And, then there was one.  Lehigh Valley bowed out of the International League semifinals with a 7-2, 10-inning defeat at the hands of rival Scranton.  That leaves Lakewood to carry the standard for the organization in the post season.

Lehigh Valley (84-56) took a 2-1 lead into the ninth inning but saw part of their bullpen pitch like future Phillies bullpen arms as they allowed a the tying run to score in the top of the ninth and the go ahead run to score in the tenth before a grand slam put the game out of reach. Continue reading Playoff Recap – 9/8/2018 →

Two Phillies’ affiliates remain active in their respective playoffs.  Lehigh Valley pulled off an exciting extra-inning win to force a game four.  And, Spencer Howard clinched Lakewood’s semifinal series with an impressive no-hitter.

Lehigh Valley (84-56) extended their post season with a 13 inning, 3-2 victory over Scranton.  Nick Rickles had the game winning base hit. Continue reading Playoff Recap – 9/7/2018 →

The Clearwater Threshers (77-60) lost the deciding game of the North Division playoffs to Daytona, 5-3.  Once again, they built an early lead, and once again they couldn’t hold the lead.  Last night, the Threshers built a 3-run lead for Mauricio Llovera.  He squandered part of the lead on a 2-run HR in the seventh and gave way to Jake Hernandez who stranded an inherited runner and completed the inning without further damage.  Trevor Bettencourt came in at the start of the eighth and blew the save and lost the game.  Addison Russ was summoned too late to have an impact. Continue reading Clearwater Threshers Recap – 9/6/2018 →

The Clearwater Threshers (77-60) missed an opportunity to close out the Tortugas after a 4-run first inning and eventually lost 6-5.  

Alejandro Requena was the beneficiary of the early runs, but was lifted after 53 pitches in 1.1 innings and 6 runs on 6 hits, a hit batter and 2 wild pitches.  Now, granted three errors played a part in the scoring, 3 runs were unearned.  But, both wild pitches moved four runners into scoring position and they all scored on run-scoring singles. Continue reading Clearwater Threshers Recap – 9/5/2018 →

The Clearwater Threshers (77-60) opened their 2018 playoffs with an exciting 7-6 win over the Daytona Tortugas.   Adonis Medina started and had an uneven start that matched his 2018 season.  He showed flashes of brilliance like when he struck out Ibandel Isabel, the FSL HR leader with 35, on 3 consecutive change ups.  But, he also had lapses like when he served up fastballs for big hits like Courtney Hawkins 2-run HR.   Continue reading Clearwater Threshers Recap – 9/4/2018 →

The Clearwater Threshers (77-60) open their playoff run tonight with Adonis Medina on the mound.  Alejandro Requena is scheduled to start game two in Daytona. Continue reading Clearwater Threshers Recap – 9/3/2018 →

Roman Quinn was finally removed from the prospect list.  He had been ranked 15th in the organization.  Everyone below #15 moved up one and Simon Muzziotti made the list at #30.

The Clearwater Threshers (77-60) closed out their 2018 regular season with a 2-1 loss to the Fort Myers Miracle.  Ramon Rosso (2.91) threw three, shutout innings.  Probably s he could be available earlier during the playoffs.  He allowed 5 hits, walked none, and struck out three.  He threw 44 pitches, 33 strikes (75%).  

Four relievers got some pre-playoff work in.  J.D. Hammer (1-2, 2.79) suffered the loss striking out 3 in his one inning, but being charged with 2 unearned runs.  Alberto Tirado (2.18) struck out 3 in two innings.  Grant Dyer (4.78) pitched a perfect inning.  Addison Russ (1.69) pitched a scoreless inning. Continue reading Clearwater Threshers Recap – 9/2/2018 →

The Clearwater Threshers (77-59) beat Fort Myers, 5-2 in ten innings.  Bailey Falter (2.69) provided an old fashioned quality start.  He allowed two runs in seven innings on 5 hits and a walk.  He struck out three and had a 66.3% strike-rate.  Treveor Bettencourt (0.53) earned the win with two scoreless innings.  Jake (Jakob with 3 Ks) Hernandez (2.80) earned his fifth save by striking out the side in the ninth.

The Threshers collected 12 hits.  They tied the game with 2 runs in the sixth inning on Edgar Cabral’s 2-run HR 6).  They struck for 3 runs in the tenth on RBI singles by Henri Lartigue (.251), Mickey Moniak, and Cabral. Continue reading Clearwater Threshers Recap – 9/1/2018 →