Monday’s game at the Blue Jays’ Englebert Complex was moved up 10:00am to beat the weather. Unfortunately, I was unaware of the change and missed the game. Tuesday’s game against the Yankees at Bright House Field was played at the scheduled time. It’s not about the result, but the Phillies did win 5-1.
Pitchers Continue reading Phillies Instructional League Game #3; 9/23/2014
The Florida Instructional League scheduled an intrasquad game for Friday at 1:45pm. In an effort to get the game in ahead of the rainy weather, they moved the game up to 10:00am, but still had to call it by 10:30am.
The rain was so heavy that Bright House Field was unplayable for Saturday’s 10:00am game against the Yankees, and was moved to Robin Roberts Field at the Carpenter Complex.
I arrived in the bottom of the first inning after getting a flat tire on Route 19. Those of you who have been down here know that is not the best place to get a flat. So, by the time I got to the correct field, I just tracked highlights and didn’t chart pitches or keep a proper score card. Continue reading Baseball, Prospects, and an Icon; 9/20/2014
Just a few observations and answers about the Instructional League Roster. It’s a little easier to address the questions that arose in yesterday’s thread here than after each comment.
A lot of the players you guys noted were missing attended the Instructs last year and maybe the year before, guys like – Anderson, Keys, Rivero, Viza, Rios, Posso, Canelo, Green, Greene, Pujols, Tocci were all included in the 2013 Instructs. I think Mecias, Cuicas, Marte, Hiciano, Tromp were included in 2012. Continue reading More on the FIL Roster: 9/17/2014
The Phillies have determined their roster for the 2014 Instructional League (FIL). I apologize for the appearance, I just did a basic block and copy and haven’t ruined the integrity of the file, yet. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at jimpeyton19@yahoo.com and I will forawrd a copy. It is still in its original Excel format.
There are a couple of surprise attendees. Guys I didn’t expect to see, like J.P. Crawford. And guys I’m looking forward to seeing, like Jesus Alastre. I can’t wait to start covering the Instructs.
The first game is this coming Saturday morning. I have an updated schedule, too. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at the address above. I’ll get copies out tonight or tomorrow. I have an important lunch meeting at the Brown Boxer today. Yeah, meeting sounds more official than happy hour lunch. Continue reading Phillies Instructional League Roster as of September 16, 2014
The Clearwater Threshers were rained out Sunday at Brevard County. Miguel Nunez was scheduled to start and is now listed as the starter for Monday night, originally Jesse Biddle’s next scheduled start. The Threshers are scheduled off Tuesday and back home on Wednesday. No pitchers have been announced past Monday. So, maybe Biddle will get the start Wednesday at home. I hope so.
Since I’ve been mentioning it pretty much all week, here’s closure for you – the VSL squad lost today on a walk-off error. Two unearned runs in the last couple innings spoiled a fine performance from Ranger Suarez, who ended the year having given up just one walk and striking out 84 in 88.2 IP. Our main man Jesus Alastre was 2-3 on the day. Nice job by both guys all year, and I imagine we’ll hear from them stateside this fall and next spring.
Here’s a link to the box score.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2014_08_08_vphrok_vtirok_1&t=g_box&sid=milb
The VSL Phillies finished their season Monday, going 36-32 on the year, to finish two games up on the third place Mariners and into the playoffs against a 45-23 Detroit squad. The two leaders begin their three-game championship series today.
Phillies ace Ranger Suarez pitched Saturday, which I believed would have lined him up to pitch a decisive game three Thursday, but he’s been taking five or six days rest all year, so maybe not. The schedule for the five team VSL is such that teams have an off day at least every five days, so to get a five man rotation going, you’re going to see that extra rest for everyone.
In reality, it may not be a necessity for Suarez to throw Wednesday, if it gets that far, even though the team will have been without an off-day since Friday. Short rest for the first time all year in the last game of the year is probably not wise, and the club used Carlos Salazar as a starter Monday, I believe in an attempt to clear three of their regular starters in order, Victor Delgado, Luis Carrasco and Carlos Indriago to work the series. Delgado will likely start today on six days rest, and Indraigo would be out of turn but on five days rest tomorrow, so if they wanted to squeeze him up, they could, as Carrasco had the weakest season of the three. That might leave room to use Suarez on four days rest for the rubber match, if they really wanted to. Still not sure that’s wise. Maybe using him out of the pen today or tomorrow would be smarter.
In terms of stalwarts at the plate and in the field, the Phils have five guys who played pretty much every day, 19 yr-old 1B Joseph Miranda, 16 yr-old CF Jesus Alastre, 19 yr-old SS Jose Antequera, 16 yr-old LF Luis Mendoza and 21-yr-old 2B/3B Alexander Perdomo. The younger two you might consider prospects, while the rest are a bit old for the league (or way old, in Perdomo’s case). Miranda is the slugger, having led the team with 5HR (tied for 3rd in the league). Alastre got on base at a .409 clip, (league leader) and had 13 steals (tied for eighth), and Mendoza had a very nice year for a guy who won’t turn 17 until Thursday. Perhaps he can celebrate a championship and a birthday on the same day.
Keep an eye out in the box score recap tomorrow for an update on game one, and we’ll go from there.
**UPDATE** – Victor Delgado and closer Alejandro Garcia shut out Detroit. Phillies lead series 1-0. Delgado allowed three hits over eight innings. Mendoza and Alastre each pushed runs across, and 17 yr-old 2B Daniel Romero had two hits and scored twice. Game two tomorrow could be the clincher.
The ‘Pigs (49-61) are going in the wrong direction quickly after being swept by Buffalo over the weekend into Monday and getting trounced by Rochester Monday evening extending their season high losing streak to ten games. It is their longest losing streak since the awful team of 2008, in their inaugural season. Since May 30th, Lehigh Valley is 20-37 and has fallen from second place to last place, 14 games in back of division leading Syracuse. Lehigh Valley visits Rochester for two games before returning home over the weekend for what will be a six game homestand. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report
The GCL was rained out this afternoon. The Threshers were rained out tonight. So, I went looking through the org rosters and happened upon Julsan Kamara. He’s the young kid we signed out of Germany who started in the DSL after graduating high school. Kamara went 2-3 today and pulled his average up to .204 for the season. No big deal until you realize started the season 0-21. He followed that up with an 11-33 in his last 10 games.
Kamara is 18-years old (he turns 19 in December). He’s 6’3 and weighs 205 lbs. His slash is .204/.386/.259/.645. He has 9 walks and 21 strike outs in 54 at bats, only 2 XBH among his 11 total hits. He also has 10 RBIs, all in the last 10 games.
Just thought I’d share this info on one of our international signings.
Phuture Phillies 