Blanton likely to get Game 4 start for Phillies

Sporting News staff reports The Philadelphia Daily News speculated righthander Joe Blanton will get the start in Game 4 of the NLCS on Monday. Game 3 is Sunday. Blanton, who made 31 starts in the regular season, has pitched exclusively in relief thus far in the postseason. In two appearances in the NLDS (3 2/3 innings), the righthander allowed two earned runs and a homer. Blanton said he will be ready if called upon. "I'm not rusty," he told the newspaper. "Two-hundred innings into the year, for the most part you are either there or you are not." Rookie lefthander J.A. Happ, another starter-turned-reliever in the playoffs, also is a candidate to get the Game 4 start, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.