Mackanin has his Phillies brush up on their baserunning
SAN FRANCISCO - More than four hours before the first pitch Saturday, most of the Phillies occupied an empty AT&T Park for extra work mandated by Pete Mackanin. The manager's team is one that cannot afford to make mistakes in the most rudimentary areas.
SAN FRANCISCO - More than four hours before the first pitch Saturday, most of the Phillies occupied an empty AT&T Park for extra work mandated by Pete Mackanin. The manager's team is one that cannot afford to make mistakes in the most rudimentary areas.
Like baserunning.
"We have to improve our stolen-base percentage," Mackanin said. "Our guys just aren't executing that very well."
Saturday's work focused on more than just that. The Phillies' pitchers have not done a great job of holding runners. The runners are guilty of mental gaffes.
The Phillies entered Saturday with a 57 percent success rate in stolen bases. That ranked 28th in baseball. They had made 28 outs on the bases, not including times caught stealing or pickoffs. Just five teams had made more.
Their opponents had stolen bases at a 76 percent clip, seventh-highest in baseball. Those figure all equate to a significant net loss on the bases.
Mackanin used the afternoon to emphasize that to his young roster.
"Just a reminder that defense is important," he said. "We're a little sloppy in a lot of areas. I want to remind them defense is important, too."
Velasquez to start
Mackanin confirmed that Vince Velasquez will be activated from the disabled list to start Monday's game at Arizona. Velasquez has not pitched since June 8 because of a strained right biceps.
The team has not decided whether Adam Morgan will be optioned to triple-A Lehigh Valley to continue as a starter or remain in the majors as a reliever. He will be available in the bullpen Sunday, but Morgan is probably headed to the minors.
"We're not sure we're going to do that," Mackanin said. "It's an option we're mulling."
Extra bases
Edubray Ramos retired the only batter he faced Friday in his major-league debut. The righthanded relief prospect hit 97 mph with his fastball. . . . Aaron Nola, who has a 15.83 ERA in his last three starts, will pitch Sunday's series finale in San Francisco. The Giants will start Johnny Cueto, who is 11-1 with a 2.06 ERA. He has a 1.07 mark in his last nine starts, which include two complete games.
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