Last night was not a fun night to watch the Phillies. Reliever Phillippe Aumont could not retire any of the batters he faced, compounded by a shaky play by Ben Revere, and quickly dropped the resumed first game 1-0 in nine and a half minutes. As for the second game, when the highlights include Raul Valdes doubling and Freddy Galvis hitting an eighth inning home to bring your team within nine, it is easy to say it was a rough night. They dropped the second game 11-2.
PROPER GAME ONE WRAP UP
As Corey mentioned in his review of the suspended game, Kyle Kendrick was dealing. From Corey:
For the first time in his career, Kendrick allowed no runs and two or fewer hits over at least seven innings. His final line was: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K. He induced 13 groundouts — two in every inning except the sixth. KK held Votto, Phillips and Jay Bruce hitless in seven at-bats, with four groundouts and three strikeouts.
Homer Bailey was even better, giving up only two hits in eight innings, striking out 12. Aumont let three straight batters reach base to start the ninth and Joey Votto singled in the winning run for a 1-0 win.
OFFENSE? WHAT OFFENSE?!
In the second game last night, the Phils bats were again stifled, with Mike Leake going seven, striking out seven and giving up only three hits and no walks. After being fifth in baseball in taking walks from 2007-2011, the Phils are now 25th in baseball since the start of the 2012 season.
Look, I get it: Ruben Amaro has literally looked me in the eye and told me his team doesn’t care about walks, he cares about production. Fine. But his strategy certainly didn’t hold up very well in this series against the Reds: 24 Ks, 0 free passes. The Phillies are now 27th in the MLB in BB%, eighth in K%, 23rd in batting average, and 26th in on-base percentage. The excuses and caveots about it being early do not really apply: this team, as constructed, does not take walks and is currently not hitting, they aren’t getting base runners. There are 147 games left, but if they don’t start to take some pitches, the Phillies will be in for a long season.
LANNAN AND BROWN OUT?
John Lannan, after two solid outings to start his Phillie tenure, got roughed up last night, getting plastered for six earned in 1.2 IP. Lannan, in his own words, tweaked his knee and does not know if he will miss any time. He will see a team doctor today in Philadelphia.
Domonic Brown was hurt on a Jay Bruce ball hit to left that he got a late jump on. The fleet-footed Brown used to his speed to make the play, but according to Matt Gelb, Brown felt a pop and some pain in his back and really felt it when he swang.
Brown will undergo an MRI while Lannan is attributing his issue to tendinitis. It is unclear if either will need to visit the DL. If DL time is needed for Lannan, the Phillies could look to bring up 23-year old Adam Morgan (14 IP, 1.29 ERA, 9 K/2 BB), who dominated a very, very good Syracuse Chiefs team twice. Morgan is not on the 40-man roster but has outperformed 40-manners Tyler Cloyd (14 IP, 7.07 ERA), Ethan Martin (9 IP, 4.82 ERA), and Jonathan Pettibone (9.1 IP, 9.64 ERA) by a considerable margin.
Who would replace Brown? Darin Ruf is hitting .277/.300/.447 for the Pigs through 12 games and is on the 40-man roster. He would be the most logical fit, although the Phillies could theoretically take a shot on bringing up and sneaking back down Steve Susdorf, who is hitting .273/.273/.364. Susdorf, 27, is an unlikely call-up because, like Morgan, he is not on the 40-man roster. But if the Phillies want to let Ruf play pressure-free in Lehigh Valley for a few weeks longer, Susdorf could probably clear waivers if they added him to the 40-man roster and then designated him.
Tyson Gillies and Zach Collier are the only other healthy outfielders on the 40-man roster. Gillies has looked lost at the plate, in the field, and on the basepaths and it is hitting .111/.220/.167 for the Pigs and Collier is hitting a comparable .122/.234/.146 for Reading. Anthony Hewitt, 23, is currently hitting .343/.395/.457 for Reading with six steals in nine tries but is not on the 40-man roster. He is a long shot to fill a possible void left by Brown as he would absolutely not clear waivers on the way back down and the Phillies likely do not have a 40-manner right now that would but he is the only outfielder at any level in the system who is squaring up the ball right now.
Yikes.
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