Pitchers' Civil War may be ending

This morning I read a note in David Murphy's blog about how well the Phillies starters have been doing since Chan Ho Park has been banished to the bullpen:

Don't look now, but Phillies starters have recorded a victory in each of these six straight wins. Since a win over Washington on May 18th when Chan Ho Park allowed five runs in 1 1/3 innings and lost his spot in the rotation, Phillies starters have an ERA just over 4.00, which is nearly two and a half runs better than the 6.35 ERA they posted in the first 36 games of the season.

Actually, that start was May 17. The next day, I took a look at how much better both of our teams' bullpens were than the starting rotations. Things have improved since then:

BOS starters
May 18: 5.76 (28th)
Today: 5.05 (26th)

PHI starters
May 18: 6.35 (30th)
Today: 5.58 (29th)

BOS relievers
May 18: 3.02 (3rd)
Today: 2.86 (1st)

PHI relievers
May 18: 3.97 (12th)
Today: 3.72 (9th)

BOS total
May 18: 4.77 (21st)
Today: 3.31 (14th)

PHI total
May 18: 5.59 (27th)
Today: 4.88 (27th)

Although both teams' starting staffs still have poor overall numbers, things are moving in the right direction - enough so that the members of both teams vaunted bullpen can put their muskets down for the time being.

Speaking of pitching, interesting report the other day on Junichi Tazawa, who seems to be the anti-Daisuke Matsuzaka in that he is pitching well - and efficiently. The Red Sox put their AA pitchers on 85-pitch limits. That would barely get Dice-K through the lineup once. Tazawa pitched into the 7th inning last time out on that limit.

Phillies: J.A. Happ finished off the sweep of the Padres last night, pitching seven scoreless innings in the 5-1 win. J.C. Romero gave up an unearned run in 1 1/3 innings - his 2009 debut. Ryan Howard hit another home run, but much of the ink went to Greg Dobbs, who got a rare start in right field, because of a running catch he made to end the 2nd inning with the bases loaded. It was a win-win for me because it was a solid drive by Padres pitcher Chris Young, right after Chris Wheeler said he looked futile at the plate. So, Wheels looked dumb without the Phillies getting hurt.

The Phils return to Los Angeles tonight for the first time since beating the Dodgers in the NLCS.

Red Sox: They also completed a sweep when Tim Wakefield got his seventh win this afternoon against the Tigers, 6-3. For the second straight game, Kevin Youkilis was removed with injury. David Ortiz did not make an out today. He was riding the pine. But he made news by saying he's going to try to end his slump with an eye exam - or maybe just being happier. I hope something works.