After a long, well-fought battle in Spring Training, Jamie Moyer was announced the winner of the Phillies' fifth-starter spot over Kyle Kendrick, a teammate 22 years his junior:
Phillies Name Jamie Moyer Fifth Starter
Moyer, 47, will be pitching in his 24th season. Last year, he assumed the same role with the Phillies for most of the season, with a few relegations to the bullpen, finishing with a 4.94 ERA and fairly typical strikeout and walk totals. Moyer is in the second year of a two-year, thirteen million-dollar contract with the Phils and has several salary bonuses tied to his games started and innings pitched in 2010.
Kyle Kendrick will reprise a bullpen role he held briefly last year. In 2008, his sophomore season as a starter, Kendrick’s inferior stuff was exposed, as his ERA rose nearly two points. Mostly in the bullpen in 2009, however, his fastball gained velocity and he flashed a much improved changeup. With an opening-day bullpen spot, Kendrick will have ample opportunity to prove last year’s improvements was not just the illusion of a small sample size.
For Moyer, a career that began in earnest in 1926, goes on.
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