Week 19: Kyle Kendrick and Mike Maddux

As the Phillies continue to muddle along, the season has become somewhat of a tryout for next year.  The team is taking a look at some players to see if they could be viable components of the 2013 squad.

One player who is getting an extended look is someone who the Phillies really should have a good idea about considering he's been with the team since 2007.  And yet, they still don't seem to know if they can count on him as a reliable contributor going forward.

Featured Phillie of the Week: Kyle Kendrick

Last week, most Phillies fans would have said that there was no way that Kendrick should be a part of the 2013 club. 

He was coming off of a couple of abysmal starts where he looked passive on the mound and got knocked around.  Worse, after he received criticism for the poor starts, he whined that he wasn't being afforded the proper respect for his past accomplishments. 

Most Phillies fans were ready to show Kendrick the door.  Hadn't we seen enough of Kendrick over the past few seasons to know that he's never going to be anything more than a fringe major league starter?

Naturally, Kendrick has answered the criticism with two sparkling starts.  On Tuesday, he pitched seven shutout innings, and he followed that up with eight shutout innings on Sunday.

In those two starts, Kendrick looked nothing like the passive wreck who we witnessed before.  He was aggressive, he used his best pitch (the sinker) often instead of relying too much on his subpar cut fastball.

It should be said that before his struggles as a starter, Kendrick had been pitching effectively in relief.  He was getting people out on a regular basis and even put up an impressive scoreless streak.

It is possible that some of Kendrick's stuggles were due to being moved back and forth from the rotation to the bullpen all season.  He should remain in the rotation all season, so we'll see if he can maintain some consistency in this role.

Ghost of Phillies Past: Mike Maddux

This guy pitched for the Phillies

In 1988, Mike Maddux was another pitcher who was used in both the rotation and in relief without being especially effective in either role.

In case you were wondering, Maddux is the brother of future Hall-of-Famer Greg Maddux.  It shouldn't be a huge surprise that the Phillies had Mike and not Greg.  Throughout the team's history, they have had the unfortunate knack of obtaining the inferior brother of a star player.

Jason Gimabi didn't play for the Phillies, but Jeremy did.  The Phillies didn't have the legendary Joe DiMaggio.  They didn't even have his brither Dom, who was a multiple-time All Star.  They had to settle for Vince DiMaggio.

I'm just shocked that they never bothered to pick up Ozzie Canseco.

After he left the Phillies, Mike Maddux went on to have a decent enough career, mostly as a reliever.  But he certainly never came close to matching the accomplishments of his brother.

This guy did not pitch for the Phillies

Pennant Year Song of the Week

The Phillies knew that the remainder of this season would be seeing who is worthy of a spot on next year's time.  The process requires a bit of patience.  So this week's song comes from 1993: Looking Through Patient Eyes by P.M. Dawn:

Random Phillies Image Found on the Web

This is a picture of Philadelphia Phil and Phyllis.  They were the Phillies' unofficial mascots when the team first moved into Veterans Stadium in 1972.  They failed to catch on and were replaced a few years later by the large green mascot who we all know and love.

Final Analysis

Has Kendrick's recent performance been indicative that he'll be a viable member of the starting rotation?  Or is it just another tease, and next week we'll get another 4 inning, 6 run stinker of a performance?  Kendrick's future with the team likely depends on the answer.