Reading has fallen back below .500 at 60-62, mired in 5th place in the Southern division and is 10.5 games out of first place, with about 3 weeks left in the season. Among league leaders is pitcher Chris Key who has 16 saves and is 7th in the league. Mike Costanzo is leading the league in homers with 23, 3rd in the league in runs (79), 8th in RBI’s (71), and 2nd in the league in strikeouts(140). Although slumping Greg Jacobs remains 9th in hits (121), 6th in doubles (31), 4th in RBI’s (76), and 10th in average (.303). Jason Hill continues a very solid year and is not 3rd in the league in doubles (32), and now 3rd in the league in average (.315).
The concern for Carlos Carrasco is beginning to rise after a horrible performance Friday night against Trenton. Carrasco(4-2) went only 1.2 innings giving up 7 runs (5 earned) and walking six. Reading walked 8 hitters, hit one, and committed 2 errors, which gave Trenton the easy 11-4 victory. Greg Golson was 3-5 with a run scored and Mike Costanzo was 2-4 with a run and RBI leading the offense. Again Saturday, Reading could not figure out Trenton as they lost 3-1. Gary Knotts started and although taking the loss, pitched well aagin for Reading going 6 innings and giving up only 2 runs on 3 hits whle striking out 4. The only Phils run came when Mike Costanzo, who doubled scored on a Jason Hill single. Trenton completed their sweep Sunday with a 5-2 victory over Reading. Pat Overholt(4-7) started and took the loss, giving up 4 runs on 7 hits over 6.2 innings. The onyl real offense to soeak of was an RBI double by Jason Hill in the 4th.
The Phils opened a three game series against Erie Tuesday night with an 8-6 victory. The mood was a bit somber as Shane Victorino, here on a rehab assignment had to remove himself from the game after tweaking his injury. Mike Costanzo led the offense going 3-5 with a run, double and 3 RBI’s. Mike Spidale was 3-4 with 2 runs, 2 RBI’s and a stolen base, while both Peeter Ramos and Joey Hammond added 2 hits apiece. Josh Outman started and was once again less than spectacular, going 5 innings and giving up 4 runs on 7 hits, while walking 2 and striking out 5. Chris Key (5-1) picked up the win in relief with Julio Mateo earning his first save. The struggles of Carlos Carrasco continued Wednesday with another tough outing in which he went 6 innings and gave up 8 hits and 6 runs, including 3 homers in a 7-3 Reading loss. Reading fell behind early on the homers, 6-0, and were unable to recover despite strong efforts by Mike Costanzo, who was 2-3 with a run scored, and Juan Tejada, and Shaun Boyd who added two hits for the Phils.
Philers: Jason Hill, was ejected from last Fridays game against Trenton in the 3rd inning for arguing balls and strikes.
Mike Costanzo has been on base in 65 of the last 72 games and is hitting .418 in August.
Phils Assistant GM Mike Arbuckle was in Reading for Tuesday nights game, presumably looking at potential Spetember call ups.
Both Heath Totten and Tim McCLaskey, pitchers who are on the DL, threw simulated games on Wednesday.
Pitcher Julio DeLaCruz committed 3 errors in the same inning on Tuesday.
Transactions: Reliever Ryan Cameron returned to Reading from AAA Ottawa where he went 0-0 with a 7.53 ERA and gave up 24 hits and 10 walks in 14 innings for Ottawa.
Zach Segovia cleared waivers and has been re-added to the Reading roster.
Phuture Phillies 
At what point do we start to get concerned about Carrasco? It seems he’s still young for AA, but he was being touted as a potential late season call up a month and a half ago, so clearly something has gone wrong in the interim. Is it just the jump to AA that’s causing Carlos’ struggles, or were we getting ahead of ourselves with this kid?
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I think our tendency is to “get ahead of ourselves” in terms
of our alleged prospects.
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So did we not sign Workman? I was convinced that it would eventually happen. Still, getting a 3rd rounder next year instead doesn’t hurt my feelings at all.
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This kid is 20. Let’s relax a little. I think the plan was to start him in AA next April anyway. He’s just getting his feet wet.
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I’m not really worried about Carrasco or Outman at all in terms of what they’ve done at Reading. The jump from A+ to AA is probably steeper than the jump from A to A+, so obviously you’re going to be facing much better hitters, and adjustments have to be made. Carrasco was fine at Clearwater, he’s shown some good and some bad at Reading, there’s no need to panic at all. If anything, this is a good thing, in that the Phillies won’t be tempted to bring Carrasco up and rush him any more. Let him finish the season in AA and start back there next year.
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Agreed that it’s good the Phils won’t be tempted to rush Carrasco now. I don’t think anyone’s panicking about Carrasco; it’s just discouraging to see your top prospect get knocked down a peg or two when he’s been fairly dominant at each level thus far.
I think we can also take comfort in the fact that it takes pitchers awhile to “get it,” if you will. Not everyone is Cole Hamels and dominates at every level right on up to the majors. There are plenty of MLB pitchers that are more like Kendrick, i.e. their stats stagnated while they learned how to pitch before all of a sudden the light went on.
Here’s hoping Carrasco finishes out the season strong and then dominates at AA next year.
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Agreed, let’s not overreact. By way of example, do you know what the great Chase Utley’s average was in Clearwater and the following year in Scranton? How about .257 and .263. So, for now at least, I’m not too worried when these prospects take a half step backwards in their development. It’s part of the process for almost every player.
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