AS RUBEN AMARO Jr. fielded phone calls from his fellow general managers throughout the league last month, he had to have the name of Monday night's starting pitcher on his mind.
Amaro went through his first go-round in sell mode a year ago. He traded Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino and Joe Blanton as his team faded out on contention.
A year later, at least on the major league roster, the only thing he had to show for those trades was Ethan Martin.
Amaro stood pat at the trade deadline this year, but he can still move players (Michael Young? Carlos Ruiz?) before the end of the month through a waiver trade. If Amaro can somehow land another Martin-type, it might be worth his while.
Martin, a former first-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers, took a shutout into the seventh inning of his fourth major league start, and the Phillies held on for a 5-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
The 24-year-old Martin held Colorado to two singles in six innings before serving up a solo home run to Troy Tulowitzki to begin the seventh. Three fourths of the four-headed bullpen monster of Justin De Fratus, Luis Garcia, Jake Diekman and Jonathan Papelbon preserved a one-run win.
"A well-pitched game," manager Ryne Sandberg said. "Martin was very good . . . He was in control."
John Mayberry Jr. and Carlos Ruiz both homered in the win.
Last night's victory marked the first time the Phillies won consecutive games in a month. Before last night, the Phils hadn't won two games in a row since beating the New York Mets at Citi Field on July 19 for their third straight win to begin the second half.
Papelbon faced the minimum in the ninth inning, striking out Dexter Fowler to end the game to record his 21st save of the season and his first in over a month. Before last night, Papelbon hadn't recorded a save since July 11 and hadn't had a save opportunity since Aug. 1.
But Papelbon's lack of work is nothing more than a result of pitching on a team that hasn't won many games during that time span. The performances of the pitchers that preceded him gave some semblance of hope that the closer will have more save situations in 2014.
Martin got the night started by retiring 11 of the first 12 batters he faced. When he set down the Rockies in order in both the fifth and sixth innings, Martin had retired 18 of 20.
In his first three innings, Martin allowed just one ball to leave the infield: a two-out, bloop single from Tulowitzki in the first.
"He just looked nice and calm out there, nice and easy," Sandberg said. "He mixed his pitches well . . . not just relying on his fastball. His breaking pitches were in the zone for strikes and he threw some real nice splits for some outs, which is a third, quality pitch. He mixed pitches. He attacked the strike zone. He kept runners off base."
Martin's ability to be economical with his pitches allowed him to not only pitch more than five innings for the first time in the big leagues, but to take a two-hit shutout into the seventh.
"I tried to slow myself down, especially after the first two games," Martin said. "It was tough the first two games, and even the third game. Tonight, I was able to slow things down, be patient and go at it whenever I had the opportunity."
Martin's mindset worked for six innings. But after giving up a home run to Tulowitzki to start the seventh, Martin said he veered off his game plan.
After four of the first five batters he faced reached base, Martin turned the ball over to the similarly young and inexperienced bullpen. And like Martin, most of the relievers aced their respective tests.
With two on and one out, De Fratus got a line-drive out to right before striking out pinch-hitter Charlie Blackmon to end the seventh. In the eighth, Garcia took a walk on the wild side, walking both Fowler and Tulowitzki while also giving up a single to begin the frame.
After Wilin Rosario cut the Colorado deficit to 5-4 with a two-run single off Garcia, Sandberg called for the lefthanded Diekman to face Todd Helton.
Diekman struck out Helton on three pitches. His outing nearly came apart, however, when he moved the remaining baserunners into scoring position with a balk.
But Diekman didn't get rattled. Instead, he got angry.
"I was a little PO'd, you could say," Diekman said.
Diekman dialed up 99 mph on the radar gun to end a seven-pitch at-bat against rookie righthanded hitter Nolan Arenado with a second straight strikeout.
"If he was ever going to hit 100," De Fratus said, "it was going to be right after that [balk]."
"I didn't know he could throw 99," said Sandberg, who also managed Diekman at Triple A Lehigh Valley. "I think he was fired up. That was big, in a big part of the game. He rose to the occasion."
Diekman and De Fratus helped Martin collect his second career victory. Martin may end up joining both in the bullpen before long with starters Roy Halladay and Jonathan Pettibone pitching in their second rehab starts tonight.
But more than enough capable arms isn't exactly a problem.
"That's all yet to be talked about," Sandberg said of the September rotation. "The more healthy arms, the better."
After the game, the Phillies optioned lefthander Raul Valdes to Triple A Lehigh Valley to make room for tonight's starter, Tyler Cloyd.
Blog: ph.ly/HighCheese
