Phillies place Harang on DL with plantar fasciitis

PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies moved pitcher Aaron Harang to the disabled list on Thursday afternoon with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. The move, which came as a counter move to Chad Billingsley being activated from the disabled list to start Thursday, came a day after Harang became the first Phillie to lose eight consecutive starts since 1972.

Phillies interim manager Pete Mackanin said the injury has been hampering Harang in his last three starts, but the right-hander opted to play through it, thinking it was just an everyday ache.

"I think it's been iffy all along and it has been bothering him," Mackanin said. "But he's a veteran and he knows that you are going to have aches, pains and things. You're not going to feel 100 percent all the time. So he's a gamer. He doesn't want to say he couldn't do it."

Harang's left foot is his plant foot, meaning every time he lands after making a move to the plate, his entire body weight shifts onto his left foot. Plantar fasciitis is effectively a strain of the ligaments that support the arches of a foot, so landing on those ligaments around 100 times a game not counting warm up pitches made it increasingly difficult for an injury of a nagging nature such as this to heal.

Mackanin said he believes this contributed to Harang's decreased pitch accuracy, but once all is resolved fans will once again "see who he was, like he was early in the season."

With Billingsley coming off the DL, being able to send Harang down saved Mackanin and the Phillies from having to send a pitcher down to Triple-A or designating one for assignment. The move does throw a wrench into the flow of the Phillies' rotation however. As it is announced, Adam Morgan will take the hill Friday, followed by Kevin Correia on Saturday and Cole Hamels on Sunday. Sean O'Sullivan will take over Harang's spot in the rotation on Monday.