5/29/09–A good pitching performance by Carlos Carrasco was wasted in the 5-3 Iron Pigs loss in their return home against Rochester on Friday night. The RedWings jumped on Carrasco early with a two run homer in the first, but Lehigh Valley came back with single runs in the 3rd, 6th, and 7th to take a 3-2 lead. That lead survived until the 9th, when Tyler Walker (0-1), blew the save, as well as gave up his first runs of the year on a three run bomb by Matt Macri, which gave Rochester the win. Carrasco went 7 innings, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits. He walked 2 and struck out 6. Lou Marson had a big day at the plate going 3-4 with a run and an RBI, while Miguel Cairo added two hits once again for the ‘Pigs. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekend Game Report
Monthly Archives: May 2009
2009 DSL Season Starts Today – Early Roster Posted
Today is the first day of the 2009 DSL season. The Phillies play in the Santo Domingo North division. Last year they finished 6.5 games behind the Mariners in second place with a 35-30 record. It is a strange 5-team division with 2 affiliates from the A’s. This leads to lots of off days and also uncertain competition. The second A’s team is usually mediocre, so the quality of competition varies considerably and can be hard to judge.
Continue reading 2009 DSL Season Starts Today – Early Roster Posted
Kyle Drabek Gets Complete Game Shutout!
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| Stone Crabs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | |
| Threshers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | 4 | 9 | 0 |
KYLE DRABEK IS KING TONIGHT!
After picking up three wins in his first three starts Kyle Drabek had to wait until his 10th appearance to get another, but it was a gem. He threw a complete game shutout of the Stone Crabs scattering just five hits over nine innings. He struck out seven and walked just one in the game. Continue reading Kyle Drabek Gets Complete Game Shutout!
Trade chatter, 5/28
I’m sure with the latest news on Brett Myers, everyone is going to want to start speculating on the trade front. The Phillies rotation has been awful this season (but better over the last 2 turns), and if Myers goes down, it leaves a big hole in the starting 5. There have been lots of reports that we’ve kicked the tires on just about every pitcher out there who might be available. Feel free to discuss that here. But I wanted to try and gauge the pecking order right now. So, list the 5 prospects you wouldn’t want to see traded, with #1 being the guy you want to hold onto the most, and #5 being our 5th most valuable guy, if that makes sense. My quick reaction list would be…
1. Dominic Brown
2. Kyle Drabek
3. Lou Marson
4. Michael Taylor
5. Carlos Carrasco
Lehigh Valley Weekly Report
A decent week for Lehigh Valley who went 4-3 this week, including their current 3 game winning streak and are now at 19-27, in 5th Place of the Northern Division on the International League, 11 games out of first.
Looking at Lehigh Valley league leaders, Jason Donald 5th in at bats (175) and 4th in strikeouts (45), Rich Thompson is 4th in at bats (175) and 7th in stolen bases (11), Andy Tracy is 6th in homers (8) and 8th in RBI’s (29), John Mayberry is 7th in homers (8) and 10th in slugging % (.540),Mike Cervenak is 7th in average (.326). In pitching categories, Kyle Kendrick is tied for the league lead in starts (10) and 9th in innings (53.0), Mike Koplove is 5th in the league in Saves (6), Andrew Carpenter is 7th in homers allowed (7), and Carlos Carrasco is 4th in strikeouts (52). Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report
A note on draft risk
I’ve decided that I am actually going to do a mock draft this year, even though the Phillies don’t pick until the back part of the second round. I just love the draft and all that comes with it too much, so I’m gonna spend some time working on that, and I’ll post it sometime next week. But watching Rick Porcello today, I wanted to make a quick note on this, a topic we’ve discussed before, mainly because the Phillies are going to have to be creative with this draft because they don’t have a first round pick or sandwich round pick. My stance on the draft is well known, I’m very much in the “spend more, invest more, and you’ll get more out of it camp”, while others have argued that you’re best served by not breaking slot and keeping costs down. The bottom line with the draft is, there are no sure things. But in sports, there are no sure things. The best teams don’t always win the World Series, the ace is often times defeated by the 4A pitcher, and we know anything can happen. But at the end of the day, its the job of the GM and everyone associated with the decision making of a team to best use its resources and make every effort possible to invest as much talent as possible.
Abbreviated Threshers Report
Well. The Clearwater Threshers were not able to play a lot of ball this past week with three rain outs, a day off, and in the only three games they did play they were swept by the last place Tampa Yankees to put them 7.5 games back, but still in second place in the Florida State League Northern Division. Continue reading Abbreviated Threshers Report
Lakewood BlueClaws Weekly Report (5/19 – 5/25)
Almost two months into the 2009 SAL season, and the Lakewood BlueClaws find themselves right where they want to be – first place in the SAL North, one game ahead of the Delmarva Shorebirds.
This week the BlueClaws put up a 4-3 record against the 2008 SAL runners-up, the West Virginia Power, and the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Again, they lived and died by their pitching, as the BlueClaws offense averaged less than four runs a game (excluding one notable outlier).
Continue reading Lakewood BlueClaws Weekly Report (5/19 – 5/25)
Around the System (Rotation)
A look at how the current starting rotation has been performing at each level of the Phillies Minor League System:
Lehigh Valley (AAA)
1. Carlos Carrasco- 0-6, 5.81 ERA, 48.0 IP, 13BB 52K, 1.45 WHIP, .288 Opp Avg, .351 Opp Avg with RISP
2. Kyle Kendrick– 3-3, 4.21 ERA, 47.0 IP, 20BB 32K, 1.46 WHIP, .262 Opp Avg, .170 Opp Avg with RISP.
3. Andrew Carpenter- 1=0, 4.02 ERA, 40.1 IP, 18BB 25K, 1.44 WHIP, .262 Opp Avg., .258 Opp Avg. with RISP.
4. Rodrigo Lopez- 2-2, 3.94 ERA, 32.0 IP, 5BB 24K, 1.37 WHIP, .305 Opp Avg., .286 Opp Avg. with RISP.
5. Antonio Bastardo– 2-2, 2.21 ERA, 40.2 IP, 9BB 50K, 0.86 WHIP, .186 Opp Avg. This includes Reading Stats Continue reading Around the System (Rotation)
Lehigh Valley Weekend Report
5/22/09–Lehigh Valley came up with a fairly well played 5-3 victory over Durham on Friday night before a sellout crowd at Coca Cola Park. Kyle Kendrick (3-3) got the start and pitched well, his lone major mistake being a 3 run homer he gave up to Chris Richard in the 6th inning. Kendrick went six innings, gave up three runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out five. The ‘Pigs took an early lead on a Pablo Ozuna RBI double and scored three more in the third inning, the key hits being a Lou Marson RBI single and a Jeremy Slayden RBI double. Lehigh Valley tacked on another in the fifth on Andy Tracy’s 7th homer of the year. JC Romero pitched a scoreless seventh (Three up, Three down), and Mike Koplove came in and was dominant, striking out four of the 5 batters he faced to earn his 4th save. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekend Report
Phuture Phillies 