Archive: August, 2008
Todd Zolecki
The Phillies can expand their rosters tomorrow, and so far they have called up four player from their farm system:
Pitcher J.A. Happ.
Outfielder Greg Golson.
Catcher Lou Marson.
Pitcher Adam Eaton.
The Phillies have placed Tom Gordon and Francisco Rosario on the 60-day disabled list to make room for Golson and Marson on the 40-man roster.
Todd Zolecki
You will hear plenty about how every game is important the rest of season, and you will hear that because it is true.
But if every game is important, yesterday's 5-2 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field was really, really, really important. Because had the Phillies lost yesterday, they would have arrived at Wrigley Field this morning with the chance of being swept. And you can't get swept this late in the season. You just can't. So now the Phillies come to Wrigley this morning with a chance to split, which I considered a success before the series started.
The Phillies received some good news today (maybe) when they learned that Carlos Zambrano won't pitch today because of dead arm (it's not really dead, it's just baseball talk for his arm being tired). Sean Marshall will pitch instead.
Todd Zolecki
The Phillies have released triple-A Lehigh Valley righthander Kris Benson.
The Phillies signed Benson to a minor-league contract in Februrary with the idea that he could plug into the rotation sometime before June 1. But because of injuries, Benson progressed much more slowly than they had hoped. So the Phillies moved forward and acquired Joe Blanton before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, which eliminated the possibility that Benson would pitch in the Phillies rotation this season.
Even if there were an injury to a starting pitcher at this point, J.A. Happ would be the likley replacement.
Todd Zolecki
OK, I'm late posting today because I had no power on the Dell. In fact, I had to run to Best Buy on Clark Street to find a new power supply.
Cost?
A bargain at $115.
Todd Zolecki
Last night's 6-4 loss to the Cubs might have been the worst loss of the season:
1. It was the first game of a four-game series against a team that is terribly difficult to beat at home. The Cubs are 50-19 at Wrigley Field this season, the best home record in baseball. Getting a split at Wrigley would be considered a success this weekend, and the Phillies were six outs away from putting themselves in great position to do that.
2. The Phillies scored four runs in six innings against Cubs righthander Ryan Dempster, which is no small feat considering Dempster has been one of the best pitchers in the National League this season and one of the best pitchers in baseball since the all-star break.
Todd Zolecki
Fox Sports reports that the Phillies have acquired Matt Stairs from the Toronto Blue Jays for a minor leaguer.
The Phillies got the lefthanded bat they needed after they couldn't land Mark Kotsay from the Braves and Geoff Jenkins went on the DL. Stairs was hitting .250 with 11 homers and 44 RBIs before the Jays designated him for assignment.
Todd Zolecki
The Phillies have recalled lefthander Fabio Castro from triple-A Lehigh Valley and have optioned righthander Drew Carpenter, who made his big-league debut last night against the Mets, to double-A Reading.
Castro is 0-1 with a 3.30 ERA in 30 appearances with the Phillies and Rangers. He was 8-2 with a 4.40 ERA in 27 appearances (16 starts) for Reading this season and 0-2 with an 8.10 ERA in three apperances (two starts) for Lehigh Valley.
Todd Zolecki
Charlie Manuel is concerned about his bullpen.
That's why J.C. Romero, Chad Durbin, Ryan Madson and Clay Condrey were unavailable to pitch last night in a 6-3 loss to the Mets at Citizens Bank Park, which returned the Phillies to second place in the NL East. Romero had thrown 20 or more pitches in each of the previous three games. Durbin, who already has made a career-high 56 appearances, had pitched five times in the previous seven days. Madson, whose shoulder is an issue, had thrown two innings Tuesday. And Condrey had thrown three innings Tuesday.
That is why Rudy Seanez started the eighth inning.
Todd Zolecki
The Phillies purchased the contract of righthander Drew Carpenter from double-A Reading and designated infielder Andy Tracy for assignment to make room for Carpenter on the 25-man roster. They also placed lefthander Mike Zagurski on the 60-day disabled list to make room for Carpenter on the 40-man roster.Todd Zolecki
Wow.
That felt familiar. Last night's 8-7 victory in 13 innings over the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park felt a lot like 2007. The Mets took a 7-0 lead in the fourth inning, but the Phillies chipped away at it before a few dramatic moments in the ninth and 13th innings won it and moved the Phillies into first place in the National League East.
"It had that feeling like we were going to win it every single inning," Chris Coste said. "We had a pretty good feeling ... an excitement because we put ourselves in position to win the game on many occassions. It was definitely exciting. It probably felt like the Little League World Series players. You forget that you get paid to play the game. It's almost like we felt like little kids with the excitement in kind of playoff-type atmosphere, which is pretty normal when we play the Mets."
