What do Jon Lieber, Robin Roberts and John Denny all have in common?

Answer: They will never pitch for the Phillies again.

It appears as if the Phillies' pitching woes have just gotten that much worse. Is it too early to start thinking about Eagles' training camp... which by the way begins in 34 days.

Jon Leiber has hurt himself in a freak accident taking a mis-step after surrendering a single, which incidentally scored a run, bringing his June ERA to 6.66. That's not good karma. Let's burn his uniform, sacrifice a chicken, and hire clairvoyant to rid the Phillies of this awful curse.

It is quite possible that Jon Lieber will have season ending surgery and not pitch again this year. Here's a full report on Lieber's injury. With Freddy Garcia and Tom Gordon already on the DL, the Phillies' already thinning staff has just gotten that much thinner, kind of like Brett Myers' hairline. (see pic to the left)

Speaking of Brett Myers... will the Phillies ask him to return to the starting rotation? If that's the case, who is our closer?

Jamie Moyer has already volunteered to be part of a 4 man rotation. Which will allow Myers to stay in the pen. Moyer is a true gamer and is tough as nails. Jamie Moyer is 44 years old and he's still pitching deep into games and has arguably been our most consistent starter. (Hamels is his only competition, unfortunately)

So what are the Phillies to do? They've listed a whole lot of names from AA Reading, AAA Ottawa and haven't ruled out a trade. The Good Phight has a few of those suggestions. And even though Lieber was the most likely candidate to be traded... it was me, the prognosticator of all prognosticators that said something like this was bound to happen and it was a good thing to have 6 'quality' starters. (Please note, quality is used very loosely here.)

I've always thought the Phillies should have kept all 6 starters and used one in the bullpen. I had no idea it would turn out to be Myers, in a closer's role. Regardless. Our 6 starters has now dwindled down to 3.

I also pleaded with Pat Gillick on numerous occasions to keep Aaron Rowand. I think we're all glad he did.

But now, with the Phillies realistically in a position to make a move towards first place and make the playoffs. What doe Gillick do?

Is it time to try and get something for Pat Burrell? Do we now trade our beloved Aaron Rowand? Should we package a few of our young outfielders? I don't know. I'm not paid the big bucks to make these decisions. I'm a little worried that I'll be disappointed with what goes on... all we can do is wait and see.