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Welcome to another new contributor, Greg Hall!


So
they say that God works in mysterious ways; apparently the baseball gods do the
same as they have just pulled a one-eighty on young Kyle Kendrick.  After having a phenomenal spring to the tune
of a 1.66 ERA, Kendrick lost all hope to go north in the rotation when Jamie
Moyer one-hit the Yankees in his final spring tune-up to give him a sparkling
0.77 ERA.

However,
due to big Joe Blanton’s first ever trip to the disabled list, Kendrick gets to
spend some time in the rotation after all, but here is the kicker; Kyle is the
team’s third starter!  That’s right,
after losing the battle to Jamie for the fifth spot based in pitching alone,
Kyle has landed himself in the third spot of our rotation because of an injury.

Those
blasted baseball gods were playing games with Kyle, as if our front office
didn’t do that enough to the kid.  The
25-year-old won 21 games over two years in our rotation, but was sent down to
work on his secondary pitches, then got the call back up to pitch out of the
pen.  He was then left off the 2008 World
Series roster.  I’m sure Kyle wasn’t
complaining as he was sliding that ring on his finger come the following April
(even Adam Eaton got his ring).  He
pitched out of the pen in 2009, with the exception of two starts, but only 26.1
total innings as Lehigh Valley was once again his home.

Now,
expected to be in the pen in 2010, he finds himself back in a big-league
rotation, and as the number three man no less. Apparently those secondary
pitches have come along just fine, not to mention being Roy Halladay’s shadow
throughout the spring.