Carrasco, Happ Start Fight For Fifth Vs. Blue Jays
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Thu, February 26, 2009 12:25 PM | Comments: 61
Posts, Spring Gameday
The Fight For Fifth (TM) begins today when the Phillies open their home spring slate against the Blue Jays. Gametime is 1:05 p.m.
Carlos Carrasco gets the ball for the Phillies – the Phillies Nation No. 1 prospect will make his first spring start, though he already has won plenty of success in the offseason, pitching in the Venezuelan Winter League. Carrasco is a darkhorse candidate for the fifth starter spot.
JA Happ is a leading contender, and he’ll pitch after Carrasco. Justin Lehr, Gary Majewski, Blaine Neal and Yorman Bazardo are scheduled to throw after them; of the four, Majewski has the best shot of making the 25-man roster, with Neal not a bad underdog pick. Your lineup, courtesy Scott Lauber, is Jimmy Rollins (SS) / Jason Donald (3B) / Raul Ibanez (LF) / Ryan Howard (DH) / John Mayberry (RF) / Greg Dobbs (1B) / Marcus Giles (2B) / Jason Ellison (CF) / Carlos Ruiz (C).
Posts: 0 Fuhs
First base is looking a little crowded. I believe Ryan is DH
Posted: 12:34 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Roose13
It’s nice we’ll get to see some of Marcus Giles today. I hope Happ or Carrasco pan out to be a good 5th starter. These two guys are the ones I am paying the most of my attention on.
Posted: 12:41 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 1650 Tim Malcolm
Oh yeah – I had the lineup in my eyes and for some reason, wrote Howard as 1B. Force of habit.
Posted: 12:44 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Fuhs
No worries, Tim. I just had a picture in my mind of Dobbs and Howard both covering first. Reminded me of a scene from Major League 2 where the third baseman refused to get pulled for a pinch runner.
Posted: 12:47 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 NEPA
I posted this in the other topic but figured here is better. Santana was scratched from his Friday start because of left elbow tenderness.
Posted: 12:51 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Rob E
Who the heck is that CF???
Posted: 12:53 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Chase Mutley
I
Posted: 12:58 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 NEPA
I think I remember Ellison playing for the Giants a couple years back. Not sure what he’s been doing since.
Posted: 12:59 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 NEPA
Great start for Carrasco.
Posted: 01:04 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 mikemike
ellis who
Posted: 01:05 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Griffin
After the Giants, Ellison bounced around with Mariners, Reds and Rangers. He has a career OBP of .302 and a career slugging of .348. Ouch.
Nice 1-2-3 inning by Carrasco
Posted: 01:05 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 mikemike
right or left handed
Posted: 01:06 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Griffin
Bats right, throws right.
Posted: 01:07 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 NEPA
Right handed.
Posted: 01:07 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Griffin
He turns 31 on Opening Day.
Posted: 01:07 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 1650 Tim Malcolm
That would be Roger Dorn, after getting hit by a pitch in the one-game playoff between the Indians and Yankees to decide the winner of the 1989 American League East.
Posted: 01:11 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 1650 Tim Malcolm
A little scare there, but another solid inning for Carlos.
Posted: 01:16 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Griffin
another 1-2-3 inning by Carrasco
Posted: 01:16 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Albert
Is this televised for anyone? What kind of movement did Carrasco have on his pitches? Audio sounded good on him though haha.
Posted: 01:20 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 1650 Tim Malcolm
So Sam Perlozzo is Steve Smith in a mask?
Posted: 01:23 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Griffin
LOL, I was thinking the same thing, Tim.
Posted: 01:24 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Manny
Very nice Carrasco!
Posted: 01:27 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 1650 Tim Malcolm
No televisio. Maybe someone’s at the park today and can help us.
Posted: 01:27 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Derek
Glad to see Jason Donald getting some time at 3rd this spring…..hope he plays well wherever he’s playing on the field
Posted: 01:27 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Manny
Happ has now a 1-2-3 inning, with 1 SO. I hope they leave him in for another one.
Posted: 01:34 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Justin
First televised spring training game is saturday
Posted: 01:45 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Manny
Ryan Howard has been striking out a lot these days… haha
Posted: 01:54 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
Keep the updates coming… glad to hear that Carrasco and Happ are both pitching well.
Was watching the Braves/Astros game while I was at home for lunch… Jorge Campillo had a TERRIBLE inning… brutal. Gave up 2 or 3 extra base hits and 3 ER (and his catcher gunned someone out at second, otherwise it would have been 4 ER). Couldn’t locate anything besides his fastball and was leaving everything up in the zone.
Good find, NEPA…
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090226&content_id=3885708&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Posted: 02:04 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 1650 Tim Malcolm
Justin Lehr is not, however, pitching well. Back-to-back homers for the Jays.
Boy, it’s a clear group of crap in the bullpen.
Posted: 02:07 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Manny
Oh boy…
Posted: 02:10 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Griffin
I saw that the Mets hit Oliver Perez second in the lineup today. So not only are they not using the DH, they’re trying to get their pitchers more ABs. Interesting.
Posted: 02:10 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
You wanna know why people are so excited about Carrasco… 3 k’s in 2 innings of work with 0 H and 0 BB. That 0 BB is key… I know it’s only spring training but he has a bright future ahead. I still think he’s a half-season away from the bigs (can’t have him start out the season as a #5) but it would be really nice to see him pitching for us in September.
Posted: 02:12 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Jeff
Wow Carrasco looked good, Haap is looking good too, This should be exciting going forward. Love the competition.
Posted: 02:19 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Albert
Majewski looked good. This guy has a shot at the pen right?
Posted: 02:22 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Jeff
Yeah I saw him play when he was with Washington, If I remember he pitched well for them out of the pen, he wears his socks up high too like the old timers :)
Posted: 02:24 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Jeff
Hehe the return of Fabio Castro!!
Posted: 02:26 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Manny
hehe… we got a run out of Castro… Mayberry gets a double and Dobbs brings him in.
Posted: 02:35 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
Mayberry has been very productive in his first two outings…
Posted: 02:46 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 1650 Tim Malcolm
Great sign that Dobbs struck a lefty so well, and one as startlingly good against lefties as Castro.
Posted: 02:47 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
That is interesting, Griffin… I don’t agree with it but it’s interesting. I think you should let your pitchers focus on pitching… especially in spring training. If they start thinking about hitting, they’ll forget their primary goal. I mean, asking him to swing a bat is fine when his number is called but in that situation, when you don’t need to have him swing a bat, you’re taking reps away from a guy that could really benefit from seeing ML pitching. Perez isn’t going to get enough work in the cages to be anything more than a .220 hitter during the season so why bother?? Dumb…
Posted: 02:52 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 NJ
You can understand the idea and its so typically Mets… To them It’s all about the player not the chemistry or true big picture.
Posted: 02:59 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Griffin
The Mets announcers said that the Mets will not use the DH at all in spring training except when they travel to AL parks and are forced to use it.
Also, Luis Castillo led off instead of Reyes. It was odd to see Castillo get on base and then Oliver Perez try to bunt him over to second to start the first inning.
Posted: 03:01 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Albert
Mets regulars have all looked very good the first two spring training games.
Posted: 03:06 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
I wonder if they’re actually going to do that during the season…
Posted: 03:09 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
I guess you’re getting your pitchers extra practice bunting… which is better than them swinging a bat.
Posted: 03:11 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Justin
Yea and the Pirates are going to win the World Series this year too…Did you see the beating they laid on the Phils yesterday? They’re primed to torch the NL.
Posted: 03:13 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Griffin
“Mets regulars have all looked very good the first two spring training games.”
It’s because it’s February, not September.
Posted: 03:13 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Woodman
Well said, Griffin.
Posted: 03:18 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Manny
This Neal guy just gave up 4 runs…
Posted: 03:25 PM on February 26, 2009
Posts: 0 Jason B.
Any updates on the game?
Posted: 03:31 PM on February 26, 2009