Categories: Posts

Mathieson, Lidge Updates; Castro Cut

David Murphy says Scott Mathieson is improving and should be ready for action by May. Good â€” he’s a very underrated cog for the Phillies in 2008. He also says Brad Lidge will pitch in a Minor League game tomorrow, as will Adam Eaton.

Fabio Castro was demoted to AA Reading after the game yesterday. As I predicted, his outing yesterday was do-or-die, and he died. Castro needs to work on control and deceptiveness. He gave up far too many scorching hits while walking a good lot of batters this spring. He has the stuff to make it, but he’s not there yet.

It’s now come down to Travis Blackley and Vic Darensbourg for the second lefty (LOOGY) spot in the bullpen. Slight edge goes to Blackley because of his Rule V status.

The Courier Post also reports the 40-man roster is at 38 men. I figure the winner of the LOOGY battle and Kris Benson would take these final two spots.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.