Saturday, April 26, 2008

Kendrick notches 2nd win

The Phillies defeated the Pirates 8-4 Saturday night, and Kyle Kendrick flashed some of the form he showed in 2007. Kyle went 7+ innings, allowing just 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits, NO walks, and 2 strike outs in what was his best showing this year. The young right-hander evened his record at 2-2 and lowered his ERA to 5.13. Hopefully this is a sign that he is going in the right direction. Kyle is a sinker ball pitcher, who relies on getting the hitters to hit the ball to his defense, and sometimes early in the season, before his arm gets a little tired, the ball does not move as well as it will later. Maybe, we have reached "later".

Almost as encouraging as Kendrick's outing was Ryan Howard's 5th home run of the season. If Ryno starts to come around to join Utley, Burrell and Dobbs, and Rollins and Victorino are back in the fold soon, the Phillies will be heard from.

I also want to correct what I said yesterday. Brad Harman had made his debut a few nights ago in Colorado as a pinch hitter, what I meant to say was yesterday was his first START. Sorry for the mix up.

OK, bear with me, here. Springdale, Arkansas......the Northwest Arkansas Naturals lead the Arkansas Travelers 7-2 tonight in the bottom of the 8th inning. Why should you care? Because one of the Naturals is none other than BlueClaw home run king Juan Richardson. Maybe Juan read today that I think Mike Durant will top his record and he wants to be heard from. So Richardson belted a 3-run homer, his first of this year. It is comforting to know some things don't change! Ryan and Juan go deep the same night!!

No comments: