reCAP: Philadelphia Phillies vs. Minnesota Twins

6/14/13

What a dreadful series this has been for the Phillies. They have lost the first two games of this series, both one run games, and it fell in the fate of the bullpen. The Phillies thought Mike Adams would solve their eighth inning woes in the bullpen, but that has not been the case in this series, or this year as a matter of fact. The Phillies went from a five game winning streak back to a five game losing streak. Their offense is back to what it’s been this entire season; dormant. The Phillies made a few roster moves before the game. They sent Cesar Hernandez and Tyler Cloyd to the minors and they called Jake Diekman and Michael Martinez up to the big club. Eventually Diekman will be sent down to the minors to make room for John Lannan. He will come off the 15-Day disabled list on Monday. Charlie Manuel changed his lineup at the top of the order. He switched Ben Revere from the two hole to leadoff and Michael Young went from leadoff to the two hole. Cliff Lee got the start last night. He has been the only good pitcher so far for the Phillies. Kevin Correia took the mound for the Twins. Will the Phillies finally win one for Cliff Lee or will they go back to giving him no run support?

The Phillies didn’t provide a lot of runs for Lee, but as has been the case all season, Lee pitched brilliantly last night. Ryan Howard started the scoring in the first inning as he shot a single into right field that scored Ben Revere to make it a 1-0 game. There were a lot of zero’s in this game until the seventh inning happened. The Twins got one big hit by Justin Morneau as he hit a liner into left centerfield and a diving attempt by Revere to catch the ball failed as the ball rolled away from him. Just like that the Twins took a 2-1 lead. In the next inning, Michael Young hit an RBI single into right field that scored pinch hitter Kevin Frandsen. Then Jimmy Rollins hit into a fielder’s choice, but the Twins tried to throw Revere out at home, but Revere slid safely into home before the ball got into Joe Mauer’s glove. The Phillies won this game by a score of 3-2.

As I stated before, Lee was great. He did what he always does. He mixed his fastball and cutter and threw the old loopy curveball to fool the batters. He threw seven spectacular innings. He should have shutout the Twins, but the first base umpire unraveled Lee as he called Ryan Doumit safe on a play at first that should have been called out. Lee left the game after the seventh because he had a blister in his left middle finger. It was not because he had thrown 101 pitches. The bullpen finally didn’t blow a lead. Mike Adams and Jonathan Papelbon shut down the Twins in the final two innings. Papelbon recorded his 12^th save of the season.

Correia didn’t have his best game. The Phillies were more selective at the plate than they’ve been recently. He’s known as a groundball pitcher, but the Phillies found some holes in the field and got nine hits off of Correia. Not only did the Phillies knock a starter out of the game after five innings, but they made a pitcher throw over 100 pitches through five innings. The Twins bullpen, usually good, blew the game last night as Jared Burton suffered the loss as he gave up the tying and winning run in the eighth inning.

Overall, the Phillies should have blown this game wide open. They had 16 hits in the game and only scored three runs. That’s unacceptable. I understand that a win is a win, but this Twins team is a terrible team. They left 16 men on base. That’s not good. This is what separates the good teams on offense from the bad teams on offense. I really liked Ben Revere’s game at the plate. He looked for pitches that he can hit and got himself a four hit game. Ryan Howard had some good swings too. He had himself a three hit game, and beat the shift twice on two of his three singles. Michael Young seems to have found his groove at the plate. Maybe that time hitting leadoff made him get his timing back on his swing.

How should the Phillies fare in the final leg of their road trip as they travel to Colorado? Sound off and stay tuned until next time…

reCAP: Philadelphia Phillies vs. Minnesota Twins

6/12/13

After the Phillies dropped three of four games to the Milwaukee Brewers, they got to travel to the Land of 10,000 Lakes (That’s Minnesota for all of you geography nerds). The Twins are a bad team this year, and this is a three game series that the Phillies have to take advantage of. The Twins are one of the worst offensive teams in the American League, and are in the bottom five in the American League in pitching. Most of that crappy pitching the Twins have is from the starting pitchers because they have a top bullpen in the American League. The Twins thought they had a diamond in the rough when Aaron Hicks dazzled them in spring training with his ability to hit and his ability to flash the leather in the outfield. So far he gets the label of being a “Spring Training Hero” because he has had such a rough start to the season hitting under .200, and he has not shown his ability to get on base. He was making some great plays in the field, but an unfortunate turn for the worst happened. Hicks got placed on the 15-Day disabled list with a bad hamstring. The Twins will always be known by the core of Joe Mauer, and Justin Morneau. They have been the heart and soul of the Twins since 2005. Mauer has been a consistent hitter ever since he stepped foot in the big leagues. Morneau is also a good hitter, but has dealt with concussion symptoms for the past few years. This year he’s hitting his stride as he has found his stroke at the plate. The Phillies will be without Erik Kratz for awhile since he tore his meniscus on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers. He was placed on the 15-Day disabled list, and Steven Lerud took Kratz’s spot on the roster. Cole Hamels started for the Phillies as he’s looking to build off on that win he achieved in his last start against the Miami Marlins. P.J. Walters took the mound for the Twins. He has been successful since getting the call up to the big leagues in late May. Will this be a low scoring game or will one of the teams dominate on offense?

This was a low scoring game that took until the bottom of the eighth inning for a winner to be determined. The Phillies started the scoring in the third inning with an RBI single by Michael Young that scored John Mayberry Jr. Unfortunately, Young gambled by trying to take second base and was thrown out to end the inning after Mayberry Jr. crossed the plate. In the fourth inning, the Twins got a pair of runs to take the lead. Both Morneau and Oswaldo Arcia blasted RBI doubles off the wall in centerfield. In the top of the eighth inning, Ryan Howard hit what was then called a clutch RBI single into right field that scored Kevin Frandsen to tie the game at two. However, in the bottom half of the eighth, Morneau was the clutch one and laced an RBI single into centerfield to make the game, and what was ultimately the final score of 3-2.

Hamels didn’t have his best stuff last night. He pitched six innings, but his pitch count was high in the early innings. The Twins kept hitting a lot of foul balls to keep Hamels’ pitch count high. Then again, that’s what a typical American League can do to a pitcher. The bullpen was a problem, especially in the eighth inning. Mike Adams didn’t look too comfortable on the mound as he allowed two guys on base. Antonio Bastardo didn’t do his job to get the final out in the eighth inning.

Walters kept up with the success he has been having since getting called up to the big club. He pitched 7 solid innings until he ran into trouble into the eighth inning. Coming into this game, Walters struck only nine batters all season. He is not a strikeout pitcher yet he struck out five Phillies batters in this game. He doesn’t have dominating stuff either. He throws slow junk to the batters. Brian Duensing almost blew the game for the Twins in the eighth as he allowed the tying run to score, but he got away with it since the Phillies have the inability to have a solid bullpen. Glen Perkins finished the game in the ninth and recorded his 14^th save of the season.

Overall, the Phillies blew away another chance to win a game against a bad team. The Phillies went back to their old hitting ways and were impatient at the plate. The umpire at home plate wasn’t giving Hamels much to work with as he had a tight strike zone. I thought Charlie Manuel made one of his famous bad managing decisions and let Bastardo pitch to Morneau when he had runners on the corners with the go-ahead run 90 feet away. As I’ve stated before, Morneau is a very good hitter. Why would you pitch to a very good hitter with the go-ahead run at third base? Instead, Bastardo should have intentionally walked Morneau to face Arcia. Arcia is an unproven hitter in the majors and if he beats you, you can tip your hat to him.

Is this season a lost cause? Sound off and stay tuned until next time...

reCAP: Philadelphia Phillies vs. Milwaukee Brewers

6/9/13

You know what’s the best thing about baseball? There are 162 games. The season is a marathon and not a sprint. Games like the second game of this series are ones you want to forget, but the best thing is that there’s another game to be played on the next day. In the second game of this series, the Brewers won 5-4 in grand fashion in the ninth inning. Aramis Ramirez hit a walkoff single to score Jean Segura, who was a pest against the Phillies. Cliff Lee did all he could through six innings, but had a rough seventh inning. The hitting was there for the first four innings, but disappeared in the latter stages of the game. Alfredo Figaro had a decent start because he kept the team in the game. Kyle Kendrick got the nod for the Phillies as Tom Gorzelanny made a spot start for the Brewers. Ryan Howard is out of the lineup for the Phillies and was replaced by Kevin Frandsen. Cesar Hernandez replaced Freddy Galvis in the lineup as well. The only change to the Brewers lineup was Juan Francisco starting at first base instead of Yuniesky Betancourt. Will Kendrick put the Phillies back to their winning ways or will Gorzelanny in somehow someway make the Phillies lineup look putrid?

The Phillies offense went back to the way it has been all year. They scored three runs all on the bat of Domonic Brown. He hit a solo homerun in the second inning and drove in a two RBI double in the eighth inning which made it a 4-3 game, which was the final score. Segura put the Brewers on the board as he hit a solo homerun of his own to tie the game at one in the fourth inning. Jonathan Lucroy hit an RBI double and Carlos Gomez hit an RBI single in the sixth inning to make it 3-1. In the seventh inning, Ryan Braun got an RBI single to make it 4-1.

Kyle Kendrick had another quality start as he pitched six innings and allowed three runs. He had six strikeouts but allowed eight hits and walked one batter. Michael Stutes had his first bad game of the season. He allowed the run that sealed the deal for the Brewers, and put four Brewers on base. Joe Savery finished the game as he went unscathed in the eighth inning.

Tom Gorzelanny pitched better than I thought he would have pitched. He got hit around hard by the Phillies in the first three innings, but the Brewers fielders helped him out immensely. Carlos Gomez made a great catch in centerfield to rob John Mayberry Jr. of a homerun. Other than that, the Phillies worked the count early in the game and made Gorzelanny throw 52 pitches by the end of the third inning. He was on a pitch count of 50. The Phillies were dumb enough to swing at the first pitch, or early in the count, in the majority of the fourth inning. That made Gorzelanny end his night throwing 58 pitches in four innings. He didn’t get the win because he pitched four innings so Tyler Thornberg picked up the win instead since he pitched the fifth and sixth inning. John Axford pitched a solid seventh inning, but Brandon Kintzler made the Phillies get back into this game as he allowed the two runs in the eighth inning. Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth and recorded his fourth save of the season.

Overall, the Phillies should have won this game. They had a great chance to blow this game open in the sixth inning when they had runners on second and third with nobody out with the meat of their lineup coming up. Instead, Delmon Young struck out, and Kevin Frandsen got thrown out at home after Domonic Brown stupidly swung at the first pitch. John Mayberry Jr. ended that sixth inning with a ground out too. I still questioned Charlie Manuel’s in-game strategy in the eighth inning. If it were me, I would have used Howard to pinch hit for Delmon Young. Now, both are prone to striking out a lot, but Howard would have a more favorable matchup since he would have faced a right handed pitcher. Instead, Howard pinch hit for Mayberry Jr., who has been hitting the ball well as of late. The final thing I disliked about this game, the umpires. There was a bad call at first base when Frandsen clearly tagged Ramirez on his leg, but Ramirez was called safe. I really disliked the home plate umpire’s strike zone that favored the Brewers pitchers. The Brewers were getting strikes called on pitches that were way below the knees of the Phillies hitters. Although he did this consistently, I still don’t like it. Everybody has a set strike zone and that is from the knees to the letters of the uniform. I do wish Erik Kratz the best recovery as he blew out his left knee in the ninth inning when he was running to first base. I fear that he could be finished for the season because he felt a pop in his knee. That’s a really bad sign in which the Phillies are thin in catching depth.

UPDATE: Erik Kratz got placed on the 15-Day disabled list. Steven Lerud has been called up to be the backup catcher for the Phillies. Humberto Quintero is now the starting catcher until Carlos Ruiz returns.

Can the Phillies split this series? Sound off and stay tuned until next time…

reCAP: Philadelphia Phillies vs. Milwaukee Brewers

6/8/13

The Phillies got their fifth win in a row in their last game against these Brewers and they have been playing some solid baseball against bad teams. The Phillies poured on four runs in the first three innings of the game. Delmon Young swatted a solo homerun in the fifth for their fifth run of the game. The Brewers got one measly run in the eighth inning. Tyler Cloyd was exceptional in his 6 2/3 innings of work, but the same can’t be said for Wily Peralta. Cliff Lee took the mound last night against Alfredo Figaro. Lee has been superb this year with a 7-2 record and an ERA of 2.45. The difference from last year to this year with Lee is that his offense is scoring runs for him. Figaro, a reliever, is transforming into a starter due to the number of injuries the Brewers have to their pitching staff. He started one game this year at the end of May and pitched poorly. The Phillies lineup didn’t change and why should it? Michael Young and John Mayberry Jr. had six hits combined in the first two spots in the lineup. The Brewers switched their right side of the infield as Juan Francisco and Scooter Gennett are out of the lineup. Rickie Weeks and Yuniesky Betancourt replaced them. Will the offense continue to keep scoring runs for Lee or will the Brewers catch fire and knock Lee around?

The offense scored enough runs for Lee to win this game, but Lee didn’t help his cause. Jimmy Rollins started the game with an RBI single. Delmon Young blooped an RBI single that made the game 2-0 in the fourth inning. Erik Kratz hit a two run homerun in the same inning to make it a 4-0 game. Betancourt put the Brewers on the board with an RBI double. Figaro hit an RBI groundout that scored Rickie Weeks to make it 4-2. Jean Segura hit a two run RBI triple to tie the game at four. Segura scored the winning run in the ninth inning as Aramis Ramirez walked it off with an RBI single to make the final score 5-4.

Lee was decent through six innings, but I didn’t understand why Charlie Manuel kept him in the game in the seventh inning. Lee threw 101 pitches in six innings, why keep him in the game to throw 21 more pitches? Does he not trust the bullpen? Michael Stutes has done a stellar job since being promoted to the big club. Justin De Fratus has been stellar too. Jeremy Horst has been pitching better as of late. Why kill their confidence by not using them in big situations? Is Manuel being too loyal to Lee or did he want to have a veteran pitcher available out of the bullpen? Otherwise, Lee did a good job changing the batters’ visions at the plate by mixing his pitches up and down in the strike zone. He did strike out nine batters, but was un-Cliff like and walked three batters while allowing eight hits.

Figaro looked bad starting the game, but got better as the game went on. He struck out six batters in 5 1/3 innings, but gave up seven hits. For the most part, the Phillies couldn’t keep up with Figaro’s fastball, which was hovering around 94-97 miles per hour. The Brewers had to use their bullpen a lot last night, but will that hurt them for tonight’s game? Tonight the Brewers will have their bullpen pitch against the Phillies. That could either be a good or bad idea considering the amount of work their bullpen has pitched this entire series.

Overall, the Phillies should have won this game. You can’t score four runs early in the game and lose that lead. That’s what separates the good teams from the bad. There were a few fielding miscues that happened on the Phillies. First off, Domonic Brown didn’t have to leap at the wall to attempt to catch Betancourt’s long fly ball when he could have simply extended his arm out at the wall to make the catch. Freddy Galvis made a bad throw to Kratz in which Seguara scored from third base on his triple to tie the game. Charlie Manuel second guessed himself when he took Ryan Howard out of the game in the eighth inning as Ben Revere pinch ran for him. I say second guessed because Delmon Young, who should have been pinch hit for by Laynce Nix, grounded into an inning ending double play to kill the rally. This forced Manuel to take out his best left handed power hitter in Howard and had to use Nix to play first base and Revere in centerfield. John Mayberry Jr. shifted to right field when the changes occurred. I get that Mike Adams was feeling sore, but why did Manuel keep Horst in the game in the ninth inning and not have De Fratus pitch? He didn’t pitch much in the first game of this series throwing only five pitches.

Can anything else go wrong with the Phillies? Sound off and stay tuned later tonight as Kyle Kendrick takes the mound for the Phillies. Tom Gorzelanny will make a spot start for the Brewers.

reCAP: Philadelphia Phillies vs. Milwaukee Brewers

6/7/13

The Phillies have been playing good baseball as of late. They were on a four game winning streak; their longest winning streak of the season. They are in second place with a record of 30-30. The Phillies have improved with their plate discipline and have been walking more often than they had throughout the year. Speaking of improvements…how about Domonic Brown? He’s hit 10 homeruns in his last 12 games and has 18 homeruns right now. The Phillies started their 10 game road trip last night as they traveled to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers. The Brewers are in dead last in the NL Central. The Brewers have an offensive lineup, but they have terrible pitchers on their roster. In fact, they lost their closer Jim Henderson because he has an injured hamstring and was placed on the 15-Day disabled list. Ryan Braun, Jean Segura, Carlos Gomez, Norichika Aoki are having solid years at the plate. One player to keep an eye on is Jonathan Lucroy as he tormented the Phillies the last time these two teams met. Tyler Cloyd started for the Phillies as Wily Peralta took the mound for the Brewers. The Brewers changed their right side of the infield as new first baseman Juan Francisco will start and hit seventh and rookie second baseman Scooter Gennett will start and hit eighth. The Phillies changed their lineup as well. Michael Young is leading off as Ben Revere was apparently benched due to either his poor baserunning in the final game against the Miami Marlins or that he’s been in a slump in the early stages of June. John Mayberry Jr. will take Revere’s place in centerfield and hit second. Will the Phillies continue their consistent hitting or will the Brewers bring the Phillies back to reality?

The Phillies started off this game scoring two runs in the first inning. Ryan Howard hit a sacrifice fly and Peralta threw a wild pitch that allowed Mayberry Jr. to score from third base. In the next inning, Mayberry Jr. scorched a ball into the gap in right centerfield which allowed Cloyd to score all the way from first base to make it a 3-0 game. They say that it’s always bad to walk the pitcher, which is what happened to Cloyd. Erik Kratz grounded into a fielder’s choice in the third inning which scored Domonic Brown from third and it was 4-0. Delmon Young hit a solo homerun in the fifth inning to make it a 5-0 game. The Brewers scored a run in the eighth inning on an RBI groundout by Lucroy. The Phillies won by a final score of 5-1 and their record sits at 31-30. It is the first time all year that the Phillies have a winning record. They also extended their longest winning streak of the season to five games.

Cloyd pitched an exceptional game. He walked a lot of hitters, but did not allow many hits to the Brewers. His location was decent, but I thought home plate umpire Dan Iassogna was inconsistent with the strike zone for both pitchers in this game. Cloyd walked five batters, but allowed four hits in 6 2/3 innings. The bullpen didn’t let this game get out of hand. Justin De Fratus pitched to one batter to finish off the seventh inning. Mike Adams gave up the lone run to the Brewers in the eighth and Antonio Bastardo sealed the win in the ninth.

Peralta had a terrible game. The Phillies were very patient early in the game against Peralta. He allowed seven hits and walked four batters in five innings. The bullpen had to come in early for the Brewers. This benefited the Phillies because the Brewers will most likely have their entire bullpen pitch on Saturday since they have not announced an actual starter for that game. Donovan Hand and Burke Badenhop pitched a combined four innings out of the bullpen and erased the damaged that Peralta started.

Overall, I felt the Phillies could have scored more runs in the first inning, but they won the game and that’s what matters. They got some help from the Brewers due to poor fielding by Gennett. Gennett allowed the Phillies to score their first three runs. I didn’t understand why Mike Adams pitched in a 5-0 game in the eighth inning. It’s not like he needed to get in some work and he could always use some rest. This game proved to me that the Brewers are a team that relies on hitting the long ball to get their offense clicking. Otherwise, they hit singles and call it a night.

Can the Phillies go for win number six in a row with Cliff Lee pitching tonight? Sound off and stay tuned when Lee starts for the Phillies and Alfredo Figaro will start for the Brewers.