Opening Night Review: Mike Williams

All my lobbying for the Phils to cut Hector Mercado and bring up a third
catcher was half-effective. Poor Hector got the boot all right, but the
Phils stayed with 12 pitchers, bringing this act back to town for a revival.
In tonight's 8-6 loss to the Mets, Mike Williams, Act II, pitched two strong
innings, and brought his ERA down under 6.00, which is good, because it's
just plain embarrassing to have a guy on your staff with an ERA over 6.00.
So what else can we say about the return of the lesser Mi. Williams relief
pitcher from the '93 team?

1. The guy has a lot less hair than he did the first time around.

2. Already he fits in with this staff in one important way, he also pays no
attention to the runner on first base.

3. His stuff and command of it looked very good, much better than I
expected looking at the guy's woeful stats this year. Actually, the ERA was
not the scariest part, it was that homerun every seven innings. Ahhh,
shades of 1996.......

One final note: with Mercado gone, who is going to take the bullet when
David Bell comes off the DL? Hmmm, after the way Ducky got lit up tonight,
by the Mets no less, I wonder if he has any options left? If Bowa just
absolutely, positively, has to have 12 pitchers on his roster, then I
suppose it's bye-bye to Nick Punto.

---- Kurt Straub

> One final note: with Mercado gone, who is going to take the bullet when
> David Bell comes off the DL? Hmmm, after the way Ducky got lit up
tonight,
> by the Mets no less, I wonder if he has any options left? If Bowa just
> absolutely, positively, has to have 12 pitchers on his roster, then I
> suppose it's bye-bye to Nick Punto.

Who else would start if Duckworth went down?

I see Duckworth as a future bullpen guy. But for now, he is all we have.
Maybe Floyd deserves a closer look? Maybe a vet 5th starter needs to be
acquired by the deadline?

Punto goes down. It is a no-brainer.