After dropping both ends of the double header Thursday night against Syracuse, the Lynx began week twenty-two with a double header split Friday night, their second double header in two nights. Of course with four games in two days, there is always the possibility that one of the starting pitchers is going to have to take one for the team. Although new comer Gary Knotts, (0-1), pitched a decent game in his first start for the Lynx, he went the distance in game one and Syracuse defeated Ottawa again, this time by a score of 5-3. Ottawa lead 3-1 after two innings but Knotts tired and couldn’t hold the Syracuse club, giving up one run in the fifth and three in the sixth inning. The Lynx scored three off Syracuse starter Justin James but Chiefs bullpen, Scott Sauerbeck-(1-1), and Matt Roney, (his second save of the season), held them to only two hits over the final two innings. Adam Lind again had a big night going 3-3 with a home run, (he went 6-6 with two home runs and five RBI in his last two games and Howie Clark also chipped in with three hits. Lind and David Corrente each homered in the three run sixth. Ottawa second baseman Joe Thurston went 3-4 including his fourth home run of the year.
Monthly Archives: August 2007
What a Bastardo…..
Antonio Bastardo, that is. I’ve gotten a lot of emails asking me about Bastardo and what I thought of him….my answer is always “I’d love to write more, but I really don’t know all that much about him”, but his numbers this season deserve a mention, and hopefully this fall I can dig up some more info on him. I know that he was signed out of the Dominican, that he spent time in the DSL before coming stateside, and that he is 21, will be 22 in September. Because he is 21 and didn’t make his US debut until last year, you have to bump him down a bit, as the best prospects from the VSL and DSL generally come stateside when they are 17-18, sometimes 19, unless it is a visa issue. He also has a very wiry frame, as he’s 5’11 and only 160 pounds, and he throws hard from the left side. His numbers
2006, GCL: 23 IP, 3.91 ERA, 20 H, 14 BB, 27 K, 1 HR
2007, SAL, 91.2 IP, 1.87 ERA, 63 H, 42 BB, 98 K, 3 HR
The ERA jumps out at you right away, as does the low hit rate. His problem, which we can easily see, is his control and command, as he’s averaging 4.14 BB/9 but he is striking out more than a batter per inning, and while that doesn’t balance out the high walk totals, it does give us a little more reason for optimism. There is one statistical anomaly here, and that is the home run number. Bastardo gives up more fly balls than grounders, and Lakewood greatly suppresses home runs, which means that when he moves to a more neutral park like Clearwater, he’s going to see his HR total climb, and with it, his ERA. Nevertheless, the arm is there, and from what I’ve read, he has a very good fastball. He’s certainly a prospect to keep an eye on. At this point, he’s probably not as good as the numbers would indicate, at least ERA wise, but he’s a good prospect.
What to do with Scott Mathieson
Here is today’s point of discussion. Mathieson is currently rehabbing in the minors, and is looking to be ready sometime in early September to pitch in the big leagues. The Phillies want to use him in the bullpen for the rest of this season to help out the big league club. The question is, what should his role be in 2008 and beyond? He features a very good fastball, 92-95 before surgery, and reports have him dotting 97 in his rehab appearances. His slider was great in the minors last year, not so good in his major league foray, but still grades out as at least major league average, and will probably be a tick or two better. His changeup is a fringe pitch right now, but again, room for improvement and should be at least average. So, do you have him start next season in AAA with the intention of him being a callup to fill a rotation spot due to injury or ineffectiveness? Do you start him in the major league bullpen next season, with the thought of possibly turning him into the team’s closer down the road? You make the call.
Arizona Fall League rosters announced
You can view the full rosters here.
The Phillies will send
Joe Bisenius
JA Happ
Josh Outman
Scott Mathieson
Joe Savery
Lou Marson
Greg Golson
Mike Costanzo
Thoughts? I like it. The only change I might have made was sending Edgar Garcia instead of Bisenius, but I’ll take it.
Andrew Carpenter throws a perfect game
How about that? Carpenter threw a 7 inning perfect game tonight, as Clearwater defeated Fort Myers 2-0. Of his 21 outs, 7 came via strike out, 4 on the ground and 10 in the air. I guess he read the blog earlier today and wanted to make a statement. Mr Happ, I’m not sure how you can top a 7 inning perfect game, but the ball is in your court.
Carpenter or Happ?
I don’t have time today to crank out the indepth piece I wanted to do, so instead, I’m going to pose an open question. Going forward, not just the rest of this season, or just next season, which prospect do you think will have the better long term career; Drew Carpenter or JA Happ? State your case in the comments.
Julian Sampson’s debut
Julian Sampson made his debut, following one of our better prospects, Heitor Correa, in the GCL Phillies 6-0 win today. Sampson’s line
2.0 IP, lots of 0’s, 1 K
All 5 of Sampson’s non-strikeout outs came via the ground…nice. Correa, who has been awesome since his first few appearances, went 5 innings, giving up 1 H, 1 BB, and striking out 1.
Brad Harman update
About 2 months ago, I noted that Brad Harman was starting to piece things together and was rebounding nicely from his slow start. Today, I noticed a comment in that old post that caught my eye. Here it is;
Now, anyone can leave a comment here, using any name they’d like, but this strikes me as something that doesn’t feel made up. In fact, I checked the IP address, and it comes back as being from Australia. So, Mr Harman, thank you for checking. This comment is real interesting to me. Baseball America, as well as other major prospect outlets claimed that Brad’s mother had passed away, I think everyone thought this was the case, and it’s obviously great to hear that she is fine. With that said, here’s a quick snapshot of Harman’s numbers from the beginning of the year till now;
APR : 99 PA — .226/.242/.323 — 2.1% BB — 31.3% K — 28.6% XBH — .093 ISO
MAY: 84 PA — .221/.307/.221 — 10.7% BB — 20.2% K– 0.0% XBH — .000 ISO
JUN: 89 PA — .272/.337/.457 — 9.0% BB — 20.2% K — 45.5% XBH — .185 ISO
JUL: 76 PA — .313/.392/.597 — 13.2% BB — 22.4% K — 38.1% XBH — .297 ISO
AUG: 104 PA — .330/.385/.564 — 7.7% BB — 21.2% K — 48.4% XBH — .234 ISO
As you can see, it’s been a tale of two halves for him. He turns 22 in November, and is on track to start next season in AA, where he will still be on track in terms of age relative to level. The key is to continue to hit for power, as he’s done over the last three months, while keeping his walk rate somewhere around 10% and his K rate at no more than 22-23%. Harman has definitely regained some of his prospect status with a solid 3 months.
Ottawa Lynx Week Twenty
Week twenty began with a rain out that really shouldn’t have been and two loses which could have easily been wins. It rained Friday fairly heavy for awhile during the day and right up until close to game time but the field at Lynx Stadium drains very well. An examination of the forecast that indicated more heavy storms were on the way lead the umpiring crew to cancel the game with Pawtucket with no makeup game being scheduled. However, the additional rains never came and the sun broke through the clouds. No game, sunshine everywhere and the fans left wondering why. Strangely similar to the first two games against Buffalo. Eerily similar to the way the 2007 season has gone for Ottawa. If something could go wrong, it usually does.
Reading Report
The yo-yo that is Reading’s season, now has them at 65-63, in 5th place in the Southern division, 9 games out of first. In the pitching categories, Chris Key is 6th in the league with 17 saves. Phils hitters continue among league leaders as Mike Costanzo ranks 3rd in runs (83), 2nd in homers (23), 5th in RBI’s (74) and 2nd in strikeouts(143). Greg Jacobs in 6th in hits (129), 3rd in doubles (34), 7th in homers (19), 4th in RBI’s (75), and 8th in batting average(.309). Jason Hill is 4th in doubles (33) and 4th in batting average (.311). Mike Spidale is now 6th in league in triples (6).
Phuture Phillies 
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:34 pm eI’m Brads dad just to let you know his Mum didn’t pass away in 2006 and is still going strong he just strugled with the jump to Clearwater and being a long way from home. I speak to Brad on a regular basis and he is working hard on his hitting and the move to 2B I think has helped. We speak mainly about his mental approach and his mechanics, we all know he can play defence and every thing else will come with experience remember he is only 21.
Cheers.
Chris Harman.