With Carlos Ruiz on the disabled list, expect Lou Marson to see fairly regular time for the Phillies over the next two weeks. He had not been recalled to .
Orlando Guevara has apparantly been recalled to take Marson’s place on the roster. Guevara had been in extended spring training in Florida. Guevara, 24, saw very limited time in both Reading and Lehigh Valley last year.
The Pigs set a franchise record last night, striking out 17 times.
In his first start of the year for Lehigh Valley, Carlos Carrasco was lights out going six shutout innings, yielding only four hits and didnt walk a batter. Carrasco threw 85 pitches, 60 for strikes, while striking out four. He left after six, and the ‘Pigs bullpen immediately blew the 1-0 lead. The game currently remains tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 7th.
—Lou Marson was pulled from the starting lineup on Friday, presumably because of the trickle down effect resulting from the strained oblique suffered in the Phillies game by Carlos Ruiz. The Phillies are calling Ruiz day-to day, but an oblique issue is extremely difficult for a catcher. One would believe the Phils would have to make a quick decision on the possibility of placing Ruiz on the disabled list because of the risk of having only one healthy catcher.
An abridged version of the weekly Lehigh Valley report with only the opener, to report on. The ‘Pigs got off to a rough start and a rougher end in their 11-3 opening night loss to Scranton. The night began with a JJ Furmaniak error leading to two unearned runs for the Yanks in the first, before Kyle Kendrick settled down to go four innings yielding only the two unearned runs on four hits. He walked three and struck out one. Kendrick threw 82 pitches, 50 for strikes and was pitching out of trouble for most of his four innings. The ‘Pigs got back into the game in the second inning on an RBI single by Furmaniak, who had three hits on the night. Pablo Ozuna followed that up with a two run single in the fourth inning, giving the ‘Pigs a short lived 3-2 lead. The floodgates opened in the fifth inning with Dave Borkowski (0-1) giving up two runs, and then John Ennis getting rocked in the 6th giving up five more. Lehigh Valley was unable to put anything together after that point and dittoed their opening day loss to the Yankees last year.
A quick note on the probable starters for the opening series against the Scranton Wilkes Barre Yankees: Opening night: Kyle Kendrick, Friday: Carlos Carrasco, Saturday: Drew Carpenter, Sunday: Rodrigo Lopez. Justin Lehr will open the ‘Pigs second series of the year Monday against Syracuse.
A couple of points to clarify the IronPigs roster in light of earlier predictions:
–Neither Joe Bisnius nor Antonio Bastardo are on the ‘Pig opening day roster. Both are starting the year in the Reading bullpen.
With Spring Training approaching its long awaited end, the majority of roster decisions appear to have been made with some, but not many surprises. The following is an educated (?) guess at how the ‘Pigs will look as the season opens against Scranton, along with each players stats from last year. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Opening Day Roster
Todd Zolecki is reporting that Rule 5 Draft pick Robert Mosebach has cleared waivers and has been offered back to the Angels. who have accepted Mosebach back into the fold. That leaves three vying for the one bullpen spot remaining in Philadelphia. RHP Gary Majewski, along with lefties Jack Taschner and JA Happ are the last three standing. It seems likely that the true competition at this point is between Taschner and Happ(as lefties), although Majewski has pitched very well in Spring Training. One has to feel for Happ who has done everything asked of him over the pasttwo years both for the IronPigs last year, as well as during his stint with the Phillies. Although I believe he ends up back with the IronPigs as a starter to begin the year, I believe Happ will play a prominent role in Philadelphia before the years end.
Several players who played in the organization were released over the last week (many just today) by the Phils. The list is as follows, along with where they played last year: Continue reading Releases
Infielder Jason Donald along with pitchers Jake Woods and Dave Borkowski were all optioned to minor league camp this evening, Donald had a strong Spring, seeing time at both SS and 3B, hitting .293 in 58 at bats. He had a homer, 4 RBI’s and 3 stolen bases. Borkowski was effective this spring, throwing 5.1 innings with a 1.69 ERA. He walked two and struck out three. Woods, who had some major league experience had an outside shot at sticking as a lefty out of the pen. That shot was quickly dimished with a 7.94 ERA in his 5.2 innings this Spring. Expect all three to have an impact with the IronPigs this year.
These cuts leave Mike Koplove and Gary Majewski fighting for the last spot in the Phillies bullpen if the Phils go North with 12 pitchers.
Minor League rosters continue being filled out with pitcher Kyle Kendrick, catcher Lou Marson and infielder Brad Harmon all being optioned to minor league camp. Kendrick was extremely disappointing, unable to bring himself out of his late season funk, which is now leaning more towards our reality. He was 1-3 with an ERA over 9 in his 4 starts this spring. His WHIP has hovered right around 2. Expect to see him as a member of the ‘Pigs rotation in Lehigh Valley.
Harmon spent the majority of the Spring with the Australian team that participated in the World Baseball Classic and played well, before going 0-7 in his Spring Training at-bats with the Phils. Lou Marson will join the ‘Pigs as well as their everyday catcher after a Spring which saw him struggle from the plate, hitting .125 in 24 Spring at bats (including exhibitions).
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