Who starts the season as the fifth starter? More importantly, who finishes it?

I think.

In Todd Zolecki’s J.C. Romero piece from this afternoon on The Zo Zone, Juan Carlos insists that he thinks he’ll be good to go come the opening week of the ‘10 season and plans on getting a spot on the Opening Day roster. That would certainly be ideal considering the lack of a veteran left arm coming out of the ‘pen, but if I were J.C., I’d be more worried about being healthy enough come playoff time than making sure he’s on the squad on April 5th.

Regardless, that really wasn’t the point of this post.  Romero was explaining that he thinks he’d only need around 12 innings of so in the Grapefruit League because he doesn’t necessarily have anything to work on; he’s always had some control issues.

So then he says to Todd, he says:

“I’ve been effectively wild my whole career, so nothing is going to change unless I start throwing like Jamie Moyer — finesse.”

OH SHIT!  Is it just me or does that roughly translate to, “Sure, I can throw nothing but strikes, but then I’d get hit around that weak old man who had the worst ERA among major league starters last year.”

Just me?

Romero Eyeing Opening Day Roster | The Zo Zone

Don’t fack with Chan Ho Park.

“The suit claims Park loaned Kreuter $460,000 in October 2005 to be repaid a year later with interest. Park alleges Kreuter paid back $290,000 in April 2007 and the unpaid balance has grown, with interest, to $281,869.73 as of Dec. 1.”

Hey, Chan Ho! Don’t ever lend 460,000 of anything (let alone our weak-ass national fiat currency) to anyone. If you fail to heed my sound advice, make sure that when you get the promissory note signed, witnessed and notarized, that it’s on paper that is safe for septic systems.

What’s going to happen is this: dude won’t pay you back like promised, you’re going to sue, AP will pick up the story, and some smart-ass on the internet is going to open his Google Reader a week after the story has gone cold. Once this happens, he will use this as an opportunity to tell you to get your head out of your ass and re-sign with the Phillies as a reliever.

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For a guy who tossed an impressive line of 6 IP/5 K/0 BB on the board while getting multiple standing O’s — everything from for hustling out a base hit to tagging from second on a fly ball to successfully walking off the mound after each inning –  Jamie Moyer sure seemed like a sad sack after the victory last night.  You could sorta tell just by watching him that he seemed to be getting more disheartened after every inning, almost like he thinks he can do what he did last night on a consistant basis but the mean guys in the front office just won’t let him. But it obviously wasn’t just me who thought that, listen to the pros…

Here’s Todd Zolecki’s game summary on MLB.com:

Martinez was jovial after the game. Moyer seemed dour. He still seems unhappy about the demotion to the bullpen, although he declined to talk about it.

“I’d rather just talk about the game,” he said.

And here’s Scott Lauber’s from his Philled In blog:

But the 46-year-old lefty wasn’t happy about moving to the bullpen, and a week later, his mood was still sour. Asked about how he has adjusted to the new role, he said, “I’d rather just talk about the game.” Later, he added, “I didn’t know what to expect. Just go out and pitch.”

Sour and dour!  That’s where the headline comes from!

Seriously, you know how downtrodden you have to be to get described as “dour”?  And do you know how dour you have to be for me to describe you as “downtrodden”?

Now both of these fellas are well-respected journalists who are constantly around the Phillies clubhouse, so I highly doubt they are just reading Jamie’s demeanor wrong.

C’mon Jamie, suck it up and be ready to pitch in case we get a rain delay in the 3rd inning again.

Belated congratulations to Dr. Jamie Moyer on his 250th win yesterday.

Moyer & Co. celebrated the occasion by popping a few $300 gold bottles of Armand de Brignac; known on the streets as Ace of Spades, yo.  Salud, Jamie!

***

From the Daily News last week, present tense’d to reflect the fact that it occurred yesterday:

Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer and his wife, Karen, [received] honorary doctorates from Saint Joseph’s University on April 30.

The Moyers [received] degrees as Doctor of Public Service for their charitable work with the Jamie Moyer Foundation at a special academic convocation on campus.

“St. Joseph’s holds a special place in my heart and Karen and I are flattered to be honored by the university in this way,” said Jamie, a 1985 St. Joe’s graduate. “There are a number of great people who help make the Moyer Foundation’s efforts possible, so we dedicate these degrees to them and each child who has participated in our programs.”

A 1999 inductee into the school’s athletic hall of Fame, Moyer holds the school record for strikeouts in a season and ERA. He is the only baseball player in Hawks’ history to have his number retired.

Moyers to receive honorary degrees from St. Joe’s | Daily News

Coming into this morning’s matchup vs. the Marlins (btw, how nice are 12:10 starting times?) the Phillies have yet to play a baseball game in 2009 in which they haven’t been trailing at some point all while the starting pitcher has given up at least one home run. 16 GAMES!

Well, thanks to the ageless wonder that is Jamie Moyer, both of those streaks have now been snapped.

The 46-year old crafty lefthander took care of those free-falling Marlin kids by going six stong and allowing only one run on seven singles. The Phillies jumped on some fella named Graham Taylor for two runs in the first, and actually managed to hold onto their lead for the entire game. What a novel idea!

Also a first for Moyer, he was on the receiving end of the first beaning in his long career when the aforementioned Graham hit Moyer to lead off the second inning. He finished the day 1-for-1 with a single, walk, and HBP.

Jamie now has a 12-1 lifetime record vs. the Marlins and remains undefeated in Miami.

Sounds kinky, right?

I wasn’t really paying attention to this Jamie Moyer interview conducted by NBC10’s John Clark at an area B&C Collectibles store, but it includes something about the Moyers’ bedroom, a couple champagne bottles, some shelves, his locker nameplate, and a Ziploc bag full of dirt.

I’m actually quite surprised he would be this open about his bedroom exploits during a local news segment. Feel free to draw your own conclusions, after a brief word from Camelback Mountain — where there’s Something for Everyone™!

Moyer’s Bedroom Prize | NBCPhiladelphia

Since our Fearless Leader is too busy gloating over his latest reproductive success (show off), I’ve decided to take time out of my “busy” day and riff on this latest news…

Over a couple of plates’ worth of the “Early Bird Special” at Old Country Buffet, GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. and venerable pitcher Jamie “Hey! What The Hell Are These Kids Doing On My Lawn? Oh, They’re My Teammates?” Moyer agreed to a 2-year deal that will keep Moyer in red pinstripes until he’s old enough to have Willard Scott wish him “Happy Birthday” on the air.

Since Moyer’s arrival in 2006, the Phillies are 46-28 when he (very slowly) takes the mound.

You know, I make a lot of “old man” jokes at his expense, but there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that Jamie Moyer could easily kick my ass with a smile on his face and a song in his heart.

That song? “Camptown Races,” written when Moyer was just a wee lad. Ba-ZING!

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