JA Happ drew some positive reviews from his manager and pitching coach after a strong outing yesterday against Tampa. Charlie Manuel came away impressed with Happ backing Pat Burrell off the plate, something Happ might not have done last year.

“What’s that mean to me?” Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. “It means he’s not backing off; he’s not afraid. He’s got determination like, “I’m going to get you out and show you I’m better than you.’ That’s what we’re looking for.”

“He looks like he has a purpose out there,” said pitching coach Rich Dubee, who has spent the first half of spring training trying to find the fifth pitcher in the Phillies’ starting rotation. “He looks like he belongs out there. When he wasn’t feeling 100 percent he even had the same look.”

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 13th, 2009 at 1:37 pm and is filed under Past BlueClaws, Phillies, Spring Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.