Hey Hey Tejeda

Robinson Tejeda is making a case for himself as the guy to replace Wolf's spot in the lineup. He blanked the A's for 5 2/3 innings on Friday, earning his first win and extending his scoreless innings streak to 10 2/3 as a starter. Not bad for an emergency fill in.

So, how did Tejeda look? His pitches do have a lot of movement on them and batters seem to have a hard time picking up the location, esentially some nasty stuff. Todd Pratt had this to say about Tejeda "We wanted to hide his power until we needed it in the middle innings...He's got a lively fastball with some movement, and a good changeup, really two changeups, one's more like a split." A good review to be sure. In his 10 2/3 innings Tejeda has only given up 6 hits and has struck out 5, both very good totals.

On the downside, Tejeda is giving up a fair share of free passes. While he only walked one batter on Friday, he did walked 4 in his previous start covering 5 innings, and has 17 total walks in just 20 innings of work this year. It is also important to note that the A's offense is one of the worst in the majors. Not that to diminsh his outing, it was superb, but it is still worth noting. It is rare when a pitcher comes from obscurity to have great success in the majors, but certainly not unheard of. Tejeda could be the starters version of Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez.

What to look for...for Tejeda to keep his spot in the rotation, he will need to cut down on his walk rate and show that he can work deeper into games. At this point he is a 5 inning pitcher, but over the next few starts he is likely to be stretched out to 6, 7 or even 8 innings. This will be a true test of how he can fare at the major league level. Tejeda should be given at least a couple more starts to see if he can keep up the success. If he falters however, the Phillies could turn to Gavin Floyd (yes, he has been struggling in the minors, but likely just needs some confidence), or they will need to make a move for a pitcher out on the market.

Figuring out who will fill Wolf's spot in the rotation the rest of the year is key to continuing the Phillies success, and will continue to be the most important issue to follow over the next few weeks.