Last night, with Vance Worley and his hurting elbow on the Disabled List, the Philadelphia Phillies turned to Kyle Kendrick to start against the Chicago Cubs. Kendrick came into the game with a horrendous ERA and a record of 0-3 this season. Last year, as a spot starter and long reliever, Kendrick had posted an ERA of 3.22 and a record of 8-6. But Kendrick showed that his poor statistics this year were just a bad patch in a long season; he really pitched very well last night. He kept the ball down in the strike zone and had great command - 65 of his 93 pitches were strikes. At the plate, Kendrick went 1 for 2 and scored the tying run for the Phils.

 In the 7^th inning, Charley Manuel sent in a pinch hitter for Kendrick, but the game remained tied 2-2 as the Phils could not score in that inning. So Kendrick did not get the win despite giving the Cubs only 3 base runners and 1 earned run. But he deserves a pat on the back for keeping the Cubs at bay.

The Phillies scored the go-ahead run in the 8^th on Carlos Ruiz' homer, and then exploded for 6 more runs in the 9^th. It was nice to see Hector Luna (just called up from the minors) hit a grand-slam homer in his first at-bat as a member of the Phillies. Luna seems to be a dead pull hitter who may not hit big league pitching for a high average, but he does provide Charley Manuel with a right-handed power threat off the bench. Perhaps he will get a few starts at either third base or at first base, especially against left-handed pitchers.

Kyle Kendrick is not an overpowering pitcher like some of the great starters on the Philadelphia staff. But he is a competitor and can be a valuable member of the team with the type of controlled command he showed us last night.