Sad, sad week for the Reading Phillies. The Phils played 7 games, and lost, you guessed it, 7 games. When the offense managed to score some runs, the pitching was horrible. And, when the pitching was excellent, the offense was putrid. All in all, it was a perfect storm for an incredibly embarassing week. Lets move on and highlight some of the prospects at Reading, who for the most part, had bad weeks.
Antonio Bastardo made his second appearance this week after coming back from his shoulder injury. Bastardo was one of the bright spots on the week, throwing up some decent numbers as he builds back his stamina. Bastardo made one start this week, lasting 4 innings while giving up 2 earned on 3 hits and 1 walk. What is very nice to see is the 6 stikeouts that Bastardo registered in his 4 innings of work. He seems to be rebuilding his arm strength while maintaining his impressive strikeout totals. Good stuff.
Tyson Brummett had two starts on the week, and got pounded in each. Brummett has had a very difficult transition to AA since his electric first few starts. This week, he gave up a combined 10 earned runs on 14 hits and 5 walks in only 10.2 innings of work. He also struck out 9. Brummett is very difficult to figure out. He almost always registers high strikeout totals, yet also gives up more than his fair share of hits. Any ideas?
Andrew Carpenter followed in the footsteps of Brummett, getting shelacked in his only start of the week. Carpenter allowed 11 hits, 1 walk and 8 earned all while striking out 5 in 6 innings of work. Now, I understand this was a horrible outing, but I am willing to give Carpenter a mulligan, as he has pitched extremely well in his 3 previous starts at Reading. In those starts, he pitched 21 innings, giving up only 5 earned runs. Lets see what he does to round out the season.
Edgar Garcia is the last pitcher of note, and I am willing to say he had a very good week. Now, he had two starts on the week. The first start wasn’t so great, as he gave up 6 earned in 5.1 innings of work. However, Garcia pulled it together in his second start, pitching his best game yet at AA Reading. In 6 innings of work, Garcia allowed only 1 earned on 4 hits and 2 walks, while also striking out 5. This was a huge game for the young Garcia, and was easily his best performance to date. Hopefully, he can build some momentum as the season winds down and get off to a great start in ’09.
The ever enigmatic Greg Golson had a decent week. He finished 9-31 with 5 R, 0 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 1 BB, 2 SB, and only 5 K’s! Golson displayed the talent that make some readers of PP drool over his potential in one game, as he went 4-5 with 2 R, 2 HR, and 5 RBI in an August 17th game against Trenton.
The only other hitter of note is Jeremy Slayden, who also had a fine week. Slayden finished 8-26 with 1 R, 2 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 6 BB, and 6 K’s. Nothing too exciting, but also nothing bad.
Phuture Phillies 
It certainly appears that for this team, the season can’t end soon enough.
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Yikes. That’s a poor week. Here’s hoping they pull out of the tailspin.
I had mentioned it in another post earlier this week, but I’ll repeat it here: I’m going to be seeing the R-Phils tomorrow night in Trenton (my 9 year old wants to go to the game for her birthday), and I planned on doing some Phuture Phillies scouting. I believe Carpenter will be the pitcher, so I’ll be keying on him. I also planned on taking a good look at both Golson and Harman (by special request from Boston Phan 8) Are there any other players that anyone wants be to pay close attention to, so I can give a scouting report afterwards?
– Jeff
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Thanks neduolcaz for the write-up. Jeff O, looking forward to the report from Reading!
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Jeff O, I think you have all the good ones covered, outside of Slayden.
What’s up with Tony Bastard? I thought he had a very serious injury?
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Thanks for the report, Neduol Caz. Not a pretty week.
Something confuses me about Bastardo. Kevin Goldstein mentioned that his change was his “trick pitch” when James interviewed him earlier this year, but Bastardo has pitched significantly better against LH’s (FIP of 2.09) than RH’s (FIP of 5.37). You’d think the change would help neutralize those splits a little bit, but I guess it’s something to keep an eye on as we go forward — maybe he ultimately winds up in the bullpen after all.
Jeff O: looking forward to your report. I’m interested in Golson and Slayden’s defense, if you don’t mind checking that out as well.
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Slayden was on my radar to check out as well. I’m hoping for some fly balls so I can check out Golson’s arm, route running, etc (at least to the best of my abilities).
– Jeff
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Hard to find positives when a team goes 0-7! Good Job!
Great news about Bastardo; looking forward to his next couple of starts to see whether he is really healthy.
On “the ever enigmatic Greg Golson”, this guy is really frustrating! All of those “tools” but never appears to show any degree of consistency. Like everyone on this site, I am pulling for this guy to take the next critical step in proving that he is a real prospect for an everyday position in MLB. If this does not happen next year, I’m afraid that he may be destined to be a situational, position player.
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The Reading team has been a huge surprise (in a bad way) for me this year. I didn’t expect them to win the EL, but I didn’t expect them to be so bad with Donald, Marson, Harman, and Slayden + Carrasco, Outman, Carpenter. Of course Outman left earlier.
Strange season. But another great report, thanks.
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I think what Golson needs is more confidence, and maybe a little support. Remember when he went into that slump after reading comments about him on blogs? He’s obviously aware of his flaws and seems to be working to correct them. He could still develop better plate discipline, but he’s unlikely to do so with everyone down on him. I think its time to recognize his growth as a player. I’m not saying Golson should replace Pat Burrell in LF, but he deserves a little respect for having a solid AA season, in spite of constant criticism. If Golson finishes strong, he might even have a shot at the 2009 BA top 100 list.
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Anyone know how Bastardo’s velocity was coming off the shoulder injury?
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Thanks Neudolcaz for obviously a difficult report. Any thoughts on Bastardo as a reliever? I saw his stuff first hand last year in Lakewood and i think he’d make a really great set up man.
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I think his endgame is a lefty reliever…think of him like a JC Romero type of LOOGY/1 inning guy.
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I already think Golson will become a .800 OPS major leaguer. If he can walk 20-30 times a year, he’d be a .900 OPS player. I don’t think he necessarily needs to focus on cutting down his strikeouts, he needs to do is just see the ball better and move around less in the batters box. If he just develops a more consistent approach, the walks will come, he’ll make better contact and he’ll take fewer bad swings.
I actually see some similarities between Golson and Shane Victorino. Vic makes better contact, but they put up similar numbers and play great defense. Vic is basically a .800 OPS “sparkplug” outfielder, and Golson might not fare much worse. Both compensate for their lack of discipline with enthusiasm, but Golson’s ceiling is probably higher.
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I think Golson has been slowly improving his selectivity at the plate over this season…his walk rate is going up (as mentioned by me in a post a day or so ago.).
They both have that “see ball, hit ball” approach as described by Mitch Williams.
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If Golson is another Victorino, I for one will be thrilled as I see that energy as a real positive.
I hate to beat the same drum but intangibles play real big in a long season.
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This, from Keith Law, “Playing for Reading, Phillies prospect Greg Golson can crush a high fastball, but his recognition of anything else is poor. He’s such a good athlete that, given his limited feel for the game, he looks like he should be playing another sport professionally but showed up at the wrong stadium. The R-Phils were without their two best prospects, Jason Donald and Lou Marson, who are both in Beijing on the U.S. Olympic team.”
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Baxter, you say Golson doesn’t nesessarily need to focus on cutting down on his strikeouts…
I think that’s the only thing he needs to do.
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He needs to focus on pitch recognition more than anything…i.e. taking BBs.
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NEPP. yep, like Ryan Howard.
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**I think his endgame is a lefty reliever**
Nepp – what makes you say that?
i for one am confused on how people on this blog determine a “role” for a player. maybe you just have a better eye then i do. a very, very possible reality. but from what i see, bastardo looks like more than just an 8th inning reliever. this guy has a low BAA and a high K rate (2 of the three MOST important stats for a pitcher, the other being walk rate). pre-injury he had decent movement on his fastball and a clear out pitch that he seems to be able to throw over the plate.
i simply don’t understand the ebb and flow on a player’s popularity on this blog. other pitching prospects with lesser numbers and no definitive out pitch seem to have been deemed #3 starters. this guy (selected for the international team futures game) just gets no love here.
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Maybe Golson’s future is as a reliever. If he can put up the K:BB ratio, that he puts up as a hitter, we got ourselves a stud.
In my very amateurish opinion, I think the lack of love for Bastardo* comes from scouting reports, his lack of size, the fact that (I believe) he runs high pitch counts, and that he has only two main pitches in his arsenal. I think that most starters are expected to have three or more pitches, unless they’re a knuckleballer or have a pitch that is deadly (like a Hamels changeup or a Carlton slider).
– Jeff
*ISTR that Bastardo was generating a lot of excitement when he started off the year in a dominating fashion. We’ll probably get to see him in ST next year
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PP Fan, I would have to disagree with your statement that Bastardo gets no love here, as he was the subject of conversation just about every day for a month long period this year. Also, designating someone to be a relief pitcher does not neccesarily mean anyone is down on that player. Sometimes, it is better to have a terrific reliever who can shut the door at any time, rather than a mediocre back end of the rotation starter. Personally, that is the way I view Bastardo. He is essentially a two-pitch pitcher at the moment, with an average fastball and a plus change. I feel his stuff would play up significantly in shorter stints, as batters may adjust after seeing the same two-pitch combination throughout the same game. Also, Bastardo is dominating against lefties, which is always a nice feature to have coming out of the bullpen, even though I feel he his far better than a future LOOGY.
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everyone here hates Bastardo. Its part of my anti-Bastardo agenda I’m attempting to implement.
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PP Fan, its a matter of trying to be realistic. Bastardo’s physical profile is something that will likely hold him back. As a lefty, he is short and his velocity is not spectacular. While the change has been a great pitch for him, he needs to lower his walk rate and probably develop a third pitch. While I don’t doubt that he is a prospect, and he probably got shortchanged in the top 10 pitchers thread because of the injury concerns, major league hitters will feast on a lefty starter with location issues and no breaking ball.
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**everyone here hates Bastardo. Its part of my anti-Bastardo agenda I’m attempting to implement.**
that’s silly. i am asking an honest question and looking for real opinions. why must you always mock my posts? just respond with data or counter logic please
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Here’s a fact finding mission for the rest of the day. Find me a list of MLB pitchers that fit this description;
1. Left handed
2. Starting pitcher
3. 5’11 or shorter
4. FB velocity is 90 MPH or less on average
5. ERA+ of 100 or better
For #4, you can find velocity information here
http://baseball.bornbybits.com/2008/pitchers.html
For #5, you just need to go to Baseball-Reference.com and look at ERA+ for the season. ERA+ is adjusted ERA, which factors in park and league. 100 is considered league average. A league average SP is basically a #3/#4 starter.
Report your findings here.
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The only guy that sprung to mind who fits four of the five is Kazmir. But he has very good velocity for a smallish guy. And there are still durability concerns with him even.
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first, thanks for this post. it is fact based and gives us something real to digest and discuss.
second, clearly no one has the time or desire to look up all of that data. but there are clearly examples of pitchers that are 6 foot or smaller without blazing velocity who have been very productive mlb pitchers – tim hudson, maddux, pedro martinez, our very own jamie moyer. True that all of those are righties, but here is an interesting quote from an article written by Jerry Crasnick of espn.com about lefties.
“As to the obvious question — Why are lefties immune to the height debate? — it can be a chore to separate the scouting insights from the old wives’ tales. The consensus is that lefties, by virtue of their lefthandedness, can get by with finesse because they’re more deceptive and adept at concealing the ball from hitters. Lots of baseball people also swear that lefties have a natural sinking or tailing action that’s difficult to define. It simply exists.”
“Lefties do have movement, and I can’t explain it,” Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild says.
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/draft2006/insider/news/story?id=2467645
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Jamie Moyer!!!
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Warren Spahn,Bobby Shantz, Whitey Ford——-oops I am going back in time.
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p.s.
Doesn’t this little assignment mean we are highjacking a organizational report with unrelated stuff??
Thought that was a no-no!!! 🙂
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The concerns on Bastardo have been chronicled a number of times. Short lefties with average fastball velocity and without a dominant breaking ball rarely succeed. Jamie Moyer is a 1 in a million story, and ESPN lets you know that every time he pitches.
If anything, I think everyone here was overrating Bastardo. I had him pegged as a #4/5 starter or good 7th inning reliever, and I’m keeping that for now. Fabio Castro is very similar to Bastardo, except he’s a few inches SHORTER, which is pretty amazing. But Castro’s fastball was about the same as Bastardo’s. He had a good changeup with a ton of movement, and his curve/slider was basically below average. The Phillies hid him well and used him sparingly when he had to be protected on the 25 man, and he had good results. The 2nd time around the league, he got knocked around. Mainly because he can’t command his pitches.
Is Bastardo heading down the same path? I don’t know. But I’m generally skeptical of him because of the factors discussed above. Guys with his profile, both his physical frame and his pitch repertoire, don’t have tons of comparables in terms of successful above average starters. Could he exceed expectations? Hopefully. But I don’t think he suffers from a lack of respect from the majority of folks here.
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Bastardo is at Reading, he was discussed in the report for this week, so I think hes fair game.
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Lol. Just yanking your chain a bit!!!
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A few active lefties that meet the criteria…
Randy Wolf
Odalis Perez
Ted Lilly
Chuck James
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bastardo has better numbers than castro. better k rate. better whip. better hits per inning
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I too thought Reading would be the team to watch this year. Even with Marson and Donald, they were never getting in the groove. I search the box score daily for some trend on the guys I think are “real” prospects. Sometimes you see a trend like Golson cutting down his Ks and increasing, ever so slightly, his BBs. But it’s been hard to see any pattern. Marson and Donald increased their stock, big time, this year. Slayden has been consistent and a lot of times he fades into the background. Jeff O, please take a long look at him when you go to the game. I barely noticed him at the game I went to, until the 8th inning when he popped a 2R HR to win the game. Suddenly, I’m looking back through the score book and I see he went 2-3 and each at bat he did something.. moved a runner, got on base or hit the winning HR. I’m glad someone mentioned Ryan Ludwick. He hit 3 or 4 homers in a series against the Phillies earlier this year. I asked, who the heck is he. I saw he was 29; been in the league since 2002 with minimal at bats until last year. Suddenly he has 31 HRs. The Phillies would sure like to find that surprise underneath their Christmas Tree. Slayden might be that type of guy. One game doesn’t tell you much but his year on year stats are solid.
Enjoy the game!
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Perez is tall and has above average velocity.
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scratch that I was thinking of Oliver Perez.
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My “endgame” is based on his lack of a 3rd pitch, the fact that neither of his current pitches is “spectacular” enough to let him get by with only 2 pitches as a starter, and his so-so velocity. I’m not bashing him to say I think he could be a valuable bullpen piece like Romero…that’s fairly decent praise usually.
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Chuck James has an ERA+ of 45 this year
Odalis Perez is 95 for his career
Wolf right at 100.
Lilly at 103, has been above 100 the last few years, so hes a good one.
Keep’em coming.
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mike hampton?
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and to say that “chuck james has an era+ of 45” is a bit misleading. yes, that is his era+ this year, but he only pitched 7 games this year and the prior 2 years it was 118 and 100, making him an above average mlb pitcher.
please be fair.
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Kazmir
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nevermind missed the part on velocity
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I agree that Golson needs to cut down his strikeouts, but I consider it more of a symptom of a problem than the problem itself. I think he needs to see the ball better in general, not just worry about his strikeout totals.
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yes PP fan, and for his career he’s 96. Thats below average. Part of that is because he’s not only been bad this year in 7 starts, hes been horrid. His first season he was at 118. Thats solid. Last year he was league average, exactly league average, at 100. League average is a #3/4 starter, but in the NL (which is weaker), its a #4 if we’re talking caliber of pitcher. This season, ERA+ of 45. Horrid. Will he rebound? Maybe. But right now, hes a below league average starter.
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James has an ERA+ of 45 this year because he has barely pitched (29 innings) and struggled when he did. His ERA plus was 118 and 100 the 2 previous season so he would seem meet the criteria quite well.
Note: I basically agree with the assertion that Bastardo’s long term future is probably as a swing-man/relief pitcher!
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mike hampton is a 5’10” non flamethrowing lefty with a career era+ of 108 and seasons of 154, 142, 122, 121, 116.
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Hampton threw harder when he was putting up his better numbers…
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Fernando Valenzuela?
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How hard did Eddie Plank throw???
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From Keith Law’s chat today:
“Patrick (Louisville,KY): How do they pick what questions you answer, and how would you rate the Phillies draft?
Keith Law: I pick. Lot of tools and ceiling but way too risky for my tastes. I could see taking Hewitt with an extra pick, but I’d want to have some probability in there too. My editor pointed out to me this morning that Hewitt has now struck out in over 50% of his pro at bats. ” – no change there to what he’s said in the past.
“Josh (Smithtown, NY): Klaw – after the way Jason Knapp has pitched in the Gulf Coast League do you see him being a reliever?
Keith Law: Those two clauses aren’t connected; I’m not changing my opinion on a player after 31 innings of performance. So yes, I still think he’s a pen guy, more on delivery than anything else. ” – again, no change
“Joshua (Annapolis, MD): will Greg Golson ever “get it”
Keith Law: I’m skeptical. He’s played a lot of pro ball already without doing so.” – nothing ground-breaking here…Greg, I hope you read this and it ticks you off and you go out and show him how to play baseball!!!
I think that was all the Phillies-related stuff…let me know if I missed one.
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Regarding Bastardo, PP is right that usually guys with his profile do not make for league-average starters, or at least not for long.
However, PP Fan makes a good point on his peripherals, especially K rate. I think that HRs allowed is also a pretty important peripheral as (again, I *think*) it’s been shown that the things a pitcher can control are BBs, Ks, and HRs allowed. His BB rate and HRs allowed have been high in AA, but that might be related to the injury.
As for Chuck James, this year certainly counts as much as the others. He made 7 appearances, all of them starts, and he got pounded in all except one. He only pitched 29 innings because he was bad.
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Yeah, strikeouts walks and home runs are the three things pitches have some control over, home runs less than the other two.
Here’s the thing. If you’re going to hang your hat on Chuck James as a great comp for Bastardo, then thats the perfect illustration of why I’m not overly excited about him as a prospect. IF the best case for Bastardo is one good year out of him, one average year, and then him falling off the cliff, then I’m fine with leaving him where I have him in my Top 30.
The original comment was that he gets no respect here. If you go back a few months, its all people wanted to talk about. I was in the minority who said “temper expectations”. Then he turns up with a bum labrum shortly after being promoted to Reading. While labrum injuries are no longer the kiss of death, they are really one of the worst injuries a pitcher can end up with. He’s back now, he’ll get another start or two. But I want to see what he does next year, in AA, when he’s healthy, if hes healthy.
Guys with fringy raw stuff generally don’t turn into impact major leaguers. For every Jamie Moyer, there are 1000 small lefties with fringy stuff who never make it past AA. I’m pulling for Bastardo. But I think he’s a good lefty reliever in the long run, not a #2 or #3 starter.
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funny how keith law doesn’t value knapp’s first half season but seems to put a lot of credibility behind hewitt’s half season stats.
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Re: Bastardo, I said it in the Top 10 pitching prospects thread and I’ll say it again here — the extreme flyball tendencies (28% GB, 55% FB) coupled with too many walks (4.3 BB/9) are a real concern. The strikeouts are certainly great, but a guy who gives out too many free passes and fly balls is always one bad pitch away from a 3-run homer.
(Incidentally, that’s why I’m excited about Vance Worley’s numbers thus far — the 0.8 BB/9 and a 59% GB ratio means he’s operating with the bases empty and inducing tons of ground outs. He’s sort of the anti-Bastardo, if you will.)
And I know I’m repeating myself… but would James (or anyone else) care to take a stab at the question I posed above: if Bastardo’s change is his out pitch, then why is there such a huge discrepancy between how LH hitters fare off of him (.138 BAA, 0.74 WHIP, 2.09 FIP) v. how RH hitters fare off of him (.219 BAA, 1.47 WHIP, 5.37 FIP)?
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Is Law ever positive about any Phillies prospect?
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Anyone notice Cardenas has been playing exclusively SS for AA Midland for Oakland?
PP, did he project as a SS at all in the past? I can remember having discussions regarding a transition to 3B or 1B, but not SS.
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PhillyFriar – i have no idea how to explain the splits, but if your worst split BAA is .219 that is pretty damn good. it just looks worse compared to the insane .138
i agree about the walks. he needs to get that down. simple as that. but the thing that i love about him is he clearly seems to have an ability to make people swing and miss.
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Phuture PP,I was wondering as to what level you played baseball. This is not a shot, I find your comments insightful.
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The direction discussion takes here sometimes disgusts me. Someone makes a well-founded point based on evidence and then someone else uses circumstanial evidence and expects some sort of ‘a-ha’ moment. Hasn’t anyone heard of ‘the exception to the rule’?
If someone doesn’t think one of our prospects is the next coming that doesn’t mean they are negative, just trying to pepper in some realism.
If someone is going to try and discredit an educated idea it’d better not be with ‘because I think’ or ‘this one guy did it’. I think feelings have a great deal to do with how someone views prospects, from us up to GM’s, but don’t let them be your sole indicator of what you think of a guy.
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I honestly can’t recall Keith Law ever being thrilled with any Phillies prospects, always finds a way to knock them down a peg.
Like someone pointed out Knapps performance isn’t impressive because he’s only pitched a small amount, but then he turns around and points out Hewitts production in limited AB’s . . . I mean at least be consistent.
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Rodeo: All I want out of guys like Law is consistency. You can’t bash Knapp based on limited appearances then turn around and say Hewitt sucks in the same amount of time. If Law doesn’t like them fine but give legit criticism.
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To stick up for my buddy KLaw, the guy does call it like he sees it and Hewitt has never hit against good competition, he was just pointing out he is doing the same thing he has always done. As for Knapp it seems he was only pointing out that 31 IP is not a big enough sample size to go against a full body of work that he put out there in high school and during numerous show cases. If Knapp continues to pitch well and straighten out his delivery, I’m sure Keith will give him his props. And for the record Law likes Jason Donald alot saying he could be an everyday starting shortstop next year and has praised Marson in the past.
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Law was real high on Travis D’Arnaud.
He also said the only reason he isn’t as high on Knapp is his delivery, not his stuff. Keith probably hasn’t seen him in the GCL yet, if the Phillies cleaned up Knapp’s delivery his opinion might change.
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What did Knapp do in showcases to get the opion he is not a starter.
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You can’t stop Brandon Watson, you can only hope to contain him. 4 of the last 5 games he has more than one hit, batting .542 over that span. He now has exactly the same SLG he had last season and almost exactly the same OBP (3 one-hundredths off).
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Antonio pitching “very well” through three…
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Ditto on the “very well” for Drabek…
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Knapp has an “ugly” delivery that is conducive that is violent and conducive to injury. It also doesn’t let him command his breaking stuff well, leaving him with command of really only his plus fastball. The fact that his delivery probably wouldn’t hold up over 6,7 innings a game and would lead to injury combined with the lack of two other average pitches, leads people like KLaw to think he will end up in the bullpen.
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thanks pat
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Sorry for the excessive posts, but I had to share that during the Pawsox telecast just now they had Schmitty in the booth and he just killed their commercial break by prattling on and on about heady playing and moving runners over. Awesome! You could see the play-by-play guy trying to figure out how to cut him off…
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To Pat Burrell: That’s legit criticism of Knapp…that’s fair.
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PP any word on the whereabouts or whatabouts of Gose???
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B & NEPP, I was going to say what Pat Burrell said, essentially…Hewitt’s performance is reinforcing the book on him while Knapp’s performance hasn’t been over enough innings to change the book on him.
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Nice post, Pat. Good info there.
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Hey, I figured I would give my thoughts on last night’s Reading game here:
Anyway, Reading broke out of their huge slump by winning 2-1 in a pitcher’s duel. The R-Phils were held hitless for the first four innings before, and weren’t even making good contact. Things changed in the fifth when Sellers, Harris, and Hammond dall got good wood on the ball to take a 1-0 lead. Harris’ double was a hard hit shot to left field. Later on in the inning, Mike Spidale also singled to plate Harris, which provided all of the offense that Reading had that night.
The real story was the pitching: Carpenter struck out five of the first six batters he faced, and eight total on the night. I had excellent seats – right behind home plate – he looked to be mixing his fastball and breaking stuff well, and was getting great movement on his pitches. His velocity didn’t seem to be anything special. I’m guessing he was throwing in the on the 88-90 range. I also noticed that there were a lot of called strikes against Trenton, leading me to believe his location and movement on his pitches were good (I could be wrong though). The only run he gave up was on a sacrifice fly to centerfield. Golson’s throw was a little up the 3b line, but it was a strong throw. Had it been more accurate, there was a chance he might have nailed the runner.
After seven strong innings, the game was turned over to the bullpen – some lefty named Jason Mackintosh that I had never heard of, and things got interesting thanks to Brad Harman. After two quick outs, Harman had a ball roll under his glove. The error was a bummer because Harman was having a really solid game at short. He had about five or six balls hit to him, fielding everything cleanly and almost making a spectacular diving play in the first inning on a ball hit up the middle (had he been able to get a bit more on the throw, he would’ve nailed the runner). Anyway, after Harman’s error, Trenton singled and in came Justin Pope, who walked the first batter. Fortunately, the next guy grounded out.
The ninth got even scarier, as the first pitch was grounded into right for a single. After a walk, Pope redeemed himself by pouncing on a bunt and nailing the lead runner at third. Pope then un-redeemed himself by walking another batter. Then Brad Harman made it interesting again: A soft grounder was hit to him, and he fielded it, quickly tagged the runner and fired to first for a game ending double play. At first, I though he was planning on coming home and had collided with the runner. Instead I realized that he had a made a heckuva heads up play, ending the game and breaking the long losing streak.
All in all, it was a very exciting game. Not much in the way of offense. Harman was 0-3 with a walk. He also struck out (looking), grounded out to short, and tried to bunt his way on. Golson was 0-3 with a sacrifice bunt in the eighth (curious for a team to bunt with their three hitter), he also popped out, grounded out weakly to the pitcher and looked really bad striking out on a 1-2 breaking ball way out of the strike zone. Slayden had a single to right later in the game, and I remember him striking out and walking once. Harris and Sellers hit the ball pretty well, but I’m not really sure either of them are considered prospects at this point.
Defensively, Harman had a very solid game, despite his error. Spidale made a really nice running catch at the warning track to rob Trenton of a double. He also booted a ball in left, turning a single into a double, which didn’t affect the game. Sellers made an excellent snare of a liner that would have been a double. Golson only had one ball hit his way all night – the aforementioned sac fly. It was basically hit right to him, so he had plenty of time to set up and throw.
I guess that’s basically it, unless anyone has any questions. My daughter had a great time. She got the birthday package where the ushers sang happy birthday to her and gave her a Trenton shirt. She also raided the store, and got a fair amount of souvenirs. The ballpark was gorgeous, the between inning activity was annoying, but nothing different from most minor league games (and the dog that got to act as a bat boy for an inning was awesome). The food was excellent (Famous Dave’s!), and they had some good German beer.
– Jeff
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whoops – one minor correction. Spidale’s error actually did affect the game. Looking at the box score, his error came in the inning that Trenton scored, and the extra base that the runner got lead to him scoring an unearned run on a SF.
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