Reading Phillies Weekly Report 4/24-5/1

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Reading is still struggling to find a way to win consistently, going 2-5 since my last report.  2 of the 5 losses came in spectacular fashion, with the previously solid bullpen surrendering large 9th inning leads.  On the good news side, Quentin Berry, Tyson Gillies, and Domonic Brown are back playing, and Brown and Gillies seem to have found their strokes (it’s a bit too soon to tell for Berry).

On Saturday and Sunday, Worley and Aumont both had their best outings of the season and the bullpen shut the door in the late innings, enabling the R-Phils to win a series versus Richmond two games to one.  Escalona and Schwimer picked up saves.  The team hasn’t won since.

The R-Phils’ nemesis, the Harrisburg Senators, came to town on Monday, and, after a rainout, swept 3 games giving the R-Phils an 0-6 record against them this season.  Stephen Strasburg pitched again, hurling 5 no-hit innings on Tuesday in the first half of a DH, but the nightcap was really the lowlight of the season to that point.  The R-Phils entered the 6th inning of a 7 inning game with a 6-2 lead behind Flande, but the here-to-fore reliable bullpen surrendered one run in the 6th and four in the 7th to lose 7-6.  Stutes and Escalona did the damage, with Stutes the main culprit.

The R-Phils journeyed to New Hampshire for the weekend, and managed to top even Thursday’s incredible come-from ahead loss, losing 10-9 on Saturday after entering the ninth behind 5-1. They rallied for an amazing 8 runs in the top of the inning, only to see Schwimer, who had been nearly unhittable up until that game, surrender 5 runs in the bottom of the frame.

Domonic Brown has been scorching since returning from his concussion, going 9/26 (.346) and counting 4 doubles, a triple, and 2 HR among those 9 hits.  His season OPS now sits at 1.005.  Gillies is 7/27 (.259) over the same time period when he also returned from an injury (thumb).  His 7 hits included a double and a HR, but he has walked only once over his last 8 games.  Freddy Galvis, despite a 4/4 game on Wednesday, is still hitting .216, posting only one other hit this week.  He has 18 hits this season, 16 of which are singles, and his OPS is under .500.

On the mound, Aumont has pitched well coming into his start today, and Joe Blanton had a poor rehab start.  Cisco, Flande, Naylor, and Worley were decent this week, although none were able to post a win (thanks in large part to the bullpen issues highlighted above).

The R-Phils continue their road trip this week at Portland, which isn’t a good omen considering their 1-8 record away from First Energy Park.  They return home next weekend to face Akron.

22 thoughts on “Reading Phillies Weekly Report 4/24-5/1”

  1. Tough one for Schwimer last night, and it seemed to come apart really quickly. Hopefully he rebounds nicely – given his makeup and the fact that he’s had very few poor outings in two years as a pro, that shouldn’t be an issue. It will be interesting to see if he does a blog about how he responds to an outing like last night’s – it was Eatonesque!

    – Jeff

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  4. Brown, Gillies and Aumont are the 1st names I check in the minor league boxscores. Then I skip staight to Lakewood.

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  7. Reading is looking good at the plate recently. How much longer do you think till Brown and Gillies get the call to AAA? June/July?

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  8. Brown might get a call up later on, perhaps even to the majors when rosters expand. Gillies will likely stay the full year in AA, as it’s a brand new level for him and he hasn’t been fantastic.

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  9. If Brown keeps ripping, he’ll get called up to AAA soon enough. I doubt he’ll get called to the majors this year, he’s not even on the 40 man roster. I expect Brown, Mayberry, Francisco to fight out for the RF job in 2011.

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  10. I agree with Gillies I think he still needs some work. I think the ideal situation for Brown would probably be AA through the month of May and probably halfway into June and then a call up to AAA for the second half of the year. Aumont I think may get a whole year at AA too what do you think?

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  11. Gillies is young for AA. My guess is he would not get moved to AAA no matter how well he hit this year. There is no one pushing him to AAA anyway.

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  12. Does Brown need to be added to the 40 man roster after this season? If so, it would make sense to call him up in September. He’d be a valuable bench piece with his athleticism as he could either hit or pinch run.

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  13. Im not sure if he needs to be added or not. Triple-A has a good number of outfielders this year who can hold the fort down until Brown arrives probably in June I would guess. They may even leave him in AA till the EL All Star game like some teams do with other prospects. Thoughts?

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  14. I think, if they’re not sure they’re going to sign Werth, the Phillies really better start thinking about giving Francisco some real playing time and promoting Mayberry at some point to see if he can adjust to big league pitching. My guess is that, next year, we start out with a platoon of Brown, from the left, and Francisco/Mayberry from the right. If one of the righties isn’t ready, we might see a right-handed bat rented for a year or two. I know Brown looks like he could be something special, but I’m not looking forward to trying to replace Werth.

    As for our other prospects, we really do need to keep an eye on Overbeck and Rizzotti. They’ll probably let them rake in A+ for another month before making a move, but we need to know if one or both of those guys is for real. Overbeck is certainly opening my eyes. It’s not just the homers – he’s slugging doubles all over the place and, yes it’s his “age 24” minor league system, but fact of the matter is that he’s currently 23 and is really just in his second minor league season. What a pleasant surprise.

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  17. More impressive than clearing the train tracks in Hackensack NJ, that’s for sure.

    (That’s a Brewster’s Millions reference.)

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  18. I’m glad Brown is doing so well in AA, but as we saw with Taylor last year the Phils will usually wait to promote until they’re absolutely positive the player is ready. The only qualifying factor in Brown’s case is that they clearly think very highly of him and might promote him early to get him ready for 2011, as so many have speculated. Still, I wouldn’t expect a promotion until mid-season and I agree with Alan on his ability to help the Phils when rosters expand.

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  19. I wonder if injuries–not to mention the Werth/Ibanez issues–could move things along a little quicker. Duffy and Wise are both injured at this point. How seriously, I don’t know, but neither were even available to pinch hit the last two games. While Mike Spidale played 31 games at AAA last year, Brown has the best AA numbers at this point…could one or both be moving up to fill needed spots here in Allentown???

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  20. Being that the Duffy and Wise injuries are not season ending I think Spidale would be a bigger option for a callup right now than Brown. They won’t rush a project because of an injury. I think Spidale may go up until they are back healthy. Brown I agree prob mid season like with Taylor last year. And Taylor had better numbers.

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  21. I’m hoping Schwim writes a post here soon. After the 5 run explosion against him, I was checking his numbers. He’s given up 6 runs this year and they’ve all come on homers, three to be exact. I’d like to hear his take on them. I also like hearing what he learned from it.

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  22. The Phils did everything not to promote MT even to the point of not putting in the AFL. Why who knows. Brown on the other hand is managements favorite so any promotion is possible. Spidale is of interest.

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