Drabek throws no-no; Madson is close
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Drabek throws no-no; Madson is close
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
Following up on a few newsy notes on this Fifth of July...
Hey, Kyle Drabek threw a no-hitter. Remember him? Of course you do.
Drabek was the best prospect the Phillies gave up in the Roy Halladay trade. So far, it appears that trade has worked out pretty well for both sides.
Drabek threw 98 pitches in the no-no for double-A New Hampshire and reports had him at 95-97 m.p.h. in the ninth inning. It was his first win since May 31.
He faced 28 batters, walking two, but erased one on a double play. As John Habib wrote in The Union-Leader (N.H.), every out was on a routine play. There were no spectacular defensive plays needed.
"You keep looking at the scoreboard and keep seeing the zeros," Drabek told reporters. "I was as composed in the seventh and eighth innings as I was when I first started the game, but I got a little nervous in the ninth. The crowd was great with their support, but I was freaking out there a little bit."
The Inquirer checked in on Drabek during spring training.
MADSON GOING BACK-TO-BACK
Wanted to clarify something from today's notebook: I erroneously wrote Ryan Madson would pitch on back-to-back days for triple-A Lehigh Valley beginning Sunday. That, obviously, should have been Monday (today).
Madson will pitch Monday and Tuesday for the IronPigs. If all goes well, as the rest of his rehab has so far, then Madson could be back with the Phillies on Wednesday or Thursday.
WHAT'S UP HAPP?
Lefthander J.A. Happ allowed four runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings Sunday for triple-A Lehigh Valley in his final rehab start.
The question now is, what's next?
Happ has options left and the Phillies have publicly discussed sending Happ down for more time to sharpen his stuff. Happ's line wasn't pretty Sunday, but reports have him looking better than his last outing for the IronPigs five days ago. But he still tired as the game went on. Happ was never able to complete six innings in his six rehab starts.
Fifth starter Kyle Kendrick is fresh off a complete-game victory. Joe Blanton, as troubling as Sunday's outing was, appears to have turned a corner in the last three weeks.
So the Phillies have the current luxury of buying some time with Happ, especially with the All-Star break approaching. The guess here is Happ goes to the minors for a few more weeks.
Either way, the Phillies have to make a move Wednesday when Happ's official rehab clock expires.
Could you imagine how good this rotation would be if they just kept Lee, and didn't make the Halladay trade? They would have Lee, Hamels, Happ, Drabek, and Moyer or Blanton as the fifth guy. I guess we'll never know.— drbob1- Great reminder of how f-ed up RAJ was in those double trades last winter.— davi
- idiots— Onlineps2beast
- Excuse me, Drabek is in Double-A even the Blue Jays know he isn't ready yet.....— mrdip
Comment removed.- Good for Kyle. Phils knew they were giving up a legit prospect when they traded for one of the top 5 pitchers in the game. I also saw "last win since May 31". A rotation including Drabek would be a couple years away which is one of the reasons why they traded him. We are built to win now. Hopefully, the Phils start winning now. Side note - it's easy to root for a team when they're winning. Now that we're not winning as much, alot of you seem to be turning on the team. There's an old saying that I'm going to butcher about adversity bringing out true colors. Negadelphians - Are these your true colors? GO PHILS!— vafan
- Being passionate about the team, and being frustrated about the team right now is not being a "Negadelphian.' If you don't like Philly fans, move. Wish Drabek was still a Phillie!— matthew76
- agree vafan with your overall sentiment except if we were built to win now why trade Lee— davi
- Lee and Drabek would look a lot better than Halliday and Blanton. Since 2008 Lee is a vastly superior player than Halliday. Lee beat Reds 1-0; Halliday then blows 3-0 lead to Reds and loses 4-3. Lee beats Yanks 3 straight, Halliday gets blown out by Yanks, Redsox and Twins. Lee showed he is money pitcher and can single handedly win anytime anywhere; Halliday shows he can stop Marlins with umpires's liberal strike zone, but otherwise is just a good pitcher who does not have a real out pitch and can lose to any team that patiently strings hits together. how can anyone ever justify the Phils not getting minor leaguers in return for Lee at least equal to what they gave for Haliday; instead they gave up 3 future ML stars for Halliday and got back literally nothing for Lee -- less even than what they paid for Blanton . how can we put this to rest when the ridiculousness of it is more glaring with each passing day... Amaro mistakes: Lee, Drabek (should not have been traded period), Howard (no other team would take Howard under this contract so by definiton contract has no value to team - could have paid Adrian Gonzalez same money after 2011 and gotten better player), Ibanez, Polanco (singles hitter wiht no speed and limited range --Beltre at 9 mil. instaed of Polanco for 3yr/ 18 mil is much shrewder --which is why Redsox will remain good yr after yr), Moyer and Blanton (definiton of mediocre --can get any equivalent pitcher any day for 3 to 5 mil), Brett Myers (would be #2 starter on current Phils for little money), Baez and Contreras (with ERAs over 4 and 5 for past many yrs,their poor pitching entirely predictable), etc etc etc . Amaro was given a World Series champ with great farm system and in one yr turned it into old team with bloated contracts and no farm system - wow that was quick.....— warbiscuit
- yo, Matt - how about all the "Phils are done", "can't wait for Lehigh" and "I'm done watching" posts? That's not passion. BTW - I already moved but thanks for the advice.— vafan
- Has the team looked at Happ's forearm by MRI lately, or is this one of those injuries that a baseball team wishes will go away until the pitcher has thrown so many rehab starts that he finally tears something so definitively that the wishing is over? It seems to me he's a start or two away from finally acknowledging that he needs surgery.— frankenslade
- Warbiscuit... for someone who claims to know a lot about the Phillies, you should know that his name is Halladay... not Halliday or Haliday.— Dykstra4Pres
- yo, davi - it's been well documented that Ruben traded Lee to replenish the farm. It's also been well documented that the prospects we received are not doing well. I agree it was a bad trade but accept it for what Ruben explained it as. For those that really think it was about the money, we're sitting in the top 5 payroll category. I'm optimistic the Phils will turn it around and be right there at the end. 5 games out halfway through and so many are jumping off. I anticipate a reporter getting a juicy quote from one of the players any day now about the fans.— vafan
So what? Drabek threw a no-no. Halladay threw a no-no. We're even. Oh, the Phils threw Cliff Lee in too? Doc H needs to come up BIG tonight vs. the ATL.- yo, warbiscuit - I wish this board had a search feature so I could pull up all the posts in the beginning of the season of fans drooling over our lineup. How can you argue that Lee and Drabek would be better that Halladay and Blanton? Lee was gone after this season and Drabek wasn't coming up this season. They locked up Howard before Pujols set the market for first basemen and he's almost hitting 300 with power. Lastly, you're going to criticize the Polanco signing? Sheesh. There's nothing else I can say.— vafan
