Shane's bruise, Chad's back and David's juice
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Shane's bruise, Chad's back and David's juice
Andy Martino
A few quick items to pass along as I wait to board a flight. Tweeted this stuff, but hopefully some of you out there still spend a few minutes at a time away from your screens and handhelds.
--Shane Victorino was limping around the clubhouse after last night’s game. He bruised his knee making a catch in the first inning, and said it tightened during the game. The outfield at Chase Field is a very hard surface—think your front lawn in mid-August—with patches of dirt interrupting the grass. Not a good bang one’s knee. After visiting with the trainer, Victorino said there was no fracture, but that he was “very, very sore.” He didn’t know if he could play tonight.
--Chad Durbin will throw his first bullpen session tomorrow since going on the DL with a back (lat) injury. He’s in Clearwater right now, and told me that he realized this week that the injury had affected his arm slot for several weeks. He’s hopeful that the rest and rehab will not only heal the injury, but reset his mechanics.
--I got enough emails yesterday saying, “Hey, the Phils still have the pieces to acquire Halladay” that I felt compelled to ask Ruben Amaro “Just for the record, are you done upgrading your rotation before July 31?”
He said: “We’re very pleased with where we are right now.”
Kinda sounded like Hillary Clinton answering whether she’d ever run for president again. But I think that’s more matter of his style than anything else. I’ll state for the record that I’d be absolutely, totally stunned if the Phils traded for another starter this week.
--The biggest question now is, who will go to the bullpen? In talking to the Dubinator, Cholly and Rubio yesterday, I got the sense that a decision had not quite been made, but Happ was a strong possibility. Here’s the logic behind that: of Pedro, Father Time Moyer and Happ, the latter would be the best reliever. On the other hand, Happ is the best starter of those three, too. So it’s a quandary.
But you know what? That’s a good problem for the Phillies to have.
--No roster moves have been announced yet, but will be later today. John Mayberry Jr. is the most likely candidate for a trip to Allentown, along with a Steven Register or Kyle Kendrick.
--Gee, I always wondered why David Ortiz suddenly got awesome around, oh...2003. Shocker!
Comments (30)
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Todd, that's the (San) Fransico era, if you don't mind. I don't like the idea of sending Happ to the pen, though I understand Dave's points. I'd much ratehr have Pedro there as middle inning/ multiple inning then Happ who I think will be more effected by the switch. hes already gone from teh hope of a place in the rotation to the pen to the rotation to being traded to Toronto to this. He's a young kid and we don't want to mess with his mind too much. If Pedro doesn't want to go to the pen, he can always go back to the beaches in the D Rep. so he cost us a million, but let's get real, he's really not needed any more, is he?— fan_in_jerusalem
"the Dubinator, Cholly and Rubio"??? Oh, brother.— bobby- Andy, I'm sorry. I just asumed that since the blog actually made some decent points it had to be Dave's blog. What a pleasent surprise to see that it's yours...— fan_in_jerusalem
- Alas, it looks like Phils are keeping Eric Bruntlett. Bruntell is hitting .125 this season. Jamie Moyer has a career .127 batting average. Phils could move Moyer to the utility infielder position and it would be an upgrade at the plate. Rotation-Congestion solved.— smel4727
- Yeah, I don't like the idea of taking Happ out of the rotation either. He's pitching very well as a starter and I'd rather have him on the mound in the 4th spot come playoff time than Moyer or Martinez. Sending him to the pen could really mess up the momentum he's built up as a starter. Given Moyer's age and how he wears down at the end of the season, one option is to give Martinez another minor league start after this weekend and then skip Moyer's turn in the rotation to give him a rest and let Martinez throw in Moyer's spot for one start. That would delay having to move any of them to the pen and give Happ and Martinez a little more time to start in order to figure out which guy to send to the pen. Martinez was a very effective reliever early in his career and pitched very well in the Classic this year in short spurts. He could be effective for 1-2 innings out of the pen and possibly replace Durbin who's been struggling.— JimG
- "with patches of dirt interrupting the grass. Not a good bang one’s knee." --So easy a caveman can do it.— BudSelig_isthenext_MrBurns
- Bruntlett is on the team because he can play 7 positions. He's a utility player. Doesn't this team score enough runs? Are we really relying on Bruntlett as the last bat off the bench to carry the team's offense? Geez, some of you guys always have to have 1 guy on every Philly team that you have to complain about over and over. Who cares what Bruntlett's hitting? He's not on the team to hit. If the weakest link we have is our utility guy and 5th option to hit off the bench, then we're in pretty good shape. Some of you guys are threatening to give Lonewolf a run for his money with the constant whining about Bruntlett in every article comment section.— JimG
- I agree with smel4727. I think Jamie would be OK with the fielding, but it would take a long time for his throws to reach first— andwhysee
- Jerusalem i agree with ya on Happ..Although i understand why he would be a choice to go to the Pen i completely disagree with him being the guy. Happ has been spectacular as a starter you cant take that away from him unless Pedro is the guy from 5 years ago. I would actually enjoy seeing Pedro come out of the pen with adrenaline and an attitude! If hes hitting low 90s now, a relief spot could be a good way for him to let it fly and max out his velocity. I just think its too much of a gamble to give him the rotation spot if it means sending Happ to the pen. Ruben if you are reading this, you are the man, great trade but Happ needs to stay put in the rotation.— philsfan in the atx
- JimG As one who has contributed to making Bruntlett the subject of 2009's version of the Steve Jeltz Memorial Phillie-to-Pick-On, I wish to respectfully disagree with your comment. I would remind you that we have a history of losing and long time habits die hard - in particular, picking one guy as the paradigm of Phillies ineffectiveness. I loved Steve Jeltz's hair as much as the next guy and was delighted when he hit those two homeruns to beat the Pirates in the 10-run deficit come from behind game. But Bruntlett is hitting .125. I would 'umbly suggest the team could do better. Again, no disrespect intended - just .125 is - well - it's kind of bad.— smel4727
- Haha! Great verbiage, Murph... The Dubinator... Does Milt have a handle? How bout Milt the Stilt?— Lando_M
- Can't bebieve they are thinking of moving Happ to the pen. After the first inning Diamonbacks did not hit any balls hard off j.A. Happ reminds me of Sid Fernandez who pitched mostly with the Mets but finished up with the Phills. Both get onto the batter very quikly and get a lot of swinging strikes witha 90 mph fastball also both got a lot of popups. Glad to see Rodrigo pitching tonight.— Don w
- Whoops! Thanks for deleting the previous comment, switching btw. the blogs too frequently - MARTINO; you're the master of verbiage... love the Dubinator ref.— Lando_M
- Hope Bako's in the lineup tonight. Always exciting to see if he will break out over the Mendoza line with the bat. Still can't figure how he is able to get that 4 foot tail on his throws aimed at second base winding up at the head of the sliding base stealer. He should aim four feet to the left of second base and his throws would sale into the bag. I think pitchers used to call those kind of throws screwballs.— Dull
- JimG, we all know Bruntlett can play multiple positions, but look at his career batting (.240) and fielding percentage (.963). Last year he hit .217 and this year he is hitting .125 with a FP of .960. I don’t know if he is the last man of the bench, because Charlie uses him a lot. You could put his picture next to awful player. The Nats would’ve cut this guy in Spring Training. If you look at other teams, and I put the Mets as an example, they have two utility guys playing on a regular basis because of injuries that are playing great defense and hitting pretty well: Alex Cora and Angel Pagan. And they called up a catcher from AAA (Santos) when Schneider got hurt that made another good back up (Castro) expendable. I can keep mentioning players. This is a team game and Bruntlett contributes very little to the team. Someone mentioned a few days ago the Bruntlett must have incriminating photos of somebody in the organization, which made me laugh. But I’m starting to believe it. What else could it be?— EL Zorro
- Re: Bruntlett - I've said it before and I'll say it again - Miguel Cairo. He's hit safely in 8 of his last ten games, and his average is at .296. Seems like that's the same stats I quoted two weeks ago, though I think he's fading a little, his average was at .299 last time I checked, (the horror). Dobbs backs up the corner infield, Francisco backs up all 3 OF spots, Bruntlett plays X-Box at his house while looking for another job.— B in DC
- Bruntlett is there to play solid defense in the late innings and pinch-run. Any hit he gets is a bonus. Most teams can't devote a roster spot to an Eric Bruntlett, but the Phils are in a position that they can so they do. He's typical of a guy you'd find as the last player on one of Whitey Herzog's winners in the 80's.
- You still getting royalties on Munster reruns?— Living_Legend
- Andy. Why is Bruntlett still on the team? Everytime he come to bat his average drops and using him as a RH pinchhitter is a JOKE. Cairo is available an d he is more of a threat than Bruntlett or Baco. We are better off letting the pitchers bat and use Hamels as a pinch hitter.— tulsaphil
- Who's the "odd man out" in the rotation? That's easy. The guy who's not even in the rotation: Pedro. Look, the Phils picked him up as a "what if," a last resort based on the fact that they had a missing link in the rotation, which has been filled by Lopez most recently. With the acquisition of Lee, the issue is moot... for now. Put Pedro on ice for a while. Let him collect a paycheck while he rehabs, and let the rotation do its thing. Then if one of the starters goes south, you have him to bring up and be what he was intended to be: a last resort.— bobby
- Lando, I've called Milt Thompson "The Mule" since his playing days. Feel free to borrow that handle if you'd like.
- I prefer "Uncle Milty." Goes better with the aforementioned names.— bobby
- I agree with JimG. This constant Bruntlett thing is ridiculous. Find me a guy who can play 7 positions reasonably well given the fact that he never plays any of them regularly, and add him to the team and we can dump Bruntlett.. Until then, accept the fact that our utility jack of all trades is not much of a hitter and appreciate him for what he can do.— TheLon
- We don't need Bruntlett to play 7 positions. We need a back up middle infielder. We have 6 outfielders, counting Dobbs. And for those who say he plays solid defense check his FP…. .960 is not solid defense. Ryan Howard has a .990 FP and is considered a bad first baseman. Gregg Dobbs, another liability defensively, is a career .978, playing all over the field also. Miguel Cairo’s career FP is .983. And like Bruntlett, he plays almost everywhere. That’s solid defense. What are you guys smoking? And yes, Herzog had players similar to Bruntlett (but a little better I may add) in Mike Phillips and Mark Bradely but that team was built on speed and Whitey used a lot of double switches in the late innings. He hit and run a lot, and he also used those guys as pinch runners. Our team is power team. We don't bunt, we don't double switch a lot or pinch run, which is the only thing I can think Bruntlett brings to the table. In other words, his worthless for this team.— EL Zorro
- The Durbinator? That might be clever if Durbin were anything but a mediocre middle reliever. Instead, it merely comes across as a pretty feeble attempt at humor. Lando_M, please do not encourage him.— PhightinPhil
- Unless there is an injury to one of our starters I have to believe Happ goes back to the pen. If Myers was contracted to be a starter at the beginning of the year than if he can return to service healthy in my mind he becomes a starter "IF" he wants it. They will not put Moyer in the pen just because some people don't like his age, if he fails to produce and becomes a liability that’s different, then they would have to move him some where. Blanton has just been awesome no way he moves and the same goes for Lee and Hamels. So the way I see it "IF" Myers wants to start, and he is fit than Lopez gets bumped. IF Myers is not fit enough to pitch 7 innings than I see him in the pen. You would have to believe Brett is going to the Pen. Lopez has pitched very well and it is difficult to make a case for Padro to replace him. Remember this guy has been pitching all season long, he is in shape, the arm is stretched out, and he is younger. If we drop him to the minors and loose him because of Pedro and Pedro falls flat on his face that would be real dumb. If Happ goes to the Pen there will be 3 leftys, who goes? If Myers and Pedro go to the Pen then 2 more have to go (if I'm counting right) who will it be? I'll say it again Charlie, like Fregosi, is very loyal to the players, he will stay with those that got him where they are today, the rest go to the expanded roster and get used as needed.— Wally 24
- I think that the Phils could still land Halladay. The Blue Jays are desperate. We could offer Happ, Lopez (or Kendrick), and Taylor. I think that a trio like that would be better than any prospects that the dodgers and Red sox might offer. That would mean Pedro to the bullpen. But, who cares. We would have the best starting pitching in baseball, and we would've gotten it on the cheap. Just a thought.— johnandursula
- Well now Ken Rosenthal seems to think there is still a chance for another trade for a bat or a reliever. I couldn't hear all that was said but that is interesting.— Wally 24
- No disrespect to Buntless, but .125? C'mon.— benjyedwards
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