Sixto Sanchez shone as the GCL Phillies took over sole control of first place. Cole Stobbe and Rudolfo Duran homered in support.
Tyler Gilbert, Blake Quinn, and Scott Harris pitched a combined shutout for Lakewood. The BlueClaws hammered out 16 hits and 13 runs.
Featherston, Ruf, Lino, Quinn, and Canelo all homered in losing causes.
And, the 2017 Rule 4 Draft will be held on June 12, 2017 (a Monday). Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/24/2016
The big story today isn’t an individual performance, but rather a team performance. The Lakewood BlueClaws lead their division by 3.0 games in the second half, and with last night’s win have a winning record for the first time this season. As recently as seven weeks ago, they were still 14 games below .500 for the season. Jan Hernandez hit 2 home runs in Tuesday’s game.
Also, the GCL Phillies are tied with the Blue Jays for first place and begin a home-and-home series with them today. They finish the season against the Jays with another home-and-home next week.
Individually, Ben Lively pitched kinda good last night for Lehigh Valley. Brandon Leibrandt and three relievers pitched a shutout for Clearwater. And, Bailey Faltr laid the foundation for Williamsport. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/23/2016
Grant Dyer and Jose Taveras pitched well for Lakewood as they swept a double header. Cornelius Randolph and Jose Pujols had 4 hits each on the night, and Pujols hit his 24th home run. Randolph had four RBI, Pujols two.
Williamsport got excellent starts from Ranger Suarez and Felix Paulino, but dropped a double header.
Will Stewart turned in today’s GCL Phillies solid start. Cole Stobbe and Malvin Matos hit home runs.
Mitch Walding hit his third home run in Reading’s loss. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/22/2016
Prior to their rain out yesterday, Lehigh Valley had won four of their last six games and return home for a quick two game home stand against Scranton before hitting the road for three games against Pawtucket. At 76-52, Lehigh Valley sits in 2nd place of the Northern Division, four games behind division leading Scranton, however hold a 5.5 game lead in the wild card race with 15 games remaining in the season.
News and Notes: Darin Ruf has hit safely in his last 7 games, during which he is hitting .400 with 3HR and 8RBI. Over the last month, Ruf leads the IL in slugging %.
—Cody Asche has hit in all 9 games since being optioned from Philadelphia.
—Anthony Vasquez continues pitching well wherever he is throwing. Over his last 8 starts for Lehigh Valley, Vasquez is 3-0 with a 2.23ERA and 5 quality starts.
–P Phil Klein has been added to the rotation and is throwing very well, going 2-0 with a 1.40ERA in his last 3 starts.
–Over his last 12 games, RP Colton Murray has a 1.53ERA; and has struck out 16 in 17.2IP.
—JP Crawford was out on the lineup for an 8 game stint between 8/10 and 8/17. Since returning to the lineup, Crawford is 3-14 (.214) and his average has fallen to .255 since joining Lehigh Valley.
—Andy Knapp continues to progress defensively and has now thrown out over 36% of would be base stealers this season.
–Over the last 2 months, 1B Brock Stassi is hitting .287 with 10HR 37RBI and 14 go ahead RBI. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Report
Over the past weekend, Mike Drago of the Reading Eagle published his yearly prospect survey (The Eagle is a subscription site). Mike requested input from about two dozen industry people who watch or cover a fair amount of games and players among the Phillies’ affiliates. He received 15 responses and used a weighted scoring system to determine a player’s perceived value (first-place votes earning 20 points, second place 19 points, etc.). I was one of the 15 respondents. Continue reading The First End of Season Poll, 2016
Here’s the open discussion thread for Phillies’ talk and other topics.
The Phillies went 2-4 last week losing both series to the Dodgers and Cardinals. They completed a 5-4 home stand. They go on the road this week for a two-game series against the White Sox and 3-game series against the Mets. They are off on Monday and Thursday. Their record stands at 58-67 (14-19 since the break).
Clearwater posted the only win in the organization on Sunday. Reading lost, Lehigh Valley was cancelled, Lakewood was suspended, and Williamsport was postponed.
Drew Anderson tossed five shutout innings as four Threshers’ pitchers combined to throw a shutout.
Clearwater’s hitters posted season highs for runs and hits. Chace Numata led the way with five hits. Three different Threshers drove in three runs. Herlis Rodriguez hit his first HR.
Roman Quinn hit a solo home run, and Andrew Pullin hit two solo home runs in Reading’s loss.
Cornelius Randolph had 2 hits and 3 RBI when the Lakewood game was suspended in the third inning. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/21/2016
John Richy, Will Morris, Seranthony Dominguez, JoJo Romero, Mauricio Llovera, and Victor Sobil turned in solid starting performances in victories for Reading, Clearwater, Lakewood, Williamsport, GCL Phillies, and DSL Phillies2.
Darin Ruf and Brock Stassi hit home runs in a losing effort for Lehigh Valley. Josh Tobias went 4 for 4 in Clearwater. Jose Pujols and Emmanuel Marrero homered for Lakewood. Evan Rogers and Brett Barbier homered for Williamsport. Daniel Brito homered for the GCL Phillies.
And, Jhailyn Ortiz stole his 8th base in 10 attempts. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/20/2016
Ricardo Pinto may have turned in the best pitching performance Friday. He threw eight one-run innings for Reading. Lakewood’s Alberto Tirado and the GCL Phillies’ Nick Fanti pitched five shutout innings for their teams.
But the most eye-opening performance can be attributed to Reading’s Dylan Cozens. He played both seven-inning games of a double header and went a combined 5-9 with a double, 2 HR (37), 6 RBI (114), and stole a base (20). His 37th HR e tied Ryan Howard’s output for Reading in 2004. He is one short of Darin Ruf’s franchise record of 38, set in 2012. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/19/2016
Thursday’s top pitching performances were turned in by – Lehigh’s Nick Pivetta who tossed six shutout innings; Mark Leiter who halted Reading’s two-game skid in an eight strike out performance; the GCL Phillies’ Sixto Sanchez who overcame an early blemish on his way to posting his normal quality start; and, Denny Martinez who turned in the DSL’s daily gem with nine strike outs in five innings.
J.P. Crawford returned to the Lehigh Valley line up, Reading’s Roman Quinn reached base four times, and Damek Tomscha had three hits for Lakewood. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/18/2016
Phuture Phillies 