Monthly Archives: July 2009

Daily Discussion, Knapp Placed on DL

Daily Discussion

According to David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News, Jason Knapp has been placed on the disabled list with “shoulder fatigue”.

Both Freddy Galvis (0-5) and Dominic Brown (3-3) played yesteday for the GCL Phils, and both should be expected back in the Clearwater lineup soon.

A guy worth taking some note of is Jesus Sanchez at (A) Lakewood.  Sanchez, who was a catcher up until last year has gotten progressively better during his first year on the mound this year and is starting to put up numbers worth watching.  Sanchez has allowed seven earned runs in his last six starts.  He is 4-1 with a 1.91 ERA in those outings, with good control (6BB/23K).

Toronto Assistant General Manager Anthony LaCava was in Lakewood on Monday sitting behind home plate.

 Jason Knapp had an uncharacteritic awful outing on Saturday, lasting just 0.2 of an inning.

Lakewood closer Brian Rosenberg has not allowed an earned run since May 31.

Five Reading Phillies will be taking part in the Eastern League All Star Game tonight.  The players include: P Vance Worley, P Joe Savery, OF Michael Taylor, 3B Neil Sellers, and OF Quintin Berry.

The Daily Life

Michael Schwimer Blog

Before I get started, I would like to thank Phuture Phillies for giving me this opportunity to write this column. I have three reasons for creating this blog. First, I feel like very few people understand the life of a minor league ballplayer, and I wish to shed some light on the excitement and rigors this profession provides. Second, I believe the reason baseball thrives is because of its loyal fan base. I receive many emails, txts, etc from baseball fans. Unfortunately, they’re only so many hours in a day, and I believe this column will allow me to answer even more of your questions. Lastly, when people come up to me and ask me about life as a professional baseball player, in addition to answering their question, I can share with them this link to the column so they can learn even more about this life.

Continue reading The Daily Life →

Williamsport and GCL Weekly Report

2. GCL, 3. Williamsport

Williamsport: 13-11, 3 GB, T2 in the NYPL Pinckney Division

Is Anthony Hewitt’s light bulb coming on? Is Matt Way the next JA Happ? Take a look inside the weekly recap and start the discussion.

Continue reading Williamsport and GCL Weekly Report →

Clearwater Threshers: July (So Far)

5. Clearwater, Galvis, Freddy

Well, so far the month of July has not been kind to the Clearwater Threshers. The team has a 4-7 record on the month, and has been outscored by a margin of 78-38. The team went scoreless in four consecutive games from July 6th to the 9th, although one of the games was called due to rain after 3.5 innings of play. (Over that four game streak the team was outscored 29-0.)

The team had ended the month of June on a hot streak winning the final six of the month, and then won the first two of July to extend their winning streak to eight games. Unfortunately since that time the team has fallen on hard times losing seven of the last nine games by an average margin of nearly eight runs.

Some good news can come from the fact that Freddy Galvis has returned to action playing with the Gulf Coast League team, and has hit .400 in four games. It is expected that Galvis will return to the Threshers roster when the team returns to action at home after the MLB All-Star break this coming Wednesday night.

Needless to say it has been the pitching staff that has suffered the most for the Threshers lately, although the offense has been mediocre at best.

Continue reading Clearwater Threshers: July (So Far) →

Around the System (Corner Infielders)

Around the System

Another look at the Corner Infielders in the Phillies system from top to bottom.  Not very deep at all, with AAAA organizational guys at the top, and several who have underperformed or are too old for their league on the bottom.  The numbers being put up in Reading are interesting, although I think the Phils would hesitate to call any of the three a true prospect. Continue reading Around the System (Corner Infielders) →

‘Pigs Weekend Update

7. Lehigh Valley

Lehigh Valley goes into the all star break having lost two out of three this weekend, and witha record of 43-47, nine games behind division leading Scranton, in fifth place of the Northern Division of the IL.

7/10/09–A disappointing 5-4 loss to Scranton, with Gary Majewski  (0-4) imploding in the 8th inning to take the loss.  Kyle Kendrick started and pitched six shutout innings before hitting the 7th inning speed bump, allowing 3 runs.  His final line:  6.1 IP, 5H 3 ER 2BB 4K.  The ‘Pigs carried a 1-0 lead into the seventh, at which point things started going downhill for the ‘Pigs quickly.  Mike Cervenak (2-4) got the scoring going with a 4th inning homer (6), After the Yanks three spot, LVbounced back with 2 runs in the 8th and one in the 9th, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Scranton.  Lou Marson had yet another multi hit game going 3-4.  Miguel Cairo also added 2 hits for the ‘Pigs. Continue reading ‘Pigs Weekend Update →

Futures Game is today

Other Stuff

2PM (in like 2 minutes) on ESPN2.

Kyle Drabek and Yohan Flande represent the Phillies. Tune in.

Update, 7PM: Drabek with a nice inning. The tv gun was way off. Velo readings

96, 96
82, 94, 84, 95
95, 82, 95

Reading Pitching Chatter

6. Reading

Some recent comments made by Reading pitching coach Steve Shrenk on the performance of a number of members of the Reading staff:

Mike Stutes — (on his last start) “He established his fastball a little better, he was down in the zone…the walks really hurt him.  He is throwing his change up better like he was at the beginning of the year, still working on the breaking ball, trying to do too much at times but getting better” Continue reading Reading Pitching Chatter →

Friday discussion items

Other Stuff

Just a few odds and ends

* Anthony Hewitt is 8 for his last 15, with two triples and a HR. The BB/K numbers are still ugly, but I’ll take it for now.

* Domingo Santana has 7 XBH (4 2B, 3 HR) in 28 AB. That’s quite a way to kick off your US debut

* With all of the talk about Roy Halladay, I’ve started to kind of figure out what I think it will take to get a deal done. And I think about how its going to take a big chunk out of the Phillies farm system. But then I look at the first 20 or so guys on the prospect list, and realize that even if the team trades 4 or 5 guys, there are still going to be a bunch of guys that will merit watching. And that doesn’t count two power arms who still haven’t thrown a ball in Cosart and Shreve. I’ll continue this below…

Continue reading Friday discussion items →

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

7. Lehigh Valley

A fairly lousy week for the IronPigs who went 3-5 on the week, and are now in 5th Place of the Northern Division, 8 games behind division leading Scranton. The ‘Pigs did pick it up towards the end of the week, winning their last two games. Hitting leaders include Andy Tracy who is 4th in runs (51) ,2nd in homers (15), 2nd in RBI’s (57), and first in walks (52) ;Rich Thompson who is 8th in triples (4) and 7th in stolen bases (17).  On the hill, Andrew Carpenter is tied for second in wins with eight, leading the league in innings pitched (101) and 10th in ERA (2.85).  Kyle Kendrick is second in innings (96.1), while Carlos Carrasco is 3rd in innings (96), and tied for the league lead in strikeouts (93). Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →