It had been one of the greatest mysteries of the baseball postseason thus far in 2009. Who would start Game 3 for the Philadelphia Phillies in their NLDS matchup with the Colorado Rockies? It was an answer that became somewhat clearer, yet more confusing at the same time, on Thursday afternoon when the Phillies brought both Joe Blanton and J.A. Happ in to relieve Cole Hamels.Happ threw only four pitches before having to be removed from the game after taking a line drive off his leg, and Blanton gave the Phillies an inning of work. All of which made you think that Charlie Manuel was leaning toward veteran righty Pedro Martinez. Friday it became a fact when MLB.com's Todd Zolecki announced it on his Twitter page.
Now off the bat there are a few questions that come to mind immediately upon hearing this announcement. One is will Pedro still start Game 3 if it's snowed out on Saturday? As of now the weather forecast for Saturday's game in Denver calls for a high of 37 degrees with snow showers.
The second question is if the game does manage to be played, is Pedro Martinez really the guy you want pitching in that kind of weather? It will have been 10 days since Martinez's last start if/when he takes the mound on Saturday night, and considering he's 37 and has had some injury problems in recent years, 37-degree weather probably isn't the ideal condition for him.
Of course, it's not exactly fun weather to hit in either, so maybe the guy on the mound won't matter nearly as much.
